JP2501696B2 - Reinforced foam and method for producing the same - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to reinforced foams.
More specifically, the present invention relates to a foam body in which a specific entangled body made of fiber / metal mesh is adhered and integrated on the surface of the foam body to be reinforced, and a method for producing the foam body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, polystyrene-based foams are small in deformation against external force and have excellent shape retention and dimensional stability, so that they are suitable for packaging and packing electric appliances and precision equipment, cooler boxes, heat insulating building materials, etc. It has been widely used.

However, while the polystyrene foam has many advantages as described above, it is extremely brittle against external stress such as impact and bending, and may be cracked by slight deformation.
It has a drawback that it is easily broken and leads to the total destruction of the foam. Therefore, it has been considered as a material that is not suitable for a portion that is subjected to a strong impact force, bending, or twisting.

In order to reinforce the polystyrene foam, a method of mixing fibers to reinforce the polystyrene foam has been proposed (Japanese Patent Publication No. 47-28097 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 48-100471). ), Since the reinforcing fibers and the foam are poorly integrated, a substantial reinforcing effect cannot be obtained, and the inventions described in those publications cannot be said to be preferable methods. In addition, there is a proposal to combine it with plastic, but although a slight effect on strengthening is recognized, the plastic itself is destroyed when subjected to a large bending action and the strengthening effect is poor, especially when hit by sharp objects. Was very weak and unfavorable.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a reinforced foam capable of remarkably improving the fracture resistance and splatter resistance of the foam and a method for producing the same. is there.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following constitution.

That is, the reinforced foam of the present invention is a reinforced foam in which a entangled body of fibers / metal mesh is disposed on at least one surface of the foam, and the fibers are mainly composed of an adhesive component and a strong component. The reinforced foam is characterized in that the entangled body and the surface of the foam are bonded and integrated via an adhesive component of the fiber.

The method for producing a reinforced foam of the present invention is
An entangled body in which a composite fiber and / or composite yarn mainly composed of a metal mesh and an adhesive component and a strong component are entangled is disposed in a mold having a desired shape, and a material having a latent foaming property is filled in the mold. A method for producing a reinforced foam, characterized in that the entangled body is bonded and integrated with a part or the whole of the surface of the foam by heating and causing the adhesive component of the fiber to be thermally deformed and / or melted simultaneously with foam molding. And.

Alternatively, in the method for producing a reinforced foam of the present invention, an entangled body in which a metal mesh and a composite fiber and / or a composite yarn mainly composed of an adhesive component and a strong component are entangled on the surface of the foam under heating. The method for producing a reinforced foam is characterized in that the entangled body is adhered and integrated with a part or the whole of the surface of the foam by press-contacting with each other and thermally deforming and / or melting the adhesive component.

Alternatively, in the method for producing a reinforced foam of the present invention, a entangled body in which a metal mesh and a composite fiber and / or a composite yarn mainly composed of an adhesive component and a strong component are entangled is arranged on the surface of the foam, A reinforced foam characterized in that a heating body is pressed against the entangled body to heat it to heat-deform and / or melt the adhesive component of the fiber so as to integrally bond the entangled body to a part or the whole of the surface of the foamed body. It is a body manufacturing method.

Alternatively, in the method for producing a reinforced foam of the present invention, a composite fiber comprising a metal mesh and an adhesive component and a strong component on at least one surface of the foam formed into a sheet or board by extrusion molding, and And / or a entangled body in which composite yarns are entangled is arranged, and a heating body is pressed against the entangled body to heat the entangled body to heat-deform and / or melt the adhesive component of the fiber, and the entanglement is performed on a part or the whole of the foam surface It is a method for producing a reinforced foam, which comprises integrally bonding a body.

Alternatively, in the method for producing a reinforced foam of the present invention, a composite fiber comprising a metal mesh and mainly an adhesive component and a strong component and / or a metal mesh is formed on the surface of the foam formed into a sheet or board by extrusion molding. An entangled body in which composite yarns are entangled is arranged, a heating body is pressed against the entangled body to heat, and the adhesive component of the fiber is thermally deformed and / or melted, so that the entangled body is partially or entirely formed on the surface of the foam. It is a method for producing a reinforced foam which is characterized in that it is integrally bonded.

[0013]

The present invention will be described in detail below. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a reinforced foam which is adhesively integrated with a specific entangled body in which a metal mesh, a composite fiber and / or a composite yarn are entangled on at least one surface of the foam, and a method for producing the same.

More specifically, the specific entangled body referred to in the present invention is a composite fiber composed of at least two components, an adhesive component capable of favorably adhering to a foam on a metal mesh and a strong component having high strength, and / or Alternatively, it is an entangled body of metal mesh / fibers entwined with a composite yarn, and in addition to the constituent fibers themselves being entangled, the entangled body has a form in which the fibers are entangled in the eyes of the metal mesh. There is something. By bonding the metal mesh / fiber entangled body to the surface of the foam in a planar manner, the adhesion and integration with the foam is good, and the metal mesh has high strength and sufficient deformation resistance due to low elongation. And a foam having good mechanical performance can be obtained.

The failure mechanism of a foam is that when the foam is subjected to an external stress, it is subjected to a compressing action and the opposite surface is subjected to a tensile action. Have extremely weak characteristics,
It is considered that, if some kind of fracture occurs in the portion that receives the tensile action, the propagation of the fracture spreads to the whole and leads to the whole fracture. The reinforced foam of the present invention has, on the surface subjected to the compressive action and the tensile action, the fiber portion having good adhesiveness of the entangled body which is adhered in a planar manner, and thus has excellent deformation resistance, which is a characteristic of the metal mesh, and high The strength can act effectively, and it is difficult for deformation and defects to occur on the surface that receives external stress.Also, even if defects occur, the fracture propagation is stopped by the texture of the metal mesh, resulting in total destruction. It has characteristics that it does not reach the target and is not easily damaged by a sharp impact. That is, the reinforced foam of the present invention will not be broken unless it is subjected to a stress enough to cut the metal mesh. Furthermore, depending on the disposition conditions of the entangled body, it is possible to obtain a waterproofing effect by forming a film of the adhesive component.

The "metal mesh" referred to in the present invention is composed of various metal components having high strength and has a large number of through holes in the sheet-like surface, and is particularly limited as long as it satisfies such requirements. Not done. That is, the material consists of steel and non-ferrous metal materials, such as iron and steel, pure iron, carbon steel, special steel, cast iron and cast steel, non-ferrous metal materials, aluminum, magnesium, titanium, zinc, nickel, copper,
Lead, tin, and alloys thereof are used with any one or more of them. In addition, such forms include metal laths such as flat laths, cobras, corrugated laths, rib laths, wide laths (wire metal), high laths, composite laths, expanded metals, and their lath sheets, rhombus nets,
Kikko net, plain weave net, crimp net, twill net, twill weave net,
Wire mesh such as tatami mesh and various punching metals are applied. These wire diameter, mesh, mesh and porosity are appropriately selected according to the purpose and application. The metal mesh may be a fiber / metal mesh entangled body in which a part of the entangled fibers may substantially exist in the through hole, and is not particularly limited to the above.

The foam used in the method of the present invention may be, for example, polystyrene, styrene / ethylene copolymer, acrylonitrile / styrene copolymer, bead molding or extrusion molding of polystyrene resin such as ABS resin. The foamed molded product or the raw material thereof can be preferably applied.

The preferred form of the composite fiber is a core / sheath type fiber, a bimetal type fiber, a multi-layer bonding type fiber, a radial multi-layer type fiber, etc. Among these, many core components are contained in the sheath component. A multicore / sheath type composite fiber which is a fiber having a structure is preferable. For example, it is represented by a polymer array fiber, a mixed spun fiber and the like.

FIG. 1 to FIG. 7 are schematic cross-sectional model diagrams showing a model of an embodiment of the conjugate fiber used in the present invention.

In such a composite fiber, the adhesive component is preferably arranged on the outer periphery or outer shell of the composite fiber. For example, in the core / sheath type composite fibers as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, it is preferable to arrange them in the sheath component. Further, in the bimetal type or multi-layer bonding type composite fiber as shown in FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7, it may be arranged in any component, but it is arranged in a portion having a large exposed area to the outside. It is more effective and preferable. In these figures, 1 is a composite fiber, 2'is a core component, and 3 is a sheath component.

The thickness of the composite fiber is not particularly limited as long as it is suitable for the specific use of the fiber entangled body or the reinforcing material, but the composite fiber is generally 0.1 to 1000. A denier range is preferable, and in the multi-core / sheath type composite fiber, the thickness of the core fiber is usually preferably about 1/3 to 1/1000 of the composite fiber, and
The number of cores in the composite fiber is preferably in the range of 3 to 10000, and particularly preferably 10 to 1000.

As the adhesive component in the composite fiber, it is important that it is thermally deformed or melted by heating so as to have high adhesiveness with the foam.
Alternatively, it is preferable that B is satisfied. That is, A: a polymer containing the same monomer units as the foam, B: a polymer having good adhesiveness and compatibility with the foam, and especially A is preferable, but the foam is Even if it does not contain the same monomer unit as above, the present invention can be sufficiently achieved as long as the anchor effect or the like acts between the foam and the foam due to thermal deformation or melting to achieve preferable adhesion. The heat distortion temperature of the adhesive component is preferably lower than the heat distortion temperature of the foam by at least 10 ° C or more. Preferred examples thereof include polystyrene copolymers obtained by copolymerizing styrene with higher alcohol esters of acrylic acid and methacrylic acid, polyester copolymers in which the acid component is terephthalic acid / isophthalic acid, and the glycol component is ethylene glycol. .

On the other hand, as the strong component, polyesters typified by polyethylene terephthalate, polyamides typified by nylon 6, nylon 66, aramids, other polyarylate, polyacrylonitrile, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl alcohol,
It is possible to apply polymers having various spinnability such as polyurethanes and modified copolymers thereof or mixtures of other components. Depending on the foam type from these polymer groups, One kind or two or more kinds of polymers are used depending on the purpose and application of the foam.

Further, in the above description, the case of the composite fiber obtained by the composite spinning has been described, but the present invention is not limited to the case of using such a composite fiber, and the core component or It is also possible to use a composite yarn such as a sheath component, or a mixed yarn (including a twisted yarn) made of fibers made of a polymer described as an adhesive component or a strong component. That is, in the present invention, a composite yarn using a combination of fibers or yarns made of an adhesive component and fibers or yarns made of a strong component may be used.

Further, in the present invention, by coating the metal mesh with the above-mentioned mainly adhesive component resin or similar resin, it is more preferable to bond and integrate the metal mesh and the foam or the metal mesh and the fiber. This is an effective means for increasing the above, and is preferable.

The fibers may be in the form of cotton (short fibers) or long fibers (filaments), and they may be used in whole or in part to form webs, nonwoven fabrics, woven fabrics, and knitted fabrics. , A net-sheet material or the like, or a material which constitutes a composite body thereof or the like is used. It is preferable that a part of the fiber be present in the through hole of the metal mesh and connect the front and back of the metal mesh. The basis weight of the fiber portion, the structure, the use of threads, etc. are not particularly limited. However, in order to have a structure in which the fibers enter the metal mesh structure and are entangled with each other, not only a strong structure structure, but also a cotton-like material, a nonwoven fabric, etc. that are easy to move, and a woven fabric,
A composite such as a knitted material or a net sheet material is preferably used.

One of the typical methods for producing an entangled body in the present invention is to make a short fiber or long fiber non-woven web into a sheet using a card, a cross wrapper, a random web, etc. It is performed by laminating meshes and entwining them with each other by needle punching and / or water jet punching. Such punching may be performed on either one side or both sides, and the method or degree of other punching is not particularly limited, and may be a conventionally known method.

As an example of a method for adhering and integrating the entangled body and the foam, one of the methods is to dispose the entangled body on the inner surface of a die having a desired shape and to form various latent foaming properties in the die. material,
For example, a material such as expandable polymer beads is filled and heated by supplying steam or hot air to heat-deform and / or melt the adhesive component of the fiber at the same time as the foam molding, so that a part or the whole of the foam surface is entangled. It is performed by adhering and integrating. In addition, a foam is molded in advance, the entangled body is pressed against the surface of the foam molded body under heating, the adhesive component is thermally deformed and / or melted, and the mutual entangled body is partially or entirely formed on the surface of the foam molded body. Adhesion and integration, or by disposing an entangled body on the surface of the foamed molded body, and heating the entangled body by pressing a heating body such as an iron, a trowel, or a roll to heat and deform the adhesive component of the fiber. And / or is melted and the entangled body is bonded and integrated with a part or the whole of the surface of the foam.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the foam formed by the in-mold foam molding method in the mold as described above.
It can also be applied in extruded foam by using an extruder. As an example of the method, a foaming agent is mixed in a molten polymer, and the mixture is extruded from an extruder in a pressurized state to atmospheric pressure to foam by foaming the foaming agent to form a foam, and then the foaming is performed. A method in which an entangled body is placed on the body, and the adhesive component of the fiber is thermally deformed and / or melted by heating by supplying steam or hot air, and the entangled body is adhered and integrated on a part or the whole of the foam surface, Alternatively, a heating body such as an iron, a trowel, or a roll is pressed against the entangled body to heat it, thereby thermally deforming and / or melting the adhesive component of the fiber,
It is carried out by a method in which the entangled body is integrally bonded to a part or the whole of the surface of the foam.

In the metal mesh, when the area occupied by the through holes is large, the fibers are laminated on the front and back of the metal mesh and heat-treated or pressure-contacted with the heating body, even if the fiber and the metal mesh are not entangled. By doing so, some of the front and back fibers may have a bridge structure in the through hole, but of course, those in which fibers are fused to each other to form an entangled structure are also preferably applied. Of course, disposing fibers / metal mesh / unentangled body of fibers or unentangled body of fiber / metal mesh on the foam surface,
It is also possible to bond and integrate them all at once by performing heat treatment or pressing a heating body.

Such heat treatment causes the adhesive component to be thermally deformed or melted so that it can be sufficiently adhered to the foam, and the foam is not significantly deformed or melted.
It is preferable to carry out under the range of conditions that do not reduce the high strength of the strong component.

The foam obtained according to the present invention is a construction / civil engineering material such as a road mud prevention material subjected to severe impact or mechanical action, various civil engineering materials, partition materials (partitions) for offices, waterproof layer protection materials, etc. It can be preferably applied to the field. In addition, the heat insulation industry, vehicle fields such as automobile interior materials, packaging,
It can be applied to the packing field, transportation pallets such as forklift trucks and containers, transportation and transportation fields such as containers, and sports and miscellaneous goods fields without auxiliary materials. In particular, it has a higher level of impact resistance than conventional reinforced foam and has excellent resistance to breakage against sharp impacts, so shock absorbers and vehicle bumpers to protect yourself from vehicle collision accidents. And the like can be preferably used. Further, it can be preferably used as a concrete form or a heat insulating material that also serves as a concrete form, by taking advantage of the characteristic that the bending resistance is good.

[0033]

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following examples.

In the examples, all "percentages" are by weight.

Example 1 As a composite fiber, a polymer array fiber having a sheath component of 80 parts by weight of styrene / 20 parts by weight of 2-ethylhexyl acrylate copolymer and a core component of nylon 6 (fiber length: 51
mm, number of islands: 36, denier of composite fiber: 3d), a nonwoven fabric web was produced through the steps of card and cross wrapper, and then needle punched to produce two nonwoven fabrics. Insert a 10 mesh, wire number 25, wire diameter 0.50 mm, stainless steel plain weave wire mesh with a mesh opening of 2.0 mm, and perform water jet punching to make the fibers composing the nonwoven fabric and the fibers and the wire mesh mutually. An entangled entangled body was produced.

Using a polystyrene foam molding machine, the above-mentioned entangled bodies are arranged on the upper and lower walls of the mold, and then the expandable polystyrene beads are filled and steam is supplied to carry out foam molding. A reinforced foam integrally bonded was obtained.

When such a reinforced foam was subjected to a falling ball test with 1080 g of stainless balls, the height was 300 cm.
No destruction was observed in the falling ball test from. However, the conventional foam caused a total destruction at a height of only 15 cm, and the fragments scattered around.

Example 2 Using two sheets of the same non-woven web as in Example 1, 6 mesh in the middle, wire number 21, wire diameter 0.8 mm, opening 3.
A 4 mm stainless steel plain woven wire mesh was inserted, and further water jet punched to produce entangled bodies in which the fibers constituting the nonwoven fabric and the fibers and the wire mesh were entangled with each other. The entangled body was placed on both front and back surfaces of a polystyrene extruded foam board formed by being discharged by an extruder, and the foam and the entangled body were integrated through a metal roll at 160 ° C.

In the reinforced foam, no breakage was observed in a drop ball test from 300 cm with 1080 g of stainless balls.

Example 3 Using the same non-woven web and entangled body as in Example 2, a non-woven web was placed on the front surface of a polystyrene extruded foam board and an entangled body was placed on the back side, and bonded using a heating roll.

Such a reinforced foam was subjected to a drop test in which the back surface was the collision surface (weight of iron cube: 1500 g, height: 30).
No fracture was observed at 0 cm).

[0042]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY As described above, according to the present invention, by attaching a specific entangled body composed of a fiber / metal mesh to the surface of a foam such as polystyrene, the brittleness, which is a drawback of the conventional foam, is remarkably increased. Can be improved and imparted with favorable mechanical performance. In particular, it is possible to remarkably improve impact resistance, bending resistance, and fracture resistance against sharp impact. It is also possible to impart effective waterproofness to the foam.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a model of one embodiment of a core / sheath type composite fiber that can be used in the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing a model of another embodiment of the core / sheath type composite fiber that can be used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view schematically showing another embodiment of the core / sheath type conjugate fiber that can be used in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view showing a model example of one embodiment of a bimetal type composite fiber that can be used in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view showing a model example of one embodiment of the multi-layered conjugate fiber that can be used in the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view schematically showing another example of the multi-layered conjugate fiber that can be used in the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view showing another model example of the multi-layered conjugate fiber that can be used in the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: composite fiber 2, 2 ': core component 3: sheath component

Claims (11)

(57) [Claims] 1. A reinforced foam comprising a fiber / metal mesh entangled body disposed on at least one surface of the foam.
The fiber is a composite fiber and / or a composite yarn mainly composed of an adhesive component and a strong component, and the entangled body and the surface of the foam are bonded and integrated with each other via the adhesive component of the fiber, and the reinforced foam is formed. body. 2. The reinforced foam according to claim 1, wherein the foam is a polystyrene resin foam. 3. The reinforced foam according to claim 1, wherein the surface of the metal mesh is covered with a polystyrene resin. 4. The reinforced foam according to claim 3, wherein the adhesive component and the polystyrene resin are lower than the heat distortion temperature of the foam resin by 10 ° C. or more at the heat distortion temperature. 5. The composite fiber or composite yarn is a core / sheath composite composite fiber or composite yarn.
The reinforced foam described. 6. The reinforced foam according to claim 5, wherein the core / sheath type composite structure is a multi-core / sheath type composite fiber. 7. A entangled body in which a composite fiber and / or a composite yarn mainly composed of a metal mesh and an adhesive component and a strong component are entangled is disposed in a mold having a desired shape, and a material having a latent foaming property is provided. Reinforcement characterized by filling the inside of a mold and heating it to foam-form and heat-deform and / or melt the adhesive component of the fiber at the same time so that the entangled body is adhered and integrated with a part or the whole of the foam surface. Method for producing foam. 8. An entangled body in which a metal mesh and a composite fiber and / or a composite yarn mainly composed of an adhesive component and a strong component are entangled with each other on the surface of the foamed body under pressure in a heated state.
A method for producing a reinforced foam, characterized in that the adhesive component is thermally deformed and / or melted so that the entangled body is bonded and integrated with a part or the entire surface of the foam. 9. An entangled body in which a composite fiber and / or a composite yarn mainly composed of an adhesive component and a strong component are entangled with each other is disposed on the surface of a foamed body, and a heating body is pressed against the entangled body to heat the entangled body. A method for producing a reinforced foam, wherein the adhesive component of the fiber is thermally deformed and / or melted, and the entangled body is bonded and integrated with a part or the whole of the surface of the foam. 10. An entangled body in which a metal mesh and a composite fiber and / or a composite yarn mainly composed of an adhesive component and a strong component are entangled on at least one surface of a foam formed into a sheet or a board by extrusion molding. A reinforcing member characterized in that the entangled body is bonded to and integrated with a part or the whole of the surface of the foam by heating the entangled body with a heating body under pressure so as to thermally deform and / or melt the adhesive component of the fiber. Method for producing foam. 11. An entangled body in which a metal mesh and a composite fiber and / or a composite yarn mainly composed of an adhesive component and a strong component are entangled on the surface of a foamed sheet formed by extrusion molding or formed into a board, and A reinforced foam characterized in that a heating body is pressed against the entangled body to heat it to heat-deform and / or melt the adhesive component of the fiber so that the entangled body is bonded and integrated with a part or the whole of the surface of the foamed body. Manufacturing method.