Claims
- 1. A process of forming a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) material mixture which is suitable for subsequent processing, comprising the steps of;
collecting diverse PET materials having a relatively wide distribution of intrinsic viscosity (IV) values; co-mingling said collected PET materials and reforming said co-mingled PET materials into a heterogeneous mixture of PET materials comprising substantially crystalline flake segments and non-crystalline chunk segments; and removing said substantially non-crystalline chunk segments from said heterogeneous mixture of PET materials so as to leave substantially only said substantially crystalline flake segments within said heterogeneous mixture of PET materials such that when said heterogeneous mixture of PET materials comprising substantially only said substantially crystalline flake segments is processed further so as to increase said intrinsic viscosity (IV) values of said PET materials, the generation of a substantial amount of heat of crystallization within said processed mixture of said PET materials will be effectively prevented.
- 2. The process as set forth in claim 1, wherein:
said intrinsic viscosity (IV) values of said collected PET materials are within the range of 0.60 g/dl to 0.80 g/dl.
- 3. A process for making a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) material, comprising the steps of:
collecting diverse PET materials having a relatively wide distribution of intrinsic viscosity (IV) values; co-mingling said collected PET materials and reforming said co-mingled PET materials into a heterogeneous mixture of PET materials comprising substantially crystalline flake segments and non-crystalline chunk segments; removing said substantially non-crystalline chunk segments from said heterogeneous mixture of PET materials so as to leave substantially only said substantially crystalline flake segments within said heterogeneous mixture of PET materials such that when said heterogeneous mixture of PET materials comprising substantially only said substantially crystalline flake segments is processed further so as to increase said intrinsic viscosity (IV) values of said PET materials, the generation of a substantial amount of heat of crystallization within said processed mixture of said PET materials will be effectively prevented; and subjecting said heterogeneous mixture of PET material, comprising substantially only said substantially crystalline flake segments, to a solid state polymerization (SSP) process so as to form a heterogeneous PET material having an enhanced intrinsic viscosity (IV) value.
- 4. The process as set forth in claim 3, wherein:
said intrinsic viscosity (IV) values of said collected PET materials are within the range of 0.60 g/dl to 0.80 g/dl.
- 5. The process as set forth in claim 3, wherein:
said formed heterogeneous PET material has an average intrinsic viscosity (IV) value of at least 0.90 g/dl.
- 6. The process as set forth in claim 3, wherein:
said formed heterogeneous PET material has an intrinsic viscosity (IV) value range of 0.90 g/dl to 1.5 g/dl.
- 7. The process as set forth in claim 3, further comprising the steps of:
identifying any PVC impurities found within said collected diverse PET materials; and removing said identified PVC impurities prior to said reforming of said PET materials into said heterogeneous mixture of substantially crystalline flake segments and non-crystalline chunk segments.
- 8. The process as set forth in claim 3, wherein said solid state polymerization step comprises the steps of:
incorporating a nitrogen cycle within said solid state polymerization; and removing a majority of HCl contaminants, forming during said nitrogen cycle portion of said solid state polymerization step, by passing the nitrogen present within said nitrogen cycle, and including said HCl contaminants, through a guard bed of basic material.
- 9. A process for forming a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) material, suitable for use in making high-performance plastic strapping, comprising the steps of:
collecting diverse PET materials having a relatively wide distribution of intrinsic viscosity (IV) values; co-mingling said collected PET materials and reforming said co-mingled PET materials into a heterogeneous mixture of PET materials comprising substantially crystalline flake segments and non-crystalline chunk segments; and removing said substantially non-crystalline chunk segments from said heterogeneous mixture of PET materials so as to leave substantially only said substantially crystalline flake segments within said heterogeneous mixture of PET materials such that when said heterogeneous mixture of PET materials comprising substantially only said substantially crystalline flake segments is processed further so as to increase said intrinsic viscosity (IV) values of said PET materials, the generation of a substantial amount of heat of crystallization within said processed mixture of said PET materials will be effectively prevented; and subjecting said heterogeneous mixture of PET materials, comprising substantially only said substantially crystalline flake segments, to a solid state polymerization (SSP) process so as to form a heterogeneous PET material having an enhanced intrinsic viscosity (IV) value.
- 10. The process as set forth in claim 9, wherein:
said intrinsic viscosity (IV) values of said collected PET materials are within the range of 0.60 g/dl to 0.80 g/dl.
- 11. The process as set forth in claim 9, wherein:
said formed heterogeneous PET material has an average intrinsic viscosity (IV) value of at least 0.90 g/dl.
- 12. The process as set forth in claim 9, wherein:
said formed heterogeneous PET material has an intrinsic viscosity (IV) value range of 0.90 g/dl to 1.5 g/dl.
- 13. The process as set forth in claim 9, further comprising the steps of:
identifying any PVC impurities found within said collected diverse PET materials; and removing said identified PVC impurities prior to said reforming of said PET materials into said heterogeneous mixture of substantially crystalline flake segments and non-crystalline chunk segments.
- 14. The process as set forth in claim 9, wherein said solid state polymerization step comprises the steps of:
incorporating a nitrogen cycle within said solid state polymerization; and removing a majority of HCl contaminants, formed during said nitrogen cycle portion of said solid state polymerization step, by passing the nitrogen present within said nitrogen cycle, and including said HCl contaminants, through a guard bed of basic material.
- 15. The process as set forth in claim 9, further comprising the step of:
extruding said solid stated PET material so as to fabricate a high-performance plastic strap.
- 16. A heterogeneous mixture of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) material which is suitable for subsequent processing, comprising:
a mixture of heterogeneous PET material having a relatively wide distribution of intrinsic viscosity (IV) values and derived from an initial mixture comprising substantially crystalline flake segments and substantially non-crystalline chunk segments from which said substantially non-crystalline chunk segments have been removed such that said mixture comprises substantially only said substantially crystalline flake segments, whereby when said heterogeneous mixture of said PET materials comprising substantially only said substantially crystalline flake segments is processed further so as to increase said intrinsic viscosity (IV) values of said PET materials, the generation of a substantial amount of heat of crystallization within said processed mixture of said PET materials will be effectively prevented.
- 17. A mixture as set forth in claim 16, wherein:
said intrinsic viscosity (IV) values of said mixture of PET materials are within the range of 0.60 g/dl to 0.80 g/dl.
- 18. A heterogeneous solid stated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) material for use in making high-performance strapping, comprising:
a mixture of heterogeneous PET material having a relatively wide distribution of intrinsic viscosity (IV) values, derived from an initial mixture comprising substantially crystalline flake segments and substantially non-crystalline chunk segments from which said substantially non-crystalline chunk segments have been removed such that said mixture comprises substantially only said substantially crystalline flake segments, and solid stated directly while in said heterogeneous mixture state so as to increase said intrinsic viscosity (IV) values without generating a substantial amount of heat of crystallization.
- 19. A heterogeneous solid stated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) materials as set forth in claim 18, wherein:
said solid stated PET material has an intrinsic viscosity (IV) value range of 0.90 g/dl to 1.5 g/dl.
- 20. A high-performance plastic strap, comprising:
a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) material which has been solid stated directly from a heterogeneous mixture of PET material, having a relatively wide distribution of intrinsic viscosity (IV) values and derived from an initial mixture comprising substantially crystalline flake segments and substantially non-crystalline chunk segments from which said substantially non-crystalline chunk segments have been removed such that said initial mixture comprises substantially only said substantially crystalline flake segments, so as to increase said intrinsic viscosity (IV) values without generating a substantial amount of heat of crystallization.
- 21. A high-performance plastic strap as set forth in claim 20, wherein:
said solid stated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) material has an intrinsic viscosity (IV) value range of 0.90 g/dl to 1.5 g/dl.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION
[0001] This patent application is a Continuation-In-Part (CIP) Patent Application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/794,538 filed on Feb. 3, 1997 in the name of Donald Van Erden et al. and entitled INLINE SOLID STATE POLYMERIZATION OF PET FLAKES FOR MANUFACTURING PLASTIC STRAP, and is being filed herewith under 37 CFR 1.53(b).
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09170808 |
Oct 1998 |
US |
Child |
09745482 |
Dec 2000 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
08794538 |
Feb 1997 |
US |
Child |
09170808 |
Oct 1998 |
US |