Cycloolefin copolymer composition

• US 5,854,349 A
• Filed: 04/14/1997
• Issued: 12/29/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ticona GmbH (Celanese Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsui Petrochemical Industries, Ltd., Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft (Sanofi )
• Inventors: Abe, Yoshiharu, Sagane, Toshihiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Mullis, Jeffrey C.
• Application Number:
  US08/843,292
• Time in Patent Office: 624 Days
• Field of Search: 525/97, 525/98, 525/313, 525/289
• US Class Current: 525/98
• CPC Class Codes: C08F 210/02 Ethene
• CPC Class Codes: C08F 232/08 having condensed rings coumarone-indene polymers C08F244/00
• CPC Class Codes: C08F 287/00 Macromolecular compounds obtained by polymerising monomers on to block polymers
• CPC Class Codes: C08L 23/0823 Copolymers of ethene with aliphatic cyclic olefins
• CPC Class Codes: C08L 23/16 Elastomeric ethene-propene or ethene-propene-diene copolymers, e.g. EPR and EPDM rubbers
• CPC Class Codes: C08L 2666/04 Macromolecular compounds according to groups C08L7/00 - C08L49/00, or C08L55/00 - C08L57/00; Derivatives thereof
• CPC Class Codes: C08L 53/02 of vinyl-aromatic monomers and conjugated dienes
• CPC Class Codes: C08L 53/025 modified

Abstract

Disclosed is a cycloolefin copolymer composition (C) obtained by copolymerizing an α-olefin of two or more carbon atoms (a) and a specific cycloolefin (b) in the presence of an aromatic ring-containing vinyl hydrocarbon/conjugated diene copolymer or a product of hydrogenation thereof (A) which has an intrinsic viscosity (η) of 0.5 to 5.0 dl/g; at least one glass transition temperature (measured by DSC) of lower than 15° C.; polymerizable carbon-to-carbon double bonds in an amount of 2 to 150 in terms of iodine value; and a refractive index n_D (A) of 1.50 to 1.65. In the composition (C), the component (A) is contained in an amount of 1 to 40% by weight, and a difference Δn_D between the refractive index n_D (A) of the component (A) and a refractive index n_D (B) of a cycloolefin copolymer component (B) obtained by copolymerizing the α-olefin (a) and the cycloolefin (b) in the absence of the component (A) is not more than 0.015. The cycloolefin copolymer composition is excellent in impact resistance, transparency and heat resistance.

Claims

1. A cycloolefin copolymer composition (C) obtained by:

copolymerizing (a) an α

-olefin and (b) a cycloolefin represented by the following formula (I) ##STR10## wherein n is 0 or 1,

m is 0 or a positive integer,

r is 0 or 1,

each of R¹ to R¹⁸, R^a and R^b independently represent a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom or a hydrocarbon group, provided that R¹⁵ to R¹⁸ may mutually bond to form a monocyclic or polycyclic ring structure which may contain a double bond, and a combination of R¹⁵ and R¹⁶ or a combination of R¹⁷ and R¹⁸ may form an alkylidene group, or by the following formula (II) ##STR11## wherein each of p and q is 0 or an integer of 1 or greater,

each of m and n is 0, 1 or 2,

each of R¹ to R¹⁹ independently represents a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an aliphatic hydrocarbon group, an alicyclic hydrocarbon group, an aromatic hydrocarbon group or an alkoxy group, provided that a carbon atom with which R⁹ or R¹⁰ bonds and either a carbon atom with which R¹³ bonds or a carbon atom with which R¹¹ bonds may bond with each other directly or through an alkylene group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms and that, when n=m=0, a combination of R¹⁵ and R¹² or a combination of R¹⁵ and R¹⁹ may mutually bond to form an aromatic monocyclic ring or aromatic polycyclic rings,

in the presence of component (A) a blend of a styrene/(ethylene/propylene)/styrene block copolymer and styrene/butadiene/styrene block copolymer, wherein the weight ratio of said styrene/(ethylene/propylene)/styrene block copolymer to styrene/butadiene/styrene block copolymer is 42/58 to 58/42,

the component (A) having an intrinsic viscosity (η

), as measured in decalin at 135°

C., of 0.5 to 5.0 dl/g, at least one glass transition temperature (Tg), as measured by DSC, of lower than 15°

C., polymerizable carbon-to-carbon double bonds in an amount of 2 to 150 (g-iodine/g-polymer) in terms of iodine value, and a refractive index n_D (A), as measured at 25°

C., of 1.50 to 1.65;

wherein the copolymer composition (C) contains 1 to 40% by weight of the component (A), and a difference Δ

n_D is not more than 0.015, where Δ

n_D is |n_D (A)-n_D (B) |, n_D (A) being the refractive index of component (A) and n_D (B) being a refractive index of a cycloolefin copolymer component (B) obtained by copolymerizing said α

-olefin (a) and said cycloolefin (b) in the absence of said component (A).