The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 15, 2005
Filed:
Oct. 03, 2003
Douglas R. Robello, Webster, NY (US);
Nori Yamaguchi, Bear, DE (US);
Thomas N. Blanton, Rochester, NY (US);
Craig L. Barnes, Leroy, NY (US);
Douglas R. Robello, Webster, NY (US);
Nori Yamaguchi, Bear, DE (US);
Thomas N. Blanton, Rochester, NY (US);
Craig L. Barnes, Leroy, NY (US);
Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, NY (US);
Abstract
A nanocomposite made with an inorganic layered material and a star-shaped polystyrene that can be blended with normal linear polystyrene is disclosed. The inorganic layered material can have an exfoliated structure, substantially exfoliated, or intercalated structure. The exfoliated structure can result in significantly improved physical properties, even with only a very low content of clay. The invention is also directed to a process that can be used to make the compositions of the present invention. In one embodiment, a physical mixture of clay and star polymer is prepared and then the mixture is heated for several hours, preferably under high-shear mixing, to increase the rate of exfoliation, after which mostly inexpensive commodity linear polystyrene polymer completes the composition.