JP2008080809A - Production process and molding device of molded article - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a production process and a molding device of a molded article, which make the molded article high functional easily by means of nanocarbon. <P>SOLUTION: The process to produce the molded article by molding a thermoplastic resin is characterized in having following steps. A step to dissolve a material into a supercritical fluid wherein the material is incompatible with the thermoplastic resin but soluble to the supercritical fluid, a step to plasticize the thermoplastic resin in a plasticizing cylinder equipped with a plasticizing screw, a step to introduce the supercritical fluid and the material dissolved therein into the plasticizing cylinder to knead them with the thermoplastic resin by means of the plasticizing screw, and a step to introduce and mold the kneaded resin in the molding section. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a molded article and a molding apparatus in which nanocarbon is contained in a thermoplastic resin (or molten resin) using a supercritical fluid.

  Nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes (CNT), carbon nanohorns, and fullerenes covalently bonded with carbon atoms are collectively referred to as nanocarbons, and are widely studied for practical use as dream materials. For example, the strength of CNT is several hundred times that of steel of the same weight, and the thermal conductivity is several times that of diamond (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1).

  Taking advantage of the characteristics of these materials, attempts have been made to improve the conductivity and strength of the resin by kneading CNTs with the resin (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 2). However, since CNT which is an inorganic material is not compatible with a resin which is an organic material, it is difficult to contain a large amount. In particular, when a blend material with a thermoplastic resin is molded by injection molding, the viscosity is too high to be molded, so that only about 10 wt% can be kneaded. Thus, when the content of CNT is low, it is difficult to achieve high functionality of the resin.

  In order to compensate for the added amount of CNT, carbon black is mixed with a thermoplastic resin to improve conductivity and strength, and a method applied to a fuel cell separator is disclosed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). .)

The modification techniques of the nanocarbon, the another molecule chemically modified fullerene such as C _60, research aimed at development of drugs and functional materials is activating (e.g. Non-Patent Document 3.) Is nanocarbon There has been no report of chemical modification or physical modification of bismuth dissolved in supercritical carbon dioxide.

On the other hand, supercritical fluids are attracting attention as fluids that combine gas permeability and solvent properties as liquids, and fiber dyeing with disperse dyes using supercritical carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) as a solvent has been proposed. (For example, refer to Patent Document 2). And the process of surface-modifying the resin by applying this principle to make it highly functional has been studied (for example, see Non-Patent Document 4).

As other conventional techniques, Patent Document 3 and Patent Document 4 are known.
JP 2002-97375 A JP-A-5-132880 JP-A-2003-26249 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-147644 “The Century of Carbon Beginning”, Morinobu Endo et al., Nikkei Science August 2002 issue Abstracts of the 14th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society for Molding Technology, (4) -217 (2003) “Physiological activity of fullerene”, Eiichi Nakamura, Nikkei Science January 1994 issue Molding Volume 15 No. 9, 2003

However, according to the prior art, a method for easily increasing the functionality of a polymer has not been proposed. For example, according to Patent Document 1, a high-strength and high-conductivity separator is obtained with a thermoplastic resin having a carbon fiber content of 10 to 70 wt% and a carbon nanotube content of 0.1 to 15 wt%. However, the mixed material must be pelletized by extrusion molding or the like and then injection molded, which takes time and labor. In addition, the conventional method of mechanically kneading an organic material and nanocarbon suppresses agglomeration of fine powder of inorganic material and is difficult to uniformly mix. Further, according to the method of Non-Patent Document 4, supercritical CO ₂ is used to deposit silver fine particles on the surface of a thermoplastic resin such as PMMA. Such a method is a batch process in which the surface of the target polymer is modified in a high-pressure vessel, so that mass production is difficult. In addition, since the glass transition temperature is lowered and processed by infiltrating supercritical CO ₂ into the polymer and increasing the intermolecular distance, problems of deformation and internal foaming occur in the case of a resin having a thickness of about 1 mm or more. . Such a conventional surface treatment method using a supercritical fluid is a whole surface treatment method and could not be selectively treated.

  The present invention relates to providing a method for manufacturing a molded product and a molding apparatus that easily enhance the functionality of the molded product with nanocarbon.

  A method for producing a molded product as one aspect of the present invention is a method for producing a molded product by molding a thermoplastic resin, which is incompatible with the thermoplastic resin and can be dissolved in a supercritical fluid. A step of dissolving the substance in the supercritical fluid; a step of plasticizing the thermoplastic resin in a plasticizing cylinder including a plasticizing screw; and the plastic dissolved in the supercritical fluid and the supercritical fluid. It has the process of introduce | transducing into a plasticizing cylinder, kneading | mixing with the said thermoplastic resin using the said plasticizing screw, and introducing the said kneaded resin into a shaping | molding part, It is characterized by the above-mentioned. According to this production method, the nanocarbon can be kneaded with the molten resin together with the supercritical fluid without being precipitated and aggregated. Further, by performing injection molding, extrusion molding, press molding or the like after kneading, a resin molded product having a desired shape and having nanocarbon uniformly dispersed can be obtained. And after screw stirring, it becomes possible to shape | mold continuously, without pelletizing. The supercritical fluid is carbon dioxide.

  A molding apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention is a molding apparatus for molding a thermoplastic resin, and dissolves a substance that is incompatible with the thermoplastic resin and is soluble in the supercritical fluid into the supercritical fluid. A dissolving mechanism, a plasticizing cylinder including a plasticizing screw that plasticizes the thermoplastic resin, a mechanism for introducing the supercritical fluid and a substance dissolved in the supercritical fluid into the plasticizing cylinder, and In a plasticizing cylinder, a mechanism for kneading the supercritical fluid and the substance dissolved in the supercritical fluid into the thermoplastic resin using the plasticizing screw, and a molding part into which the kneaded resin is introduced It is characterized by having. Such a molding apparatus can also obtain the same effects as described above.

  Other objects and further features of the present invention will be made clear by embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, this invention can provide the method and shaping | molding apparatus which make a molded article highly functional simply by nanocarbon.

  Examples of the present invention will be described below. However, the present invention is not limited to these examples.

[Example 1]
The functional group of the nanocarbon used in the present invention is arbitrary as long as it has the property of being dissolved in the supercritical fluid. In this example, the functional group having the structural formula shown below [Chemical Formula 1] (hereinafter referred to as (1) And those having the structural formula represented by the following [Chemical Formula 2] (hereinafter referred to as (2)) were used. In the present invention, the type of nanocarbon to be modified is arbitrary, but in this example, carbon nanotubes were used.

(Table 1)
Table 1 shows nanocarbon derivatives (carbon nanotube compounds) a to e having the structure shown in (1). The compound in which all the substituents R ^{1 to} R ^{5 in} (2) are hydrogen is a compound a, R ³ is a methyl group and the other substituent is hydrogen, and the compound b is a compound in which only R ³ is chlorine and the other substituent is hydrogen. Compound c is a compound c, R ³ is a hydroxy group and the other substituent is a hydrogen compound d, and R ³ is an amino group and another substituent is a hydrogen compound.

The method for modifying the functional group in the present invention is arbitrary, but the following method was used in this example. Under a nitrogen atmosphere, CNTs were suspended in toluene and reacted with nitro radicals generated from copper and concentrated nitric acid to obtain nitrated carbon nanotubes (1). In IR analysis, a spectrum around 1384 cm ⁻¹ characteristic of NO ₂ was confirmed. Further, UV-Vis analysis confirmed a spectrum of λmax of 290 nm in THF. Furthermore, (2) was obtained by reacting with aniline in the presence of triethylamine. The production of (2) was confirmed by ¹ HNMR analysis.

  The modified nanocarbon was infiltrated into the thermoplastic resin together with the supercritical fluid. FIGS. 1 and 3 show cross-sectional structural views of the main part of the mold and molding apparatus used in this example. 2 and 4 show process schematic diagrams in the mold cavity used in the molding apparatus. 1 and 2 relate to a method of infiltrating nanocarbon into the inside of the resin and the entire surface by injection molding, and FIGS. 3 and 4 relate to a method of selectively infiltrating a specific portion of the resin surface.

[Example 2]
FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional structural view of a main part of a mold and a molding apparatus used in this example, and FIG. In FIG. 1, 7a to 7g are automatic drive valves that are driven by an arbitrary signal of the molding machine as a trigger, 8a and 8b are pressure reducing valves, 9a to 9d are manual on-off valves, 10a to 10e are check valves, 15a, Reference numeral 15b denotes a filter.

The supercritical fluid in the present invention is arbitrary, but in this example, CO ₂ having a relatively high pressure-temperature condition to be a supercritical fluid and having a high affinity for the polymer was used. In this example, the carbon nanotube of the chemical formula (1) was used.

The pressure and temperature conditions of the nanocarbon dissolution tank 1 and the piping path in which the supercritical fluid stays in the present invention are arbitrary, but when supercritical CO ₂ is used, the pressure is 10 MPa or more and 35 MPa or less, more preferably 15 MPa or more and 25 MPa. The following is desirable. The temperature is preferably 40 ° C. or higher and 55 ° C. or lower.

  In the apparatus of the present embodiment, all paths from the reserve tank 17 to each pipe and the nanocarbon dissolution tank 1, the stirring tank 4, and the automatic valves 7a, 7b, and 7f with a heater (not shown) are 45 to 55 ° C. The temperature is controlled. A nanocarbon derivative 2 that can be dissolved in a supercritical fluid is stored in the nanocarbon dissolution tank 1. Examples of the nanocarbon derivative 2 include fullerene having a modifying group (functional group) that dissolves in a supercritical fluid, carbon nanotube, carbon nanohorn, and modified products thereof.

In this example, the pressure was adjusted as follows. First, after the liquefied carbon dioxide supplied from the CO ₂ cylinder 18 is brought into a supercritical state of 40 to 45 MPa by the supercritical fluid generator 3, the reserve tank 17 is set so that the pressure gauge P1 becomes 18 MPa by the pressure reducing valve 8a. The internal pressure was adjusted.

In this embodiment, supercritical CO ₂ in the reserve tank 17 is mixed with the entrainer in the entrainer dissolution tank 6. In the present invention, a known alcohol, acetone, or the like may be used as an entrainer, that is, a cosolvent, in order to improve the solubility of the modified nanocarbon in the supercritical fluid.

In this example, acetone was used as the entrainer. Acetone is fed to the entrainer dissolving tank 6 by driving the ene trainer pump 11 ene trainer tank 5 which is stored, entrainer is dissolved in the supercritical CO _2. The amount of the entrainer in the entrainer dissolution tank 6 is controlled by opening / closing the automatic valve 7d and driving the entrainer pump 11 so that the feedback device 12 always stays a predetermined amount or more.

On the other hand, the supercritical CO ₂ in the reserve tank 17 was depressurized by the pressure reducing valve 8b so that the pressure gauge P2 was 15 MPa and introduced into the nanocarbon dissolution tank 1. Modified nanocarbon is stored in the nanocarbon dissolution tank 1. Nanocarbon is gradually dissolved in a supercritical fluid having a pressure of 15 MPa, and is introduced into the agitation tank 4 by an amount dissolved by a method described later.

  If the pressure and temperature of the supercritical fluid are constant, the solubility of the solute will not change. Therefore, the concentration of nanocarbon dissolved in the dissolution tank 1 is in a saturated state and is always constant, but when the flow is generated and the pressure is reduced, the carbon is supersaturated and the solute is precipitated.

  In the molding apparatus of the present embodiment, as described below, due to the reduced pressure when introduced into the mold cavity 21 or the plasticizer cylinder 16 of the molding machine, the nanocarbon as the solute becomes supersaturated, and the like in the mold. The device which suppresses precipitation is made | formed.

In the molding apparatus of this embodiment, supercritical CO ₂ and nanocarbon dissolved therein can be introduced into the mold cavity 21 and the molding machine plasticizing cylinder 16 by opening the automatic valves 7a, 7b and 7f. With the opening, the volume in the stirring tank 4 is reduced and the pressure is reduced.

In this example, immediately after the automatic valve 7a or 7f was closed, the automatic valve 7g was opened for a certain time, and nanocarbon 2 was replenished to the stirring tank 4 together with supercritical CO ₂ having a pressure of 15 MPa. Thereafter, the automatic valve 7h is opened, and the supercritical fluid containing the entrainer is introduced into the stirring tank 4 from the entrainer dissolution tank 6 at a pressure of 18 MPa. By this operation, the pressure inside the stirring tank 4 is instantaneously increased to 18 MPa, and the entrainer is replenished.

  Therefore, in the stirring tank 4 that is constantly stirred, the modified nanocarbon is in an unsaturated state and dissolved in a mixed solvent of 18 MPa supercritical fluid and entrainer. Therefore, even if the supercritical fluid is decompressed to some extent, the modified nanocarbon that has been dissolved does not become supersaturated and does not precipitate.

In this example, supercritical CO ₂ and nanocarbon were first kneaded when plasticizing the thermoplastic. The thermoplastic plastic that can be used in the present invention is arbitrary, but polycarbonate (Lexan OQ1020 manufactured by GE Plastics) was used in this example. Resin pellets dried at 120 ° C. for 4 hours or more by a dryer (not shown) are supplied to a hopper 26 and plasticized by a screw 14 in a molding machine plasticizing cylinder 16 controlled at 300 ° C. This is the same method as before.

  The present invention is characterized in that a supercritical fluid and modified nanocarbon are kneaded into a thermoplastic resin in a screw simultaneously with plasticization. In this embodiment, a vent structure 21A that is decompressed by the screw 14 is provided. During the plasticization, the valve 7f is opened when the vent structure 21A reaches just below the manually opened manual valves 9a and 9b, and the supercritical fluid and nanocarbon are injected into the molding machine plasticizing cylinder 16. . Thereafter, plasticization and metering were completed and the screw 14 was retracted to the metering position.

  Injection molding was performed as follows. First, molten plastic was filled into the cavity 21 formed by the fixed mold 24 and the movable mold 25. The size of the cavity 21 was a test piece shape of 50 mm long × 100 mm wide × 3 mm thick. The mold is temperature-controlled at 120 ° C. with a temperature controller (not shown) and cooling water flowing in a temperature control circuit provided in the mold, and the abutting surfaces of both molds are sealed with an O-ring (not shown). ing.

  Immediately after opening the shut-off valve 19, the screw 14 was advanced at an injection speed of 300 mm / s to fill the cavity 21 from the nozzle tip 29 through the spool 20 in the mold. As described above, when injected into the mold, there arises a problem that nanocarbon is deposited non-uniformly as the pressure is reduced, and the supercritical fluid is gasified on the plastic surface and the surface property is deteriorated.

  In the present invention, in order to avoid the above problem, it is desirable to introduce a high-pressure gas such as a supercritical fluid into the mold in advance. In this embodiment, the supercritical fluid and the modification are introduced via the introduction pipe 22. The mold was filled with nanocarbon.

  While the movable mold 25 and the fixed mold 24 are closed by generating a clamping force of 25 tons by an electric mold clamping mechanism of a molding machine (not shown), first, the automatic valve 7a is opened for 1 second and the pipe to the automatic valve 7b is opened. The supercritical fluid having a pressure of 18 MPa and the modified nanocarbon were filled from the stirring tank 4. Thereafter, the automatic valve 7a was closed.

  In the molding apparatus of the present embodiment, the amount of supercritical fluid in which modified nanocarbon, which is a solute to be introduced into the mold, is dissolved can be controlled by the pipe length from the automatic valve 7a to the automatic valve 7b and its internal volume. Next, the automatic valve 7b was opened, and the supercritical fluid and nanocarbon were introduced from the introduction pipe 22 into the mold. At the same time, the automatic valve 7c was opened, and the automatic valve 7a was continuously opened again, and a supercritical fluid having a pressure of 18 MPa mixed with the etrainer was introduced from the entrainer dissolution tank 6.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 2A, the molten resin 30 was injected and filled in a state where the supercritical fluid and nanocarbon were introduced into the mold. The introduced supercritical fluid filled in the cavity is oriented on the surface of the molten resin 30 by a fountain flow (fountain) effect. As shown in FIG. 2B, the portion that is not oriented is expelled to the staying space 27 provided outside the cavity 21.

  In the present embodiment, the supervalve fluid and the nanocarbon in the stay space 27 were discharged from the discharge pipe 28 to the recovery tank 13 by opening the automatic valve 7e during filling. At that time, a supercritical fluid is introduced from the introduction pipe 22 from a route (not from the automatic valve 7c to the automatic valve 7a, from the automatic valve 7a to the automatic valve 7b) where nanocarbon is not dissolved.

  Therefore, after filling, the nanocarbon discharged from outside the cavity 21 is all recovered in the recovery tank by the supercritical fluid containing the entrainer while the molten plastic is cooled by the mold as shown in FIG. 2 (c). Is done.

  In this embodiment, after performing the recovery process after filling, the automatic valves 7a and 7b are closed in order to stop the supply of the supercritical fluid, and the system of the introduction pipe 22, the retention space 27, and the discharge pipe 28 is set to atmospheric pressure. The pressure was reduced. Thereafter, molten plastic was additionally filled from the nozzle 29 by controlling the pressure of the screw 14 to suppress foaming and sink marks.

  After the automatic valve 7a is closed, the automatic valve 7g is temporarily opened as described above, and then the automatic valve 7h is opened in order to restore the pressure in the stirred tank 4 that has been reduced. Thereafter, the process proceeds to the plasticizing and kneading step of the screw 14 described above.

The recovery tank is decompressed by a relief valve (not shown), separated into an entrainer, modified nanocarbon, and CO ₂ and can be reused.

  When the tensile strength of the sample of the plastic molded product produced in this example was measured, it was twice that of the sample that was not infiltrated with nanocarbon. Moreover, when the electrical resistance of the surface was measured, it was reduced to 1/10.

When the plastic test piece produced in the present example was analyzed with a supercritical extraction device (SFX system 1220 manufactured by ISCO), the solute was extracted with supercritical CO ₂ at a pressure of 30 MPa. When the solute was observed with a TEM, a CNT structure was confirmed. A spectrum around 1384 cm ⁻¹ characteristic of NO ₂ was confirmed by IR analysis.

[Example 3]
Except for using the modified carbon nanotube of the chemical formula (2), nanocarbon was permeated into the polymer by the same method using the same apparatus as in Example 2. When the plastic test piece produced in the present example was analyzed with a supercritical extraction device (SFX system 1220 manufactured by ISCO), the solute was extracted with supercritical CO ₂ at a pressure of 30 MPa. When the solute was observed with a TEM, a CNT structure was confirmed. The production of (2) was confirmed by ¹ HNMR analysis.

[Example 4]
Using the molding apparatus shown in FIG. 3, modified nanocarbon similar to that in Example 2 was selectively oriented on the surface of the resin molded product. The same material as in Example 1 was used as the thermoplastic resin. The apparatus used in the present embodiment has a route from the CO ₂ cylinder 18 to the supercritical fluid generator 3 and further to the nanocarbon or entrainer and the supercritical fluid stirring tank 4 and the automatic valve 7b for introduction into the mold. The configuration is the same as that of the apparatus used in Example 2. In this example, supercritical fluid and modified nanocarbon were not introduced into the molding machine plasticizing cylinder 16. In the mold used in the present embodiment, two concave grooves 23 having a width of 0.3 mm, a depth of 0.4 mm, and a length of 30 mm are cut on the surface of the fixed mold 24 by machining. Two holes each leading to the introduction pipe 22 are formed at the bottom at both ends of the concave groove 23.

  The process in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. First, as described below, plasticization and injection filling were performed in the same manner as in the prior art. The pellets in the hopper 26 were plasticized and melted by the screw 14 in the plasticizer cylinder 16 of the molding machine. Next, the shutoff valve 19 was opened, and the screw 14 was advanced to fill the cavity 21 with the molten resin 31 through the nozzle 29 and the mold spool 20 as shown in FIG.

  At this time, the cooling water temperature of the temperature control circuit (not shown) in the fixed mold 24 and the movable mold 25 was 100 ° C. By lowering the mold temperature, the viscosity of the resin in the mold increases, so that the mold surface recess 23A is not completely filled as shown in FIG.

  Next, after the supercritical fluid in which the desired nanocarbon was dissolved was retained in the piping between the automatic valves 7a to 7b by the same method as in Example 2, the automatic valve 7b was opened. As a result, the nanocarbon or the like was brought into contact with the resin in the mold surface recess 23A as shown in FIG. Further, as in Example 1, an entrainer-containing supercritical fluid was continuously introduced from the rear of the supercritical fluid containing nanocarbon. Furthermore, holding pressure was applied by moving the screw 14 forward, and the internal pressure of the resin 31 was increased to complete the transfer to the concave groove 23.

  As a result, as shown in FIG. 4C, all of the nanocarbon-containing supercritical fluid introduced into the mold first penetrates into the resin, and excess nanocarbon does not stay in the mold. Furthermore, after closing the automatic valve 7a, 7e was opened, and the entrainer-containing supercritical fluid remaining in the introduction pipe 22 was decompressed and opened to the recovery layer. Thereafter, the automatic valve 7b was closed.

  After the molded product was cooled, the movable mold 25 was opened and the product was taken out. In the molded product in this example, it was confirmed that two convex portions having a length of 30 mm corresponding to the concave groove 23 of the mold were formed, and both ends of the convex portion were energized.

Moreover, when the convex part formation part of this molded product was cut out and analyzed with a supercritical extraction apparatus (SFX system 1220 manufactured by ISCO) in the same manner as in Example 2, the solute was extracted with supercritical CO ₂ at a pressure of 30 MPa. It was. When the solute was observed with a TEM, a CNT structure was confirmed.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, various deformation | transformation and a change are possible for this invention within the range of the summary.

It is principal part sectional drawing of the metal mold | die and molding apparatus which can be used for one Example of this invention. FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view of part A in FIG. 1, and is a process schematic diagram in a mold cavity using a molding apparatus that can be used in an embodiment of the present invention. It is principal part sectional drawing of the metal mold | die and molding apparatus which can be used for one Example of this invention. FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view of a portion B in FIG. 3, and is a process schematic diagram in a mold cavity using a molding apparatus that can be used in an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 ... nanocarbon dissolving tank 2 ... nanocarbon derivative 3 ... supercritical fluid generator 14 ... Screw 18 ... CO ₂ cylinder 21 ... die cavity 24 ... stationary mold 23A ... mold surface recess 25 ... movable die 30, 31 ... Molded resin

Claims (3)

A method for producing a molded article by molding a thermoplastic resin,
Dissolving in the supercritical fluid a substance that is incompatible with the thermoplastic resin and is soluble in the supercritical fluid;
In a plasticizing cylinder comprising a plasticizing screw, the step of plasticizing the thermoplastic resin;
Introducing the supercritical fluid and a substance dissolved in the supercritical fluid into the plasticizing cylinder, and kneading with the thermoplastic resin using the plasticizing screw;
And a step of introducing the kneaded resin into a molding part and molding the resin.   The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the supercritical fluid is carbon dioxide. A molding apparatus for molding a thermoplastic resin,
A dissolution mechanism that dissolves in the supercritical fluid a substance that is incompatible with the thermoplastic resin and is soluble in the supercritical fluid;
A plasticizing cylinder comprising a plasticizing screw for plasticizing the thermoplastic resin;
A mechanism for introducing the supercritical fluid and a substance dissolved in the supercritical fluid into the plasticizing cylinder;
In the plasticizing cylinder, a mechanism for kneading the supercritical fluid and a substance dissolved in the supercritical fluid into the thermoplastic resin using the plasticizing screw;
And a molding unit into which the kneaded resin is introduced.