Granted Patent B2

US 12,202,974 · App. 17/053,969 · Granted Jan 21, 2025

Inventors: Christophe Marquette (Villeurbanne, FR); Edwin-Joffrey Courtial (Villeurbanne, FR); Jean-Marc Frances (Meyzieu, FR)

Assignees: ELKEM SILICONES FRANCE; CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE; UNIVERSITÉ CLAUDE BERNARD LYON; INSTITUT NATIONAL DES SCIENCES APPLIQUÉES LYON 1

C08L83/04B29C64/106B29C64/357B33Y70/00B29K2083/00B33Y10/00C08L71/02C08L2312/00

Abstract

Claims (34)

1. A method for manufacturing a silicone elastomer article comprising:

1) providing a composition C, comprising water and at least 20% by weight of at least one poloxamer, into a container;

2) placing the container comprising the composition C at a required temperature T1 to form a gel;

3) printing a crosslinkable silicone composition X into the gel obtained in 2) with a 3D printer at the required temperature T1;

4) allowing the printed composition X to partially or totally crosslink, by heating at a temperature between 30° C. and 90° C. to obtain a silicone elastomer article, in the container;

5) placing the container obtained in 4) at a temperature T3 lower than the sol-gel transition temperature of composition C;

6) after 5), recovering the silicone elastomer article; and

7) optionally washing the obtained silicone elastomer article for example with water at the temperature T3 lower than the sol-gel transition temperature of composition C;

wherein after 5), composition C is recovered in a reusable form and is recycled in 1).

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the poloxamer is a copolymer composed of poly(propylene oxide) and poly(ethylene oxide) blocks.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the poloxamer is a triblock copolymer composed of a central poly(propylene oxide) block and two terminal poly(ethylene oxide) blocks.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the poloxamer comprises from 25 to 90% by weight of poly(ethylene oxide) units based on the total weight of the poloxamer.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the poloxamer is a triblock copolymer composed of a central poly(propylene oxide) block and two terminal poly(ethylene oxide) block for which the two poly(ethylene oxide) block comprise each 100+/−10 repeat units and the poly(propylene oxide) block comprises 55+/−10 repeat units.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein composition C comprises from 20 to 40% by weight of at least one poloxamer.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the composition C further comprises one or more compounds chosen from the group consisting of:

a base;

an acid; and

a functionalized silane.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the base is NaOH, and wherein the acid is acetic acid.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the functionalized silane is functionalized with a moiety selected from the group consisting of amino, epoxy, hydroxy, and polyether groups.

10. The method according to claim 1 wherein:

T1 is comprised between 25 and 50° C., and/or

T3 is lower than 15° C.

11. The method according to claim 10 wherein:

T1 is comprised between 25 and 35° C., and/or

T3 is comprised between 0 and 10° C.

12. The method according to claim 10 wherein:

T1 is comprised between 25 and 40° C., and/or

T3 is comprised between 0 and 15° C.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein 5) and 6) are reversed.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein composition C comprises from 21.5 to 22.5% by weight of poloxamer based on the total weight of composition C.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the crosslinkable composition X has a viscosity comprised between 1000 mPa·s and 1000000 mPa·s.

16. The method for manufacturing a silicone elastomer article according to claim 1 , wherein the silicone elastomer article is manufactured using a 3D printer.

17. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the crosslinking is made by heating at a temperature between 40 and 70° C.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (21)