US 11,890,800 B2
Production of semicrystalline parts from pseudo-amorphous polymers
Bruce Clay, Boyertown, PA (US); Timothy A. Spahr, Galesville, WI (US); Philippe Bussi, Maisons Laffitte (FR); Richard Audry, Lons (FR); Jason M. Lyons, King of Prussia, PA (US); and Yves Deyrail, Aviron (FR)
Assigned to Arkema Inc., King of Prussia, PA (US)
Filed by Arkema Inc., King of Prussia, PA (US)
Filed on Jun. 8, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/835,001.
Application 17/835,001 is a continuation of application No. 16/710,163, filed on Dec. 11, 2019, granted, now 11,390,008.
Application 16/710,163 is a continuation in part of application No. PCT/US2018/037538, filed on Jun. 14, 2018.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/519,906, filed on Jun. 15, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2022/0297370 A1, Sep. 22, 2022
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. B29C 48/78 (2019.01); B29C 48/00 (2019.01); B29C 48/07 (2019.01); B29K 71/00 (2006.01)
CPC B29C 48/78 (2019.02) [B29C 48/022 (2019.02); B29C 48/07 (2019.02); B29K 2071/00 (2013.01); B29K 2995/004 (2013.01)] 22 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of manufacturing a semi-crystalline article from at least one pseudo-amorphous polymer using a thermo-forming process, said method comprising:
as a softening step, heating at least one pseudo-amorphous polymer having less than about seven % crystallinity and in sheet form to a temperature above the glass transition temperature of the pseudo-amorphous polymer to soften the pseudo-amorphous polymer;
as a crystallization step, heating the at least one pseudo-amorphous polymer to a temperature above the glass transition temperature of the pseudo-amorphous polymer and below the melting temperature of the pseudo-amorphous polymer for a time sufficient to allow the crystallinity of pseudo-amorphous polymer to increase on a mold;
placing the pseudo-amorphous polymer on the mold during either the softening step or the crystallization step before the increase in crystallization takes place; and
forming an semi-crystalline molded article wherein said crystallinity increases by at least 5% (absolute) crystallinity over the pseudo-amorphous polymer,
wherein the pseudo-amorphous polymer comprises (i) poly aryl ether ketone (PAEK) selected from the group consisting of polyetherketoneketone (PEKK), polyetherketone (PEK), polyetherketoneetherketoneketone (PEKEKK), and mixtures thereof and (ii) another polymer selected from the group consisting of fluorinated polymers, polyimides, polysulfones, and polysulfides.