High purity perfluoroelastomer composites and a process to produce the same

1. An emulsion mixture comprising:

i) a first emulsion of a composition comprising a crosslinkable fluoroelastomer terpolymer consisting essentially of tetrafluoroethylene (TFE), perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether (PAVE), and perfluorocyano vinyl ether (CNVE) monomer units and that contains no additional crosslinking agent, coagent or catalyst, and

ii) a second emulsion comprising a functionalized polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) polymer comprising 0.1 to 3 mol % perfluorocyano vinyl ether (CNVE),

wherein the particle size of the functionalized PTFE polymer is about 10 nm to 100 nm, and

wherein a composite comprising functionalized PTFE-crosslinkable fluoroelastomer terpolymer isolated from an emulsion mixture of said first and second emulsions contains less than 3000 ppb of metals and is crosslinked in the absence of a crosslinking agent, coagent or catalyst.

2. The emulsion mixture of claim 1 , wherein CNVE in the crosslinkable fluoroelastomer terpolymer is 8-CNVE.

3. The emulsion mixture of claim 1 , wherein the CNVE in the functionalized PTFE polymer is 8-CNVE.

4. The emulsion mixture of claim 1 , wherein PAVE is perfluoromethyl vinyl ether (PMVE).

5. The emulsion mixture of claim 1 , wherein PAVE is perfluoropropyl vinyl ether (PPVE).

6. The emulsion mixture of claim 1 , wherein PAVE is perfluoroethyl vinyl ether (PEVE).

7. The emulsion mixture of claim 1 , wherein the functionalized PTFE is about 1 to 20 wt % of a dried composite resulting from the emulsion mixture and the crosslinkable fluoroelastomer terpolymer is about 80 to 99 wt % of the dried composite resulting from the emulsion mixture.

8. The emulsion mixture of claim 1 , further comprising at least one additional material selected from fillers and additives.

9. The emulsion mixture of claim 8 , wherein the filler comprises silica in the form of a dispersion.

10. The emulsion mixture of claim 1 , wherein the crosslinkable fluoroelastomer composite has less than about 2000 ppb metal content.

11. The emulsion mixture of claim 1 , wherein the crosslinkable fluoroelastomer composite has less than about 1000 ppb metal content.

12. The emulsion mixture of claim 1 , wherein the crosslinkable fluoroelastomer composite has less than about 500 ppb metal content.

13. The emulsion mixture of claim 1 , wherein the crosslinkable fluoroelastomer composite has less than about 200 ppb metal content.

14. The emulsion mixture of claim 1 , wherein the fluoroelastomer composite has less than 2 ppm fluorosurfactant.

15. The emulsion mixture of claim 14 , wherein the fluorosurfactant is APFO.

16. A crosslinkable composite comprising:

i) a first composition comprising a crosslinkable fluoroelastomer terpolymer consisting essentially of tetrafluoroethylene (TFE), perfluoromethyl vinyl ether (PMVE) and perfluorocyano vinyl ether (CNVE) and containing no additional crosslinking agent, coagent or catalyst, and

ii) a second composition comprising a functionalized polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) polymer comprising crosslinkable moieties having a particle size of 10 nm to 100 nm,

wherein the crosslinkable composite has less than about 3000 ppb metal content, and

wherein the crosslinkable composite is crosslinked in the absence of a crosslinking agent, coagent or catalyst to form a crosslinked composite that has a compression set of less than 50% when tested at 150° C.

17. The composite of claim 16 , wherein the PTFE polymer is crosslinked with the crosslinkable fluoroelastomer terpolymer.

18. The composite of claim 16 , wherein the crosslinkable moieties of the functionalized PTFE are perfluorocyano vinyl ether.

19. The composite of claim 16 , wherein the crosslinkable moieties of the functionalized PTFE are 8-CNVE.

20. The composite of claim 16 , wherein the crosslinkable fluoroelastomer terpolymer comprises 8-CNVE.

21. The composite of claim 16 , wherein the composite further comprises at least one additional material selected from fillers and additives.

22. The composite of claim 21 , wherein the filler comprises about 1 to 20 wt % of the composite.

23. The composite of claim 16 , wherein the composite has a metal content of less than about 2000 ppb.

24. The composite of claim 16 , wherein the composite has a metal content of less than about 1000 ppb.

25. The composite of claim 16 , wherein the composite has a metal content of less than about 500 ppb.

26. The composite of claim 16 , wherein the composite has a metal content of less than about 200 ppb.

27. The composite of claim 16 , wherein the composite contains no more than 2.0 ppm fluorosurfactant.

28. The composite of claim 27 , wherein the fluorosurfactant is APFO.

29. An emulsion mixture comprising:

i) a first emulsion of a composition comprising a crosslinkable fluoroelastomer terpolymer consisting essentially of tetrafluoroethylene (TFE), perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether (PAVE), and perfluorocyano vinyl ether (CNVE) monomer units, and

ii) a second emulsion comprising a functionalized polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) polymer comprising 0.1 to 3 mol % perfluorocyano vinyl ether (CNVE),

wherein the particle size of the functionalized PTFE polymer is about 10 nm to 100 nm,

wherein a composite comprising functionalized PTFE and crosslinkable fluoroelastomer terpolymer isolated from an emulsion mixture of said first and second emulsions is crosslinked in the absence of a crosslinking agent, coagent or catalyst, and

wherein said composite contains less than 3000 ppb of metals and contains less than 2 ppm fluorosurfactant.

30. The emulsion mixture of claim 29 , wherein the fluorosurfactant is APFO.

31. An emulsion mixture comprising:

i) a first emulsion of a crosslinkable fluoroelastomer terpolymer consisting essentially of tetrafluoroethylene (TFE), perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether (PAVE), and perfluorocyano vinyl ether (CNVE) monomer units and that contains no additional crosslinking agent, coagent or catalyst,

ii) a second emulsion of a functionalized polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) polymer comprising 0.1 to 3 mol % perfluorocyano vinyl ether (CNVE), and

iii) a dispersion of at least one filler or additive,

wherein the particle size of the functionalized PTFE polymer is about 10 nm to 100 nm,

wherein a crosslinkable composite of i), ii) and ii) isolated from this emulsion mixture is crosslinked in the absence of a crosslinking agent, coagent or catalyst, and contains less than 3000 ppb of metals.

32. An emulsion mixture comprising:

i) an emulsion of a composition comprising a crosslinkable fluoroelastomer terpolymer consisting essentially of tetrafluoroethylene (TFE), perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether (PAVE), and perfluorocyano vinyl ether (CNVE) monomer units and that contains no additional crosslinking agent, coagent or catalyst, and

ii) an emulsion comprising a functionalized polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) polymer comprising 0.1 to 3 mol % perfluorocyano vinyl ether (CNVE), wherein a composite comprising functionalized PTFE-crosslinkable fluoroelastomer terpolymer isolated from this emulsion mixture is crosslinked in the absence of a crosslinking agent, coagent or catalyst and has a metal content less than 3000 ppb.

33. A crosslinkable composite comprising:

i) a composition comprising a crosslinkable fluoroelastomer terpolymer consisting essentially of tetrafluoroethylene (TFE), perfluoromethyl vinyl ether (PMVE) and perfluorocyano vinyl ether (CNVE) and contains no additional crosslinking agent, coagent or catalyst, and

ii) a composition comprising a functionalized polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) polymer comprising crosslinkable moieties, wherein the crosslinkable composite is crosslinked in the absence of a crosslinking agent, coagent or catalyst and when crosslinked and forms a crosslinked composite having a compression set of less than 50% when tested at 150° C., and

wherein said crosslinkable composite has a metal content less than about 3000 ppb.

34. The crosslinkable composite of claim 33 that contains no additional crosslinking agent, coagent or catalyst, in the form of a shaped article.

35. The crosslinkable composite of claim 33 that contains no additional crosslinking agent, coagent or catalyst, in the form of a gasket.

36. The crosslinkable composite of claim 33 that contains no additional crosslinking agent, coagent or catalyst, in the form of an o-ring.

37. The crosslinkable composite of claim 33 that contains no additional crosslinking agent, coagent or catalyst, in the form of a film.

38. A crosslinked composite comprising:

a crosslinked blend comprising:

i) a crosslinkable fluoroelastomer terpolymer consisting essentially of tetrafluoroethylene (TFE), perfluoromethyl vinyl ether (PMVE) and perfluorocyano vinyl ether (CNVE), and

ii) a functionalized polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) polymer comprising perfluorocyano vinyl ether (CNVE) crosslinkable moieties,

wherein the blend was crosslinked in the absence of a crosslinking agent, coagent or catalyst, and the crosslinked composite has a compression set of less than 50% when tested at 150° C., and

wherein said crosslinked composite has a metal content less than about 3000 ppb.

39. The crosslinked composite of claim 38 , wherein the crosslinked composite is in the form of a shaped article.

40. The crosslinked composite of claim 38 wherein the crosslinked composite has a metal content of less than about 500 ppb (0.5ppm).