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 dl/g to 0.80 dl/g.
- 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 dl/g to 0.80 dl/g.
- 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 dl/g.
- 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 dl/g to 1.5 dl/g.
- 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 dl/g to 0.80 dl/g.
- 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 dl/g.
- 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 dl/g to 1.5 dl/g.
- 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.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION
This patent application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/170,808 filed on Oct. 13, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,284,808, which, in turn, is a Continuation-In-Part (CIP) Patent Application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/794,538 filed on Feb. 3, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,886,058, 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).
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Foreign Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Date |
Country |
19710098 |
Sep 1998 |
DE |
0483665 |
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EP |
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JP |
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
08/794538 |
Feb 1997 |
US |
Child |
09/170808 |
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US |