Method of producing an article comprising a rubber-like film-based article firmly fixed to a substrate

1. A method of producing an article comprising a film-based article of which at least a portion is firmly fixed to a substrate, comprising:

a) providing a film-based article made of a non-crosslinked thermoplastic rubber;

b) contacting at least a portion of the film-based article with a substrate so as to form a contact area between the film-based article and the substrate; and

c) heat sealing at least a portion of the contact area at a temperature of 190 to 250° C. for at least 1 second,

wherein at least a portion of the film-based article is firmly fixed to the substrate without using a glue, an adhesive coating, or a corona discharge treatment.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the non-crosslinked thermoplastic rubber is a thermoplastic styrenic block copolymer, which is selected from the group consisting of styrene-isoprene-styrene block copolymers (SIS), styrene-isobutylene-styrene block copolymers (SIBS), styrene-butadiene-styrene block copolymers (SBS), styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene block copolymers (SEBS), styrene-ethylene-propylene-styrene block copolymers (SEPS), styrene-ethylene-ethylene-propylene-styrene block copolymers (SEEPS) and arbitrary combinations of two or more of the aforementioned thermoplastic styrenic block copolymers.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the non-crosslinked thermoplastic rubber is a block copolymer of the general formula (I):

A-B—Y—(B-A) n   (I),

wherein

each A is independently a polymer block composed of at least 90 mol. % of an alkenyl aromatic hydrocarbon,

the content of A by weight of the total weight of the polymer is in the range of 9 to 12%,

Y is the remnant of a coupling agent having a functionality greater than 2,

the degree of branching is n+1, wherein n is an integer from 2 to 4,

each B is independently an olefinically unsaturated polymer block composed of at least 90 mol. % of one or more conjugated dienes,

the block copolymer has a coupling efficiency in the range of 84 to 100%,

each A block independently has a weight average molecular weight ranging from 10,000 to 12,000 g/mol, and

each B Block independently has a weight average molecular weight ranging from 80,000 to 120,000 g/mol, wherein the molecular weights are determined pursuant to ASTM 3536 using mono-dispersed polystyrene standards.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein in the formula (I) each B is a polymer block composed of at least 90 mol. % of isoprene and each A is a polymer block composed of at least 90 mol. % of styrene.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the film of the film-based article provided in step a) has a thickness of 1 μm to 10 mm.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the film-based article provided in step a) has been prepared by coagulation dipping using a latex of the non-crosslinked thermoplastic rubber, wherein the coagulation dipping comprises:

i) dipping a mold into a coagulant solution;

ii) removing the mold from the coagulant solution and drying the mold;

iii) dipping the dried mold into a latex of the non-crosslinked thermoplastic rubber so as to form a film-based article made of a non-crosslinked thermoplastic rubber on the mold;

iv) removing the mold from the latex and pre-curing the latex with the film-based article;

v) optionally leaching the film-based article in water;

vi) curing the film-based article; and

vii) removing the film-based article from the mold.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the substrate is made of a material being selected from the group consisting of non-crosslinked thermoplastic rubbers, polyamides, polyesters, thermoplastic polyurethanes and arbitrary combinations of two or more of the aforementioned materials.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a fabric.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the heat sealing is performed at a temperature of 190 to 250° C. for at least 10 seconds.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the seal strength of the heat sealed contact area between the film-based article and the substrate is at least 5 N/25 mm.