HK1110344A - Sponge-like sculpturing compound - Google Patents

Description

Sponge sculpturing compound

Technical Field

This invention relates to sculpturing compounds, and in more particular applications, to sculpturing compounds for children.

Background

The present invention relates to lightweight sculptural compounds having a density of less than 1. Lightweight sculpturing compounds are distinguished from heavy compounds with a density greater than 1. More specifically, the compounds may also be described as sponge-like compounds.

Sponge-like sculpturing compounds generally include non-water based compounds, oil-based compounds, and water-based compounds. Non-aqueous based lightweight compounds include thermoplastic modeling compositions and wax/oil based modeling compositions. Thermoplastic molding compositions are commonly used to make design models in the automotive industry, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,607,332. The modelling composition is generally composed of plastics, minerals, binders, light fillers and colouring agents, which can be processed at temperatures above 50 ℃. When the ambient temperature drops, the shapes molded using this composition become rigid and rather rigid. However, these compositions, when used in industrial applications, do not have a final aggregate state and cannot be kneaded and/or shaped at room temperature, and are therefore unsuitable as sculpturing compounds for children.

Alternatively, a wax/oil based lightweight modeling composition consists of a solid wax, a pasty wax, an oil based and lightweight hollow microbead filler. Microbeads are single-sized polymer particles that are composed primarily of two different types of polymers, such as polystyrene, polyacrylate, with different degrees of crosslinking. This compound has lightweight properties and can be kneaded and handled at room temperature. The product thus obtained is suitable for children.

Water-based compounds are generally air-drying and incorporate starch as a filler. However, these compounds are prone to cracking, flaking and crumbling after drying because of poor plasticity and significant drying shrinkage. Even if a large proportion of filler is incorporated into the compound mixture, there is shrinkage due to volume reduction after drying. In addition, water-based lightweight compounds combine water-soluble resins, such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and lightweight fillers. Although it has improved resistance to cracking, flaking and chipping, it is initially tacky and has poor strength, elasticity and moisture resistance.

Disclosure of Invention

According to one feature of the present invention, a modeling composition is provided. The composition comprises 50-70 wt% reverse osmosis water, 15-25 wt% polymer resin, 1.0-5 wt% lightweight filler, 1.0-10 wt% glycerin, 1.0-15 wt% propylene glycol, 3.0-28 wt% sorbitol, 1.0-10 wt% polyethylene glycol, and 0.3-4.0 wt% sodium tetraborate.

According to one form, a modeling composition is provided. The composition comprises 40-60 wt% reverse osmosis water, 15-25 wt% polymer resin, 1.0-5.0 wt% lightweight filler, 1.0-10 wt% glycerin, 1.0-8.0 wt% propylene glycol, 3.0-25 wt% sorbitol, 1.0-10 wt% polyethylene glycol, 0.3-5.0 wt% sodium tetraborate, and 5-15 wt% precipitated silica.

According to one form, the polymer resin is a water-based polymer or copolymer.

According to one form, the water-based polymer or copolymer includes at least one of polyvinyl alcohol, water-based polyurethane, water-based acrylic polymer, and copolyester.

In one form, the lightweight filler includes at least one of encapsulated microspheres and microbeads.

According to one form, the lightweight filler is a copolymer encapsulating a gas.

According to one form, the lightweight filler expands in volume up to 40 times its original volume.

In one form, the lightweight filler is hollow spheres of phenolic resin.

In one form, the composition further comprises 0.1 to 20% by weight of a pigment and 0.02 to 0.2% by weight of a preservative.

According to one form, the preservative is selected from the paraben series.

According to one form, the preservative comprises at least one of methylparaben, propylparaben, ethylparaben, and phenoxyethanol.

In one form, a method of making a molding composition is provided. The method comprises the following steps: mixing polyethylene glycol, propylene glycol and sorbitol in a first container; mixing disodium tetraborate decahydrate in a second container; the compositions of the first and second containers are combined and mixed along with reverse osmosis water, lightweight filler, and polymer resin.

According to one form, the pigments and preservatives are added during the combining and mixing steps.

According to one form, the composition of the second container is combined after the reverse osmosis water, the light filler and the polymer resin are added.

Other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from a complete review of the entire specification, including the appended claims and drawings.

Detailed Description

While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is described herein in detail embodiments thereof with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments illustrated.

In one embodiment, the water-based sponge-like sculpture composition includes reverse osmosis water (50-70 wt%), a polymer resin (15-25 wt%), a lightweight filler (1.0-5.0 wt%), glycerin (1.0-10 wt%), propylene glycol (1.0-15 wt%), sorbitol (3.0-28 wt%), polyethylene glycol (1-10 wt%), and sodium tetraborate (0.3-4.0 wt%). Optionally, additional components such as pigments and preservatives may be incorporated into the composition.

In an alternative embodiment, the water-based sponge-like engraving composition comprises reverse osmosis water (40-60 wt%), a polymer resin (15-25 wt%), a lightweight filler (1.0-5.0 wt%), glycerin (1.0-10 wt%), propylene glycol (1.0-8.0 wt%), sorbitol (3.0-25 wt%), polyethylene glycol (1.0-10 wt%), sodium tetraborate (0.3-5.0 wt%), and precipitated silica (5-15 wt%).

In a preferred embodiment, the polymer resin is polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), such as from the Celvol series. The degree of hydrolysis was 88.00. + -. 2.00 mol%, the viscosity of the 4% solution was 5.70. + -. 1.50 cP. The bulk density is 0.6-0.7 g/ml. The melting point range is 180-250 ℃. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other polymer resins and other forms of PVA may be utilized. For example, the polymer resin may include other water-soluble polymers, such as water-based polyurethanes, water-based acrylic polymers or copolyesters, or other water-soluble polymers, and mixtures thereof.

In one embodiment, the lightweight filler comprises encapsulated copolymers or microspheres. Encapsulated copolymers or microspheres, such as the product manufactured by Akzo Nobel under the name Expancel ®, are completely different materials than hollow microbeads, each having different microstructures and functions. For example, microspheres have a gas-encapsulated polymeric shell that is significantly different from hollow microbeads used in other commercially available clay products. When the gas in the shell is heated, the internal pressure increases and the thermoplastic shell softens, which results in a significant increase in the volume of the microspheres. When fully expanded, the volume of the microspheres may increase by more than 40 times the original volume. However, microbeads are single-sized polymer particles that are composed primarily of two different classes of polymers, such as polystyrene and polyacrylic acid, with varying degrees of crosslinking. The polymer particles have a perfectly spherical shape with a high degree of single size and can be made in a wide range of particle sizes, e.g., 0.5-500 microns.

A suitable form of microsphere or encapsulated copolymer which can be used is the EXPANCEL ® DE (Akzo Nobel) series of products having a density in the range 20-70KG/m³Such as EXPANCEL 051, EXPANCEL 091, EXPANCEL 461, EXPANCEL 551, and the like. In addition, other suitable forms include Phenoset ® microspheres or Minoset ® microspheres. Another example of suitable lightweight microspheres includes DUALITE ® expanded spheres made by Pierce and Stevens, which consist of a gas-filled flexible, ultra-low density thermoplastic hollow microsphere core. Typically, this form of microspheres is coated on their surface with calcium carbonate.

In addition, lightweight fillers such as cenospheres may be utilized. Floating beads are small, lightweight, inert, hollow microspheres that contain primarily silica (such as synthetic precipitated silica) and alumina, and are filled with a low pressure gas.

Other lightweight fillers may also include foamable plastic powders such as foamable thermoplastic powders and foamable thermosetting plastic powders. The expandable thermoplastic powder includes expandable polystyrene powder, expandable polyethylene powder, expandable polypropylene powder, and the like. The foamable thermosetting plastic powder is a foamable polyurethane plastic powder or the like.

One embodiment of a molding composition, example 1, is shown in table 1.

Example 1:

composition (I)	The weight percentage range of	Preferred weight range%
			Reverse osmosis water polymer resin light filler glycerin propylene glycol sorbitol polyethylene glycol sodium tetraborate pigment preservative	50-7015-251.0-5.01.0-101.0-153.0-281.0-100.3-4.00.1-200.02-0.2	55-6518-222.5-4.53.0-6.06.0-107.0-202.0-7.00.5-2.00.2-160.08-0.13

As shown in Table 1, the modeling compound included reverse osmosis water (50-70 wt%), a polymer resin (15-25 wt%), a lightweight filler (1.0-5.0 wt%), glycerin (1.0-10 wt%), propylene glycol (1.0-15 wt%), sorbitol (3.0-28 wt%), polyethylene glycol (1-10 wt%), sodium tetraborate (0.3-4.0 wt%), and various pigments (0.1-20 wt%) and preservatives (0.02-0.2 wt%). The ideal range is: reverse osmosis water (55-65 wt%), polymer resin (18-22 wt%), lightweight filler (2.5-4.5 wt%), glycerin (3.0-6.0 wt%), propylene glycol (6.0-10 wt%), sorbitol (7.0-20 wt%), polyethylene glycol (2.0-7.0 wt%), and sodium tetraborate (0.5-2.0 wt%).

Additional examples are shown in table 2 below.

Example 2

TABLE 2

Composition (I)	The weight percentage range of	Preferred weight range%
			Reverse osmosis water polymer resin Expancel ® microsphere synthetic silica glycerol propylene glycol sorbitol polyethylene glycol sodium tetraborate pigment preservative	40-6015-251.0-5.05.0-151.0-101.0-8.03.0-251.0-100.3-5.00.1-200.02-0.2	45-5517-212.5-4.08.0-123.0-6.02.0-5.06.0-182.0-7.01.0-4.00.2-160.08-0.13

In one embodiment, the pigment includes conventional pigments, neon pigments, and pearl pigments, and mixtures thereof. For example, conventional pigments include Ultramarine Blue (Ultramarine Blue), FD & C Yellow 5 Aluminum Lake (FD & C Yellow 5 Aluminum Lake), FD & C Red 40 Aluminum Lake (FD & CRed 40 Aluminum Lake), FD & C Yellow 6 Aluminum Lake (FD & C Yellow 6 Aluminum Lake), FD & C Blue 1 Aluminum Lake (FD & C Blue 1 Aluminum Lake), titanium dioxide, D & C Red 7 Calcium Lake (D & C Red 7 Calcium Lake), TG-60 Gold, K-100 ack Black, or mixtures thereof. The content of conventional pigments ranges from 0.1 to 5% by weight. In one embodiment, a preferred range is 0.3 to 3 weight percent.

Neon pigments include pigments such as Sterling fluorescent Red (florescence Red)3, Sterling fluorescent Blue (florescence Blue)60, Sterling fluorescent Yellow (florescence) 27, Sterling fluorescent deep Magenta (florescence Magenta)21, Sterling fluorescent Orange (florescence Orange)5, Sterling fluorescent Green (florescence Green)8 or mixtures thereof in amounts ranging from 0.1 to 3 wt%, preferably in the range from 0.5 to 2 wt%.

Pearlescent pigments include 5500 Timica silver sparkle (silver sparkle), 1500 Timica ultra bright white (extra bright), 110A Timica pearl white (pearl white), and blends thereof with conventional pigments or neon pigments, and the like. The content ranges from 5 to 20 wt%. The preferred range is 10 to 15 wt%.

preservatives having a pH of from 3 to 10 are suitable for the present compositions. The preservatives used in example 1 are the paraben series, such as propyl paraben and methyl paraben.

The molding compositions obtained from the compositions of Table 1 have a density in the range from 30 to 60KG/m at room temperature³. The pH range is from 6.8 to 7.8.

Example 3:

one embodiment of a method of making a molding composition is summarized as follows:

phase A: the lightweight filler, pigment and preservative are added to a mixer or tank for premixing.

Phase B:

1. 20% of the desired reverse osmosis water was injected into the turbine mixing tank at room temperature.

2. The turbine is turned on, swept and homogenized.

3. Polyethylene glycol, propylene glycol, sorbitol were added separately and mixing was continued until the solution was homogeneous.

Phase C: in separate jacket slots

1. 60% of the desired reverse osmosis water was added.

2. The water is heated to 75-85 deg.C (preheated water may be used).

3. Polyvinyl alcohol was added and mixing was continued until the polyvinyl alcohol was completely dissolved.

Phase D: in a separate container, disodium tetraborate decahydrate (Borax) and the balance reverse osmosis water (approximately 20% of the total amount) were mixed

1. The solution is heated to between 70 ℃ and 80 ℃ (preheated water may be used).

2. Once the solution reaches the desired temperature and Borax is completely dissolved, phase B and phase C are added separately to phase A.

3. Mixing was continued until all compounds were homogeneous.

4. Then add phase D and continue mixing for 10-20 minutes until all compounds are homogeneous.

5. The fully compounded modeling compound is poured out of the mixer or tank.

Although the invention has been described herein with respect to specific examples and embodiments, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other examples and embodiments are also contemplated.

Claims (27)

1. A spongy modeling composition, comprising:

50-70% by weight of reverse osmosis water;

15-25 wt% of a polymer resin;

1.0-5.0 wt% of a lightweight filler;

1.0-10 wt% glycerol;

1.0-15 wt% propylene glycol;

3.0-28 wt% sorbitol;

1.0-10 wt.% polyethylene glycol; and

0.3-4.0 wt% sodium tetraborate.

2. The modeling composition of claim 1, wherein the polymer resin is a water-based polymer or copolymer.

3. The modeling composition of claim 2, wherein the water-based polymer or copolymer comprises at least one of polyvinyl alcohol, water-based polyurethane, water-based acrylic polymer, and copolyester.

4. The modeling composition of claim 1, wherein the lightweight filler comprises at least one of encapsulated microspheres and microbeads.

5. The modeling composition of claim 4, wherein the lightweight filler is a copolymer encapsulating a gas.

6. The modeling composition of claim 4, wherein the lightweight filler expands up to 40 times its original volume in volume.

7. The modeling composition of claim 4, wherein the lightweight filler is hollow spheres of phenolic resin.

8. The modeling composition of claim 4, wherein the lightweight filler is a foamable plastic powder.

9. The modeling composition of claim 8, wherein the foamable plastic powder comprises at least one of foamable polystyrene powder, foamable polyethylene powder, foamable polypropylene, and foamable polyurethane plastic powder.

10. The modeling composition of claim 1, further comprising 0.1 to 20 weight percent pigment and 0.02 to 0.2 weight percent preservative.

11. The modeling composition of claim 10, wherein the preservative is selected from the paraben series.

12. The modeling composition of claim 11, wherein the preservative comprises at least one of methylparaben, propylparaben, ethylparaben, and phenoxyethanol.

13. A method of making a molding composition comprising the steps of: mixing polyethylene glycol, propylene glycol and sorbitol in a first container; mixing disodium tetraborate decahydrate in a second container; the compositions of the first and second containers are combined and mixed along with reverse osmosis water, lightweight filler, and polymer resin.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of combining and mixing adds a pigment and a preservative.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the composition of the second container is combined after the reverse osmosis water, the lightweight filler, and the polymer resin are added.

16. A spongy modeling composition, comprising:

40-60% by weight of reverse osmosis water;

15-25 wt% of a polymer resin;

1.0-5.0 wt% of a lightweight filler;

1.0-10 wt% glycerol;

1.0-8.0 wt% propylene glycol;

3.0-25 wt% sorbitol;

1.0-10 wt.% polyethylene glycol;

0.3-5.0 wt% sodium tetraborate; and

5.0-15 wt% synthetic silica.

17. The modeling composition of claim 16, wherein the polymer resin is a water-based polymer or copolymer.

18. The modeling composition of claim 17, wherein the water-based polymer or copolymer comprises at least one of polyvinyl alcohol, water-based polyurethane, water-based acrylic polymer, and copolyester.

19. The modeling composition of claim 16, wherein the lightweight filler includes at least one of encapsulated microspheres and microbeads.

20. The modeling composition of claim 19, wherein the lightweight filler is a copolymer encapsulating a gas.

21. The modeling composition of claim 19, wherein the lightweight filler expands up to 40 times its original volume in volume.

22. The modeling composition of claim 19, wherein the lightweight filler is hollow spheres of phenolic resin.

23. The modeling composition of claim 19, wherein the lightweight filler is a foamable plastic powder.

24. The modeling composition of claim 23, wherein the foamable plastic powder comprises at least one of foamable polystyrene powder, foamable polyethylene powder, foamable polypropylene, and foamable polyurethane plastic powder.

25. The modeling composition of claim 16, further comprising 0.1 to 20 weight percent pigment and 0.02 to 0.2 weight percent preservative.

26. The modeling composition of claim 25, wherein the preservative is selected from the paraben series.

27. The modeling composition of claim 26, wherein the preservative comprises at least one of methylparaben, propylparaben, ethylparaben, and phenoxyethanol.