Processing technology of flame-retardant weather-resistant PC/ABS composite material
The technical field is as follows:
the invention relates to the technical field of composite materials, in particular to a processing technology of a flame-retardant weather-resistant PC/ABS composite material.
Background art:
polycarbonate is abbreviated as PC, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer is abbreviated as ABS, and the PC/ABS composite material formed by the polycarbonate and the acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer is important engineering plastic, not only can improve the heat resistance and the tensile strength of ABS, but also can reduce the melt viscosity of PC so as to improve the processing performance.
On one hand, the PC/ABS composite material has poor weather resistance due to the unsaturated double bond contained in the ABS structure. On the other hand, phosphate flame retardants are often added to enhance the flame retardant performance of the PC/ABS composite material, but the toughness of the material is inevitably reduced by adding the flame retardants; in order to ensure the toughness of the PC/ABS composite material, methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene (MBS) is often added as a toughening agent, and the MBS structure also contains unsaturated double bonds, so that the weather resistance of the PC/ABS composite material can be further reduced.
In order to improve the weatherability of PC/ABS composites, weathering agents need to be added. Benzophenone ultraviolet absorbers, benzotriazole ultraviolet absorbers and triazine ultraviolet absorbers are currently used as weather-resistant agents. Although these weathering agents can enhance the weathering resistance, the PC/ABS composite materials produced have limited weathering resistance, and in particular, the weathering resistance decreases sharply with the increase in the service life of the materials. In order to improve the weather resistance and prolong the weather resistance action time, the addition amount of the weather resistant agent needs to be increased, and the increase of the addition amount of the weather resistant agent influences the toughness of the material.
The invention content is as follows:
the invention aims to solve the technical problem of providing a processing technology of a flame-retardant weather-resistant PC/ABS composite material with simple and convenient technological operation and good technological repeatability, and the prepared PC/ABS composite material has good physical and mechanical properties.
The technical problem to be solved by the invention is realized by adopting the following technical scheme:
a processing technology of a flame-retardant weather-resistant PC/ABS composite material comprises the following steps:
(1) activating molecular sieve raw powder: firstly, placing 4A molecular sieve raw powder in a drying oven with the temperature of 100-;
(2) preparation of the carrier: dispersing activated molecular sieve raw powder in absolute ethyl alcohol, adding allyl glycidyl ether, magnesium dimethacrylate and an initiator, heating to a reflux state, carrying out heat preservation and stirring reaction, continuing to carry out reflux stirring for 30min after the polymerization reaction is finished, carrying out reduced pressure concentration on the obtained mixture to recover the ethyl alcohol, washing the concentrated residue to remove unreacted monomers, placing the mixture in an oven with the temperature of 100-;
(3) preparation of weather resisting agent: dispersing the prepared carrier in absolute ethyl alcohol, adding nano zinc oxide and polyglutamic acid, stirring and treating for 5min by using a microwave reactor in a reflux state, stopping microwave radiation for 5min, continuing to stir and treat for 5min by using the microwave reactor in the reflux state, repeating the steps until the load is completed, performing reduced pressure concentration on the obtained mixture to recover the ethyl alcohol, drying the concentrated residue in an oven at the temperature of 100 ℃ and 110 ℃ to constant weight, and preparing the obtained solid into micro powder by using an ultrafine pulverizer to obtain the weather-resistant agent;
(4) preparing a PC/ABS composite material: adding PC resin, ABS resin, a flame retardant, fumed silica, methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer, an antioxidant and the prepared weather resistant agent into a high-speed mixer, uniformly mixing, feeding into a double-screw extruder, and performing melt extrusion granulation, wherein the temperature of the double-screw extruder is as follows: the PC/ABS composite material is obtained by performing the steps of a first zone 185-200 ℃, a second zone 200-215 ℃, a third zone 215-230 ℃, a fourth zone 230-245 ℃, a fifth zone 220-230 ℃, a sixth zone 210-220 ℃ and a double screw rotation speed of 100-400 r/min.
The mass ratio of the activated molecular sieve raw powder, the allyl glycidyl ether, the magnesium dimethacrylate and the initiator is 50:5-15:5-15: 0.05-0.5.
The initiator is selected from one of azodiisobutyronitrile, dibenzoyl peroxide, tert-butyl peroxybenzoate and di-tert-butyl peroxide.
The mass ratio of the carrier, the nano zinc oxide and the polyglutamic acid is 5:1-10: 0.1-1.
The polyglutamic acid is selected from water treatment grade polyglutamic acid.
The microwave frequency of the microwave reactor is 2450MHz, and the output power is 700W.
The mass ratio of the PC resin to the ABS resin to the flame retardant to the fumed silica to the methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer to the antioxidant to the weather resistant agent is 50-70:10-25:7-12:3-8:1-5:0.3-0.8: 0.3-0.8.
The flame retardant is a phosphorus flame retardant.
The antioxidant is selected from one or more of antioxidant 1024, antioxidant 1330, antioxidant 1010, antioxidant 1076, antioxidant 245, antioxidant 168 and antioxidant 3114.
The fumed silica is modified, and the modification method comprises the following steps: uniformly dispersing gas-phase silicon dioxide in absolute ethyl alcohol, soaking for 10-15min, adding PEG-60 hydrogenated castor oil, heating to a reflux state, keeping the temperature and stirring for 15-30min, adding a titanate coupling agent, keeping the temperature and stirring for 0.5-2h under the reflux state, naturally cooling to room temperature, transferring the obtained mixture to an environment with the temperature of-5 ℃, sealing and standing for 3-8h, filtering, washing the obtained filter residue with absolute ethyl alcohol, then sending into a vacuum drier, drying the obtained solid, and preparing the solid into micro powder by using an ultrafine pulverizer.
The mass ratio of the fumed silica to the PEG-60 hydrogenated castor oil to the titanate coupling agent is 10-20:1-5: 1-5.
The invention has the beneficial effects that:
(1) the method takes 4A molecular sieve raw powder as a carrier raw material, and prepares a carrier through activation and modification treatment; during modification treatment, allyl glycidyl ether and magnesium dimethacrylate are used as modifiers, acrylic resin is generated through polymerization reaction of the allyl glycidyl ether and the magnesium dimethacrylate, and meanwhile, the generated acrylic resin is immediately permeated into a structural pore channel of the 4A molecular sieve raw powder under the action of microwaves, so that the loading capacity of the carrier is enhanced and the carrier is endowed with certain weather resistance;
(2) according to the invention, inorganic ultraviolet screening agent nano zinc oxide is used as a load component, and the weather-resistant agent with excellent weather resistance and long weather resistance time is prepared after being loaded by a carrier, meanwhile, the matching use of polyglutamic acid can improve the load rate of nano zinc oxide, and the polyglutamic acid is cooperated with the carrier to obviously improve the blending compatibility of the nano zinc oxide and a resin matrix, so that the technical problems of large addition amount, limited weather resistance and reduced material toughness caused by directly using the nano zinc oxide as the weather-resistant agent are solved;
(3) the invention takes PEG-60 hydrogenated castor oil and titanate coupling agent as modifiers, improves the blending compatibility of the fumed silica and a resin matrix through the modification treatment of the fumed silica, enhances the filling performance of the fumed silica as a filler and improves the weather resistance of the fumed silica;
(4) the PC/ABS composite material prepared by the invention has excellent weather resistance, good flame retardant property and physical and mechanical properties by adding the self-made weather resistant agent, and solves the technical problem that the weather resistance and the physical and mechanical properties of the material are reduced by adding a large amount of conventional flame retardant.
The specific implementation mode is as follows:
in order to make the technical means, the creation characteristics, the achievement purposes and the effects of the invention easy to understand, the invention is further described with the specific embodiments.
Selection of raw materials:
the 4A molecular sieve raw powder is 4A series molecular sieve raw powder of Luoyang Jianlong micro-nano new material GmbH; allyl glycidyl ether is SILONG 191 from Hangzhou Spilong materials science and technology, Inc.; the magnesium dimethacrylate is selected from magnesium dimethacrylate from Shanghai Michelle chemical technology Co., Ltd; azodiisobutyronitrile is azodiisobutyronitrile from Xiaoyu chemical company, Guangzhou; the nano zinc oxide is LT-601 of Shanghai Shandongtai nanometer material Co, Ltd; the water treatment grade polyglutamic acid is water treatment grade polyglutamic acid of Semanchurian cereal grass Biotech limited; the PC resin is S-2000F of Mitsubishi engineering plastics; the ABS resin is AT-08 available from Japan A & L; the flame retardant is PhireGuard BDP of Jiangsu Jack science and technology GmbH; the fumed silica is M-5 of Yirui new material Co., Ltd, Guangzhou city; the methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer is TH-21 of Nippon Denshoku industries Co., Ltd; the antioxidant 1010 is antioxidant 1010 of Changzhou Xinze polymer material Co., Ltd; PEG-60 hydrogenated castor oil is selected from PEG-60 hydrogenated castor oil of Chongcheng Fine chemical Co., Ltd of Shanghai; the titanate coupling agent is CT-2 of Changzhou New district interest evolution industry, Inc.
Example 1
(1) Activating molecular sieve raw powder: firstly, placing 4A molecular sieve raw powder in a drying oven with the temperature of 105-plus-110 ℃ for drying to constant weight, and roasting for 2 hours at the temperature of 550 ℃ to obtain activated molecular sieve raw powder;
(2) preparation of the carrier: dispersing 50g of activated molecular sieve raw powder into absolute ethyl alcohol, adding 5g of allyl glycidyl ether, 10g of magnesium dimethacrylate and 0.5g of azodiisobutyronitrile serving as an initiator, heating to a reflux state, carrying out heat preservation and stirring reaction, continuing to carry out reflux stirring for 30min after the polymerization reaction is finished, carrying out reduced pressure concentration on the obtained mixture to recover the ethyl alcohol, washing the concentrated residue with water to remove unreacted monomers, placing the concentrated residue in an oven with the temperature of 105 and 110 ℃, drying to constant weight, and preparing the obtained solid into micro powder by using an ultrafine pulverizer to obtain a carrier;
(3) preparation of weather resisting agent: dispersing 50g of the prepared carrier in absolute ethyl alcohol, adding 50g of nano zinc oxide and 3g of water treatment-grade polyglutamic acid, stirring and treating for 5min by using a microwave reactor with microwave frequency of 2450MHz and output power of 700W under a reflux state, stopping microwave radiation for 5min, continuing stirring and treating for 5min by using the microwave reactor under the reflux state, repeating the steps, wherein the total microwave radiation time is 30min, concentrating the obtained mixture under reduced pressure to recover the ethanol, drying the concentrated residue in a drying oven at 110 ℃ of 105 ℃ to constant weight, and preparing the obtained solid into micro powder by using an ultrafine pulverizer to obtain the weather-resistant agent;
(4) preparing a PC/ABS composite material: adding 65g of PC resin, 15g of ABS resin, 10g of flame retardant, 5g of fumed silica, 4g of methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer, 0.5g of antioxidant 1010 and 0.5g of the prepared weather resistant agent into a high-speed mixer, uniformly mixing, feeding into a double-screw extruder, and carrying out melt extrusion granulation, wherein the temperature of the double-screw extruder is as follows: the PC/ABS composite material is obtained by a first zone of 190-.
Example 2
(1) Activating molecular sieve raw powder: firstly, placing 4A molecular sieve raw powder in a drying oven with the temperature of 105-plus-110 ℃ for drying to constant weight, and roasting for 2 hours at the temperature of 550 ℃ to obtain activated molecular sieve raw powder;
(2) preparation of the carrier: dispersing 50g of activated molecular sieve raw powder into absolute ethyl alcohol, adding 8g of allyl glycidyl ether, 10g of magnesium dimethacrylate and 0.5g of azodiisobutyronitrile serving as an initiator, heating to a reflux state, carrying out heat preservation and stirring reaction, continuing to carry out reflux stirring for 30min after the polymerization reaction is finished, carrying out reduced pressure concentration on the obtained mixture to recover the ethyl alcohol, washing the concentrated residue with water to remove unreacted monomers, placing the concentrated residue in an oven with the temperature of 105 and 110 ℃, drying to constant weight, and preparing the obtained solid into micro powder by using an ultrafine pulverizer to obtain a carrier;
(3) preparation of weather resisting agent: dispersing 50g of the prepared carrier in absolute ethyl alcohol, adding 50g of nano zinc oxide and 5g of water treatment-grade polyglutamic acid, stirring and treating for 5min by using a microwave reactor with microwave frequency of 2450MHz and output power of 700W under a reflux state, stopping microwave radiation for 5min, continuing stirring and treating for 5min by using the microwave reactor under the reflux state, repeating the steps, wherein the total microwave radiation time is 30min, concentrating the obtained mixture under reduced pressure to recover the ethanol, drying the concentrated residue in a drying oven at 110 ℃ of 105 ℃ to constant weight, and preparing the obtained solid into micro powder by using an ultrafine pulverizer to obtain the weather-resistant agent;
(4) preparing a PC/ABS composite material: adding 65g of PC resin, 15g of ABS resin, 10g of flame retardant, 5g of fumed silica, 4g of methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer, 0.5g of antioxidant 1010 and 0.5g of the prepared weather resistant agent into a high-speed mixer, uniformly mixing, feeding into a double-screw extruder, and carrying out melt extrusion granulation, wherein the temperature of the double-screw extruder is as follows: the PC/ABS composite material is obtained by a first zone of 190-.
Example 3
(1) Activating molecular sieve raw powder: firstly, placing 4A molecular sieve raw powder in a drying oven with the temperature of 105-plus-110 ℃ for drying to constant weight, and roasting for 2 hours at the temperature of 550 ℃ to obtain activated molecular sieve raw powder;
(2) preparation of the carrier: dispersing 50g of activated molecular sieve raw powder into absolute ethyl alcohol, adding 8g of allyl glycidyl ether, 10g of magnesium dimethacrylate and 0.5g of azodiisobutyronitrile serving as an initiator, heating to a reflux state, carrying out heat preservation and stirring reaction, continuing to carry out reflux stirring for 30min after the polymerization reaction is finished, carrying out reduced pressure concentration on the obtained mixture to recover the ethyl alcohol, washing the concentrated residue with water to remove unreacted monomers, placing the concentrated residue in an oven with the temperature of 105 and 110 ℃, drying to constant weight, and preparing the obtained solid into micro powder by using an ultrafine pulverizer to obtain a carrier;
(3) preparation of weather resisting agent: dispersing 50g of the prepared carrier in absolute ethyl alcohol, adding 50g of nano zinc oxide and 5g of water treatment-grade polyglutamic acid, stirring and treating for 5min by using a microwave reactor with microwave frequency of 2450MHz and output power of 700W under a reflux state, stopping microwave radiation for 5min, continuing stirring and treating for 5min by using the microwave reactor under the reflux state, repeating the steps, wherein the total microwave radiation time is 30min, concentrating the obtained mixture under reduced pressure to recover the ethanol, drying the concentrated residue in a drying oven at 110 ℃ of 105 ℃ to constant weight, and preparing the obtained solid into micro powder by using an ultrafine pulverizer to obtain the weather-resistant agent;
(4) preparing a PC/ABS composite material: adding 65g of PC resin, 15g of ABS resin, 10g of flame retardant, 5g of modified fumed silica, 4g of methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer, 0.5g of antioxidant 1010 and 0.5g of the weather resistant agent prepared above into a high-speed mixer, uniformly mixing, feeding into a double-screw extruder, and carrying out melt extrusion granulation, wherein the temperature of the double-screw extruder is as follows: the PC/ABS composite material is obtained by a first zone of 190-.
Preparation of modified fumed silica: uniformly dispersing 20g of fumed silica in absolute ethyl alcohol, soaking for 15min, adding 3g of PEG-60 hydrogenated castor oil, heating to a reflux state, keeping the temperature and stirring for 30min, adding 3g of titanate coupling agent, keeping the temperature and stirring for 2h under the reflux state, naturally cooling to room temperature, transferring the obtained mixture to an environment with the temperature of-5 ℃, sealing and standing for 5h, filtering, washing the obtained filter residue with absolute ethyl alcohol, sending into a vacuum dryer, drying the obtained solid, and preparing the solid into micro powder by using an ultrafine pulverizer.
Example 4
(1) Activating molecular sieve raw powder: firstly, placing 4A molecular sieve raw powder in a drying oven with the temperature of 105-plus-110 ℃ for drying to constant weight, and roasting for 2 hours at the temperature of 550 ℃ to obtain activated molecular sieve raw powder;
(2) preparation of the carrier: dispersing 50g of activated molecular sieve raw powder into absolute ethyl alcohol, adding 8g of allyl glycidyl ether, 10g of magnesium dimethacrylate and 0.5g of azodiisobutyronitrile serving as an initiator, heating to a reflux state, carrying out heat preservation and stirring reaction, continuing to carry out reflux stirring for 30min after the polymerization reaction is finished, carrying out reduced pressure concentration on the obtained mixture to recover the ethyl alcohol, washing the concentrated residue with water to remove unreacted monomers, placing the concentrated residue in an oven with the temperature of 105 and 110 ℃, drying to constant weight, and preparing the obtained solid into micro powder by using an ultrafine pulverizer to obtain a carrier;
(3) preparation of weather resisting agent: dispersing 50g of the prepared carrier in absolute ethyl alcohol, adding 50g of nano zinc oxide and 5g of water treatment-grade polyglutamic acid, stirring and treating for 5min by using a microwave reactor with microwave frequency of 2450MHz and output power of 700W under a reflux state, stopping microwave radiation for 5min, continuing stirring and treating for 5min by using the microwave reactor under the reflux state, repeating the steps, wherein the total microwave radiation time is 30min, concentrating the obtained mixture under reduced pressure to recover the ethanol, drying the concentrated residue in a drying oven at 110 ℃ of 105 ℃ to constant weight, and preparing the obtained solid into micro powder by using an ultrafine pulverizer to obtain the weather-resistant agent;
(4) preparing a PC/ABS composite material: adding 65g of PC resin, 15g of ABS resin, 10g of flame retardant, 5g of modified fumed silica, 4g of methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer, 0.5g of antioxidant 1010 and 0.5g of the weather resistant agent prepared above into a high-speed mixer, uniformly mixing, feeding into a double-screw extruder, and carrying out melt extrusion granulation, wherein the temperature of the double-screw extruder is as follows: the PC/ABS composite material is obtained by a first zone of 190-.
Preparation of modified fumed silica: uniformly dispersing 20g of fumed silica in absolute ethyl alcohol, soaking for 15min, adding 4g of PEG-60 hydrogenated castor oil, heating to a reflux state, keeping the temperature and stirring for 30min, adding 2g of titanate coupling agent, keeping the temperature and stirring for 2h under the reflux state, naturally cooling to room temperature, transferring the obtained mixture to an environment with the temperature of-5 ℃, sealing and standing for 5h, filtering, washing the obtained filter residue with absolute ethyl alcohol, sending into a vacuum dryer, drying the obtained solid, and preparing the solid into micro powder by using an ultrafine pulverizer.
Comparative example 1
(1) Activating molecular sieve raw powder: firstly, placing 4A molecular sieve raw powder in a drying oven with the temperature of 105-plus-110 ℃ for drying to constant weight, and roasting for 2 hours at the temperature of 550 ℃ to obtain activated molecular sieve raw powder;
(2) preparation of the carrier: dispersing 50g of activated molecular sieve raw powder into absolute ethyl alcohol, adding 8g of allyl glycidyl ether, 10g of magnesium dimethacrylate and 0.5g of azodiisobutyronitrile serving as an initiator, heating to a reflux state, carrying out heat preservation and stirring reaction, continuing to carry out reflux stirring for 30min after the polymerization reaction is finished, carrying out reduced pressure concentration on the obtained mixture to recover the ethyl alcohol, washing the concentrated residue with water to remove unreacted monomers, placing the concentrated residue in an oven with the temperature of 105 and 110 ℃, drying to constant weight, and preparing the obtained solid into micro powder by using an ultrafine pulverizer to obtain a carrier;
(3) preparation of weather resisting agent: dispersing 50g of the prepared carrier in absolute ethyl alcohol, adding 50g of nano zinc oxide, stirring and treating for 5min by using a microwave reactor with microwave frequency of 2450MHz and output power of 700W under a reflux state, stopping microwave radiation for 5min, continuing to stir and treat for 5min by using the microwave reactor under the reflux state, repeating the steps, wherein the total microwave radiation time is 30min, performing reduced pressure concentration on the obtained mixture to recover the ethyl alcohol, drying the concentrated remainder in a drying oven with the temperature of 105 ℃ and 110 ℃ to constant weight, and preparing the obtained solid into micro powder by using an ultrafine pulverizer to obtain the weather-resistant agent;
(4) preparing a PC/ABS composite material: adding 65g of PC resin, 15g of ABS resin, 10g of flame retardant, 5g of fumed silica, 4g of methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer, 0.5g of antioxidant 1010 and 0.5g of the prepared weather resistant agent into a high-speed mixer, uniformly mixing, feeding into a double-screw extruder, and carrying out melt extrusion granulation, wherein the temperature of the double-screw extruder is as follows: the PC/ABS composite material is obtained by a first zone of 190-.
Comparative example 2
(1) Activating molecular sieve raw powder: firstly, placing 4A molecular sieve raw powder in a drying oven with the temperature of 105-plus-110 ℃ for drying to constant weight, and roasting for 2 hours at the temperature of 550 ℃ to obtain activated molecular sieve raw powder;
(2) preparation of weather resisting agent: dispersing 50g of activated molecular sieve raw powder into absolute ethyl alcohol, adding 50g of nano zinc oxide and 5g of water treatment-grade polyglutamic acid, stirring and treating for 5min by using a microwave reactor with microwave frequency of 2450MHz and output power of 700W under a reflux state, stopping microwave radiation for 5min, continuing stirring and treating for 5min by using the microwave reactor under the reflux state, repeating the steps, wherein the total microwave radiation time is 30min, performing reduced pressure concentration on the obtained mixture to recover the ethanol, drying the concentrated residue in an oven at the temperature of 105-plus 110 ℃ to constant weight, and preparing the obtained solid into micro powder by using an ultrafine pulverizer to obtain the weather-resistant agent;
(4) preparing a PC/ABS composite material: adding 65g of PC resin, 15g of ABS resin, 10g of flame retardant, 5g of fumed silica, 4g of methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer, 0.5g of antioxidant 1010 and 0.5g of the prepared weather resistant agent into a high-speed mixer, uniformly mixing, feeding into a double-screw extruder, and carrying out melt extrusion granulation, wherein the temperature of the double-screw extruder is as follows: the PC/ABS composite material is obtained by a first zone of 190-.
Comparative example 3
Preparing a PC/ABS composite material: adding 65g of PC resin, 15g of ABS resin, 10g of flame retardant, 5g of fumed silica, 4g of methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer, 0.5g of antioxidant 1010 and 0.5g of nano zinc oxide into a high-speed mixer, uniformly mixing, feeding into a double-screw extruder, and carrying out melt extrusion granulation, wherein the temperature of the double-screw extruder is as follows: the PC/ABS composite material is obtained by a first zone of 190-.
Comparative example 4
Preparing a PC/ABS composite material: adding 65g of PC resin, 15g of ABS resin, 10g of flame retardant, 5g of fumed silica, 4g of methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer, 0.5g of antioxidant 1010 and 0.5g of ultraviolet absorbent Tinuvin234 into a high-speed mixer, uniformly mixing, feeding into a double-screw extruder, and carrying out melt extrusion granulation, wherein the temperature of the double-screw extruder is as follows: the PC/ABS composite material is obtained by a first zone of 190-.
Example 5
Based on example 2, comparative example 1 in which no water-treated polyglutamic acid was added at the time of weather resistant preparation, comparative example 2 in which the activated molecular sieve raw powder was used as a carrier as it is, comparative example 3 in which nano zinc oxide was used as a weather resistant agent as it is, and comparative example 4 in which an ultraviolet absorber Tinuvin234 (basf, germany) was used as a weather resistant agent were provided.
The PC/ABS composite materials prepared in examples 1-4 and comparative examples 1-4 were used, and their performance was tested, the results are shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1 Performance of PC/ABS composites made according to the examples of the invention
The foregoing shows and describes the general principles and broad features of the present invention and advantages thereof. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, which are described in the specification and illustrated only to illustrate the principle of the present invention, but that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, which fall within the scope of the invention as claimed. The scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.