WO2010015772A1

WO2010015772A1 - Process for manufacturing a polyamide-based barrier material

Info

Publication number: WO2010015772A1
Application number: PCT/FR2009/051527
Authority: WO
Inventors: Benoît BRULE; Philippe Bussi; Nicolas Devaux; Mohamed Make
Original assignee: Arkema France
Priority date: 2008-08-08
Filing date: 2009-07-29
Publication date: 2010-02-11
Also published as: FR2934803A1; FR2934803B1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process for converting a polyamide-based composition to a polyamide material, said polyamide containing at least MXD-10 units and optionally other monomer units, characterized in that said process comprises: - the formation of a preform by injection-moulding of said composition, and - the blow-moulding of said preform, and in that the preform is subjected to a biaxial stretching. It also relates to the resulting material, to the single-layer or multilayer barrier structure containing this material, and to the uses of said structure for the packaging and transport of solid or liquid materials.

Description

Process for producing a polyamide barrier material

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a polyamide barrier material containing at least MXD-10 units.

It is known that certain polyamide materials, such as those resulting from the polycondensation of xylylene diamines on diacids, have a low permeability to oxygen, making it possible to envisage their use for conditioning, for example, oxygen-sensitive food products. .

Thus, US 2006/0149001 discloses mixtures of polyester resins, in particular PET, with poly (m-xylylene adipamide) or MXD-6. It is indicated that these mixtures obtained by extrusion make it possible to produce structures, such as bottles produced by blowing injected preforms or bi-oriented films, having good barrier properties with respect to oxygen and dioxide. carbon, while offering high transparency.

However, it has become apparent to the Applicant that the oxygen barrier properties of the MXD-6 based structures were not always sufficient.

To reduce the permeability of these structures, various solutions have been envisaged in the prior art, consisting essentially of adding additives such as a tetracarboxylic acid dianhydride.

(US 2006/0149001), oxidizable polyethers or polydienes functionalized epoxy or anhydride (US 2002/0099125), a cobalt salt or a silicalite (JP2001-001476) to the polyamide-based composition used for their manufacture.

Document US 2007/0224375 proposes yet another solution, consisting in blowing a multilayer preform, for example a PET / MXD-6 / PET trilayer structure, under biaxial stretching conditions, at a low stretching temperature (86.degree. 94 ° C) and at a relatively high draw ratio (at least 2.10 times in the machine direction and 4.65 times in the transverse direction). These drawing conditions, as well as the multilayer structure of the preform, are presented as essential for obtaining an oxygen impermeable structure.

These solutions have not proved entirely satisfactory, insofar as the structure obtained remains insufficiently impermeable to oxygen for certain applications, or lack of transparency.

Finally, the application WO 2006/108721 suggests replacing the MXD-6 polyamide with an MXD-10 polyamide, obtained from m-xylylene diamine and sebacic acid. Extruded films obtained by the technique of blown film or flat film formed from this material respectively exhibited a permeation rate of oxygen ce.25 36 microns / m ² .24h and 50 .mu.m ce.25 / m ² .24h at 90% relative humidity. Although the structures obtained had good mechanical properties, their permeability to oxygen was nevertheless still higher than that of the structures obtained under the same conditions from the MXD-6 polyamide. The document EP 0 288 972 also discloses a multilayer structure, in particular PET / (co) polyamide / PET, containing for example a central layer consisting of poly (xylylene sebacamide) or MXD-10, used alone (Comparative Example 6) or in the form of copolyamide (Examples 5 and 10), for the formation of transparent and oxygen-impermeable bottles. If the permeation rate of the oxygen of the multilayer structure comprising the copolyamide core layer is satisfactory, this is not the case, on the other hand, of the multilayer structure comprising the MXD-10 core layer.

In this context, the object of the present invention is to obtain a material having not only a satisfactory transparency, but also considerably improved barrier properties, compared to MXD-6 structures possibly subjected to biaxial stretching or structures based on MXD-IO, that is to say, more specifically, an oxygen transmission rate of less than 2 cm .25 μm / 24h.m ² . atm, for example between 0.5 cm ³ .25μm / 24h.m ² . atm and 1 cm ³ .25μm / 24h.m ² . atm, to

23 ° C, as measured for example by means of a device

OXTRAN 2/20 MOCON according to ASTM D 3985.

This object is achieved, according to the invention, by a method comprising a step of biaxially stretching the MXD-10-based material.

The subject of the present invention is thus a process for converting a polyamide-based composition into a polyamide material, said polyamide containing at least MXD-10 units resulting from the polycondensation of the acid. sebacic acid and meta-xylylene diamine, or a mixture of meta-xylylene diamine and para-xylylene diamine, and optionally other monomer units, characterized in that said process comprises: - the formation of a preform by injection of said composition, and

blowing said preform, and in that the preform is subjected to a longitudinal stretch, during or upstream of the blowing step, and stretched in the radial direction by a gas under pressure, simultaneously or after the longitudinal stretching.

The subject of the present invention is also the polyamide material that can be obtained according to the process above.

In the preamble, it is specified that the expression

"included between" used in the remainder of this description should be understood to include the cited terminals.

The process according to the invention is carried out on a polyamide-based composition containing at least MXD-10 units. By "MXD-10" is meant in the following description the polycondensation product of sebacic acid and meta-xylylenediamine, the latter may be taken alone or mixed with other xylylenediamines, the meta-weight ratio in meta -xylylene diamine being predominant, for example in a mixture of xylylene diamines containing from 70 to 100% by weight of meta xylylenediamine. The polyamide used according to the invention may be a homopolyamide, consisting solely of MXD-10 units, or an MXD-10 / Z copolyamide, containing MXD-10 units and Z units.

These Z units can be obtained from a lactam monomer (in particular caprolactam or lauryl lactam), an α, α-amino carboxylic acid (such as 11-aminoundecanoic acid or 12-aminododecanoic acid) or the product of the reaction of a aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or aromatic C4-C36, preferably C6-C14, carboxylic acid diacid (such as adipic acid, sebacic acid, n-dodecanedioic acid, terephthalic acid, isophthalic acid or acid 2,6-dicarboxylic naphthalene) with an aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, arylaliphatic or aromatic C4-C36 diamine, advantageously C6-C22 (such as hexamethylenediamine, m-xylylene diamine or p-xylylene diamine). An example of a copolyamide that can be used in the present invention is a MXD-10 / MXD-6 copolyamide. These copolymers can be prepared by polycondensation, according to a method well known to those skilled in the art. The proportion of Z in these copolymers can range from 0.1 to 10% by weight and more preferably from 1 to 5% by weight.

An advantage of these units Z is that they can be obtained, in whole or in part, from resources derived from renewable raw materials, that is to say containing organic carbon of renewable origin determined according to standard ASTM D6866 .

Among these Z units derived from renewable raw materials, mention may in particular be made of 9-aminonanoic acid, 10-aminodecanoic acid, 12-aminodecanoic acid and aminododecanoic acid and 11-aminoundecanoic acid and its derivatives, especially N-heptyl-11-aminoundecanoic acid.

For the Z units derived from the reaction product between a dicarboxylic acid and a diamine, reference may be made to the diamines and diacids specified in the application

PCT / FR2008 / 050251. In particular, it is possible to envisage: the diamines chosen from butanediamine (z = 4), pentanediamine (z = 5), hexanediamine (z = 6), heptanediamine (z = 7), nonanediamine ( z = 9), decanediamine (z = 10), undecanediamine (z = 11), dodecanediamine (z = 12), tridecanediamine (z = 13), tetradecanediamine (z = 14), hexadecanediamine (z = 14), z = 16), octadecanediamine (z = 18), octadecenediamine (z = 18), eicosanediamine (z = 20), docosanediamine (z = 22) and diamines obtained from fatty acids, and

the diacids chosen from succinic acid (w = 4), adipic acid (w = 6), heptanedioic acid (w = 7), azelaic acid (w = 9), sebacic acid ( w = 10), undecanedioic acid (w = 11), dodecanedioic acid (w = 12), brassylic acid (w = 13), tetradecanedioic acid (w = 14), hexadecanedioic acid ( w = 16), octadecanoic acid

(w = 18), octadecenoic acid (w = 18), eicosanedioic acid (w = 20), docosanedioic acid (w = 22) and fatty acid dimers containing 36 carbons.

It is therefore noted that in particular, sebacic acid, which enters into the synthesis of the MXD-10 unit, can also and advantageously be obtained from raw materials renewable according to ASTM D6866, in particular from castor oil.

Furthermore, there is nothing to preclude considering a polyamide containing MXD-IO units, Z units as described above, as well as units V, W ... these units

V, W ... being defined as the units Z above, subject to being strictly different two by two.

Another advantage of these units Z is to reduce the melting temperature of the MXD-IO and thus to be able to transform the product at a lower temperature, which allows a gain in energy.

Their number-average molecular weight may for example be between 20,000 and 70,000 g / mol, preferably between 30,000 and 60,000 g / mol. In addition, their weight average molecular weight may be between 50,000 and 140,000 g / mol, for example between 70,000 and 120,000 g / mol. These molecular masses are expressed in PMMA equivalent, using a WATERS ALLIANCE 2695 apparatus and a HFIP solvent stabilized with 0.05 M potassium trifluoroacetate (KTFA), the refractometric detection being carried out at 40 ^° C.

In the polyamide-based composition, the polyamide may be alone or possibly combined with other polymers. Such polymers may be wholly or partly obtained from resources derived from renewable raw materials within the meaning of ASTM D6866 and / or exhibit barrier properties, in particular to oxygen. The composition according to the invention may furthermore contain various additives including lubricants, inorganic or organic pigments, thermal and / or UV stabilizers, oxygen absorbers, co-stabilizers, antioxidants, fillers or reinforcers. antistatic agents, fungicides and biocides, anti-shock agents, blowing agents, flame retardants, solvents, and mixtures thereof.

The polyamide preferably represents from 50 to 100% by weight, for example from 75 to 100% by weight and more preferably from 95 to 100% by weight, relative to the total weight of the polyamide-based composition.

In the process according to the invention, the polyamide-based composition is converted by blowing an injected preform (or Injection Stretch Blow Molding).

According to a variant of the invention, the injection and blowing steps can be combined within a single equipment. In another variant, separate machines may be used to manufacture the preform and blow it, respectively.

The manufacture of the preform can itself be done by:

Mixing and heating, in a chamber, granules containing the polyamide-based composition according to the invention, at a temperature preferably ranging from 170 to 350 ^° C., more preferably from 220 to 260 ^° C.,

2- introduction under pressure of the molten composition into a closed mold cavity, at a pressure preferably ranging from 500 to 700 bar, the temperature of the mold being for example between 0 and 40 ⁰ C, where the composition is allowed to cool and solidify,

3- opening of the cavity and removal of the preform thus obtained.

In the first variant of the invention, to obtain the polyamide material, an internal pressure may be applied in the cavity after injection of the polyamide-based composition but before complete cooling of the preform.

In the second variant of the invention, the blowing step generally comprises transferring the preform to a second machine where it is heated, generally at a temperature above the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the polyamide (which is example of 60 ^° C. in DSC for the homopolymer MXD-10) and lower than the recrystallization temperature (which is for example 130 ^° C. in DSC for the MXD-10 homopolymer), before being dilated by a gas under pressure and pressed against the surface of a mold.

According to the present invention, the preform is further subjected to biaxial stretching. To do this, the heated preform is subjected to longitudinal stretching, for example by means of a drawing rod, during or upstream of the blowing step, and stretched in the radial direction by a gas under pressure, simultaneously or after longitudinal stretching. The draw ratio in the longitudinal direction (machine direction) is preferably between 2 and 6, more preferably between 2.5 and 4.5. The stretch ratio in the radial direction (transverse direction) is preferably between 2 and 6, more preferably between 3 and 5. "Drawing ratio" means the ratio of the length of the longitudinally stretched piece of material to the length of the preform, or the ratio of the inside diameter of the piece of blown material to the length of the preform, inner diameter of the preform stretched in the longitudinal direction.

The method described above makes it possible to obtain a material that can be used as a constituent of a barrier structure for water vapor, oxygen and / or aromas, in particular oxygen.

The invention therefore also relates to such a structure including the aforementioned material.

This barrier structure may be a monolayer structure or a multilayer structure containing a first layer consisting of the polyamide barrier material according to the invention and at least one other layer whose chemical composition is different from that of the first layer. Said other layer may thus contain one or more structurally different constituents, and / or present in different proportions, of those included in the polyamide-based composition used for the formation of the first layer.

Examples of materials that can be used to form these other layers can be chosen from: polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and its copolymers, in particular with cyclohexanedimethanol (CHDM), polycarbonate, polyamides such as PA-6 and PA-6.6, polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene, olefinic copolymers such as ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymers (EVOH) and ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers (EVA), acrylonitrile copolymers, halogenated vinyl polymers such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyurethanes. It is also possible to choose materials that can be wholly or partly obtained from resources derived from renewable raw materials, that is to say comprise organic carbon derived from biomass and determined according to ASTM D6866, in particular polymers of vegetable or bacterial origin such as polylactic acid or polyhydroxyalkanoates. PET is preferred for use in the present invention. The various constituent layers of the multilayer structure may optionally be bonded together by means of adhesive layers, for example based on polyolefins. Such polyolefins are preferably functionalized, that is to say that they comprise a reactive function of the epoxide, carboxylic acid or carboxylic acid anhydride (especially maleic anhydride), introduced by grafting or copolymerization.

Such a multilayer structure may for example be obtained by providing as many chambers, in the first step of the preform manufacturing process, as layers to be applied, then feeding the mold used in the second step of this process by simultaneous currents. or successive materials constituting these layers.

It is thus possible to obtain a bilayer structure or a three-layer structure of which is the central layer, or the two outer layers, or the three layers, contain a polyamide material according to the invention.

This structure may in particular be in the form of a hollow container such as a bottle.

The structure according to the invention can be used in various applications and especially as a device for packaging or transporting solids or liquids, in particular for the packaging and storage of oxygen-sensitive materials such as food products. pharmaceuticals or cosmetics, especially beverages and oils; or the manufacture of tanks, tubes or pipes.

The subject of the invention is therefore also these uses, as well as the use of the material according to the invention for improving the resistance to gas permeation, in particular to oxygen, of a device for packaging or transporting materials. solid or liquid. This property can be measured in particular according to ASTM D-3985.

The invention will now be illustrated by the following nonlimiting examples, with reference to the appended figure which represents the oxygen transmission rate of a structure according to the invention, as a function of the relative humidity, compared with other barrier structures. EXAMPLES

Example 1 Preparation of an MXD-10 Polyamide

The following monomers were introduced into a reactor equipped with a stirrer: 14.1 kg (103.5 mol) of meta-xylylene diamine; 20.9 kg (103.5 mol) of sebacic acid and 500 g of water. The mixture thus formed was placed under an inert atmosphere and heated until the temperature reached 240 ⁰ C while maintaining a maximum pressure of 30 bar. After one hour, the pressure was slowly released for 2 hours until reaching atmospheric pressure. The polycondensation was continued at 275 ° C for about 2 hours, passing a stream of nitrogen through the reactor. The final product had a Tg of 60 ^° C., a melting temperature (Tm) of 190 ^° C. (measured by DSC according to the ISO 111357-3 method), and a melt flow index (MFI or MeIt). Flow Index) of 15g / 10 min at 275 ° C under 2.16 kg.

Example 2: Manufacture of a barrier structure in the form of a bottle

A preform having a weight of 23.6 g, a thickness of 3.85 mm, a length of 100 mm including 79 mm under collar and an internal diameter of 21.7 mm was manufactured from the MXD-10 polyamide prepared as described in Example 1, using a single-cavity injection press (ARBURG) having a plasticizing screw diameter of 30 mm. 150 g of polyamide were introduced into the screw. The polyamide was converted at an injection temperature of 240 ^° C., an injection speed of 12 cm ³ / s and an injection pressure of 600 bars. After cooling, the preform obtained was blown into a SB08 universal type blower (SIDEL), equipped with a single mold and capable of producing bottles of Sprite ^® type at a rate of 1800 bottles / h. The longitudinal draw ratio was

2.94 and the radial draw ratio of 3.51, an overall bi-orientation ratio of 10.32. To do this, the preforms were subjected to a pressure of 35 bar at a temperature of 100 ⁰ C, and a stretching rod moving at a speed of 1.66 m / s was used.

The bottles obtained had an internal volume of 514 ml, a neck length of 200 mm, an external diameter of between 55 and 65 mm and a thickness of 300 μm.

Example 3: Oxygen Transmission Rate

Bottles manufactured as described in Example 2 were subjected to a test to determine their oxygen transmission rate, using an OXTRAN 2/20 device from MOCON, according to ASTM D-3985.

The structure according to the invention was compared to a structure based on the same non-biaxially stretched MXD-10 polyamide (result described in application WO 2006/108721), as well as to monolayer films made of a polyamide MXD-6 whether or not biaxially stretched, biaxially or non-biaxially PA6 polyamide, and monolayers based on ethylene / vinyl alcohol copolymers (Soarnol A and D) used as controls (data from brochures and commercial presentations of suppliers).

Oxygen permeation results as a function of relative humidity are illustrated in the attached figure.

As is apparent from this figure, the oxygen permeation of the MXD-10 based structure according to the invention is insensitive to the relative humidity and in all cases lower than that based on MXD-6 subjected to biaxial stretching.

These results are quite surprising, insofar as, as also shown in this figure, the oxygen permeation of an undrawn structure based on MXD-10 is greater than that of an undrawn structure. based on MXD-6.

The structure according to the invention thus has high barrier properties with respect to oxygen, and an oxygen transmission rate, under the operating conditions of the barrier layers (ie between 65 and 95% humidity relative) or even better than that of the ethylene / vinyl alcohol copolymers. In addition, its barrier properties are 50 times higher than those obtained in the absence of biaxial stretching (whereas the improvement conferred by biaxial stretching is only 2 to 3 for the MXD-based structure). 6).

The table below summarizes the major contribution of the biorientation in the injection molded blow molding process ("Injection Stretch Blow Molding" or "ISBM") on the MXD .10.

It has furthermore been demonstrated that bottles made of MXD-10, similar to those described in Example 2, had a satisfactory transparency, similar to that of PET, which resulted in a haze index or haze index (corresponding to the percentage of light scattered through a sample relative to the transmitted light flux) of 4%.

Claims

Process for converting a polyamide-based composition into a polyamide material, said polyamide containing at least MXD-10 units and optionally other monomer units, characterized in that said process comprises: forming a preform by injecting said composition, and - blowing said preform, and in that the preform is subjected to longitudinal stretching, during or upstream of the blowing step, and stretched in the radial direction by a gas under pressure , simultaneously or after the longitudinal stretching.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the polyamide is a homopolyamide, consisting solely of MXD-IO units.

3. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the polyamide is a MXD-10 / Z copolyamide, containing MXD-IO units and Z units selected from a lactam monomer, an α, Cû-amino carboxylic acid and the product of reacting an aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or aromatic C4-C36 dicarboxylic acid with an aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, arylaliphatic or C4-C36 aromatic diamine.

4. Method according to claim 3, characterized in that the proportion of Z in the copolyamide ranges from 0.1 to 10% by weight and more preferably from 1 to 5% by weight.

5. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the polyamide represents from 50 to 100% by weight, for example from 75 to 100% by weight and more preferably from 95 to 100% by weight, by relative to the total weight of the polyamide-based composition.

6. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the preform is subjected to longitudinal stretching by means of a drawing rod.

7. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the stretch ratio in the longitudinal direction is between 2 and 6, more preferably between 2.5 and 4.5.

8. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the radial stretching ratio is between 2 and 6, more preferably between 3 and 5.

9. Polyamide material obtainable by the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. Monolayer or multilayer structure including the barrier material according to claim 9.

11. Use of the structure according to claim 10 as a device for packaging or transporting solids or liquids.

12. Use of the material according to claim 9 for improving the resistance to gas permeation, in particular to oxygen, of a device for packaging or transporting solids or liquids.