Patents Examined by Henry Hu
  • Patent number: 9637581
    Abstract: A photocurable or thermally curable thiosulfate-containing polymer has (a) recurring units and (d) recurring units, shown as either Structure (I) or (II) and Structure (V) below: R represents the organic polymer backbone, G is a single bond or divalent linking group, Q+ is an organic charge balancing cation, M represents a charge balancing cation, and “a” represents at least 0.5 mol % and to 99.5 mol % of (a) recurring units; R? represents the organic polymer backbone, G? is a carbonyloxy group, R3 comprises a monovalent linear, branched, or carbocyclic non-aromatic hydrocarbon group having 1 to 18 carbon atoms, or it comprises a phenyl group having one or more such substituents, and “d” represents at least 0.5 mol % and to 99.5 mol % of (d) recurring units. These thiosulfate-containing polymers can be used to made dielectric compositions and gate dielectric layers in various devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Deepak Shukla, Kevin M. Donovan, Mark R. Mis
  • Patent number: 9631036
    Abstract: A fluoroelastomer comprising a copolymer of fluoroolefin monomers selected from one or more of the group consisting of 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene, 1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene and 1-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoropropene, and ethylenically unsaturated co-monomers; wherein the fluoroelastomer has a glass transition temperature (Tg) of from about ?60° C. to about 53° C. A process of making the fluoroelastomer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Kobe Feng, Andrew J. Poss, Jun Liu, Yun Lin, Rajiv R. Singh
  • Patent number: 9632221
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides an optical resin composition and use thereof. The optical resin composition of the present disclosure comprises unsaturated phenol formaldehyde epoxy acrylate oligomer: 40%-50%, episulfide oligomer: 20%-30%, methacrylate resin: 20%-50%, and multifunctional active acrylate monomer: 2%-5%, which achieves an optimal match with the refractive index of the liquid crystal lens layer, so as to improve the visual effect of the naked-eye 3D/2D switchable birefringent grating under 2D conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Chunmiao Zhou
  • Patent number: 9624326
    Abstract: Purpose: To provide a melt-moldable tetrafluoroethylene/perfluoro(alkyl vinyl ether) copolymer with excellent durability without causing an excessive decrease of the melt flow rate and an increase of the perfluoro(alkyl vinyl ether) content. Solution means: A melt-moldable tetrafluoroethylene/perfluoro(alkyl vinyl ether) copolymer, which is characterized in that in a parallel plate mode of a dynamic viscoelasticity measuring device, when the temperature is raised from ?40° C. to 200° C. at 5° C./min while fixing the measuring frequency to 1 Hz, the slope (? tan ?/?T) of the loss tangent (tan ?) measured between two arbitrary points in a range of 50-75° C. and at a temperature difference of 3° C. or higher is always in a range of 0.0005-0.0030, and its preparation method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: DUPONT-MITSUI FLUOROCHEMICALS COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Hitomi Kitagawa, Yuji Mochizuki, Jeong Chang Lee
  • Patent number: 9611368
    Abstract: A method of making a monomer solution of styrene sulfonic acid or the pyridine salt of styrene sulfonic acid or mixtures of both in an organic solvent, said solution being suitable for producing cation exchange membranes. The method comprises the steps of dissolving a metal salt of styrene sulfonate in said organic solvent and pyridinium styrene sulfonate. The mixture solution is reacted under conditions that generate a salt byproduct precipitate and the reactant product solution is collected. Embodiments of the present invention provide for cation exchange membranes and processes for their manufacture. Membranes made by the processes described herein combine low resistance and high permselectivity which make them highly effective for membrane components in desalination of water by electrodialysis (ED), as a power generating sources in reverse electrodialysis and as separators in fuels cells.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Inventors: Juchui Ray Lin, Jenny Lin
  • Patent number: 9604180
    Abstract: To provide a fluorinated copolymer which is capable of providing an ion exchange membrane having little adverse effect due to impurities in an alkali chloride aqueous solution on electrolysis of the alkali chloride aqueous solution. To use a fluorinated copolymer of a fluorinated monomer having a carboxylic acid type functional group with a fluorinated olefin, wherein the proportion of components having a common logarithm (log M) of a molecular weight M being from 2.0 to 3.5 is at most 10 mass % per 100 mass % of components having a common logarithm (log M) of a molecular weight M being at least 2.0, contained in a CClF2CF2CClFH soluble content.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: Asahi Glass Company, Limited
    Inventors: Yukiko Hattori, Shintaro Fukunaga, Kazuo Umemura, Shigeru Aida, Atsushi Tsuji, Toshinori Tomita
  • Patent number: 9587081
    Abstract: A process for producing water-absorbing polymer particles with high free swell rate and high permeability by polymerization of an aqueous monomer solution or suspension to give an aqueous polymer gel, wherein a thermal blowing agent essentially free of inorganic acid anions is mixed into the polymer gel, and subsequent thermal drying of the polymer gel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: BASF SE
    Inventors: Matthias Weismantel, Ulrich Riegel, Thomas Gieger, Markus Braun, Michael A. Mitchell
  • Patent number: 9580592
    Abstract: A liquid composition comprising: a liquid medium comprising at least one aprotic polar organic solvent and less than 25 wt % based on the total weight of the composition of an alcohol; and at least 5 wt % based on the total weight of the composition of at least one fluorinated anion exchange polymer comprising a fluorocarbon backbone and side-chains covalently attached to the backbone having terminal groups of formula (I): —SO2NR1Q+X?, wherein Q+ is a group comprising at least one quaternary nitrogen atom, and R1 is H or a C1-C20 alkyl group, or forms a ring together with a group in Q+, wherein the ring contains 2 to 10 carbon atoms and, optionally, up to 4 heteroatoms; and X? is an anion selected among the group consisting of organic anions and lipophilic inorganic anions is disclosed. The liquid composition is suitable for the preparation of ion exchange membranes and as binders for electrocatalytic layers for use in electrochemical applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: SOLVAY SPECIALTY POLYMERS ITALY S.P.A.
    Inventors: Silvia Petricci, Pier Antonio Guarda, Claudio Oldani, Giuseppe Marchionni
  • Patent number: 9583713
    Abstract: Embodiments in accordance with the present invention provide for the use of polycycloolefins in electronic devices and more specifically to the use of such polycycloolefins as interlayers applied to fluoropolymer layers used in the fabrication of electronic devices, the electronic devices that encompass such polycycloolefin interlayers and processes for preparing such polycycloolefin interlayers and electronic devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignees: Merck Patent GmbH, Promerus LLC
    Inventors: David Christoph Mueller, Pawel Miskiewicz, Toby Cull, Piotr Wierzchowiec, Andrew Bell, Edmund Elce, Larry F. Rhodes, Kazuyoshi Fujita, Hendra Ng, Pramod Kandanarachchi, Steven Smith
  • Patent number: 9580824
    Abstract: An ion conducting polymeric composition mixture comprises a copolymer of styrene and vinylbenzyl-Rs. Rs is selected from the group consisting of imidazoliums, pyridiniums, pyrazoliums, pyrrolidiniums, pyrroliums, pyrimidiums, piperidiniums, indoliums, and triaziniums. The composition contains 10%-90% by weight of vinylbenzyl-Rs. The composition can further comprise a polyolefin comprising substituted polyolefins, a polymer comprising cyclic amine groups, a polymer comprising at least one of a phenylene group and a phenyl group, a polyamide, and/or the reaction product of a constituent having two carbon-carbon double bonds. The composition can be in the form of a membrane. In a preferred embodiment, the membrane is a Helper Membrane that increases the faradaic efficiency of an electrochemical cell into which the membrane is incorporated, and also allows product formation at lower voltages than in cells without the Helper Membrane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Dioxide Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard I. Masel, Qingmei Chen, Zengcai Liu, Robert Kutz
  • Patent number: 9574027
    Abstract: A process for reducing thermally induced discoloration of fluoropolymer resin produced by polymerizing fluoromonomer in an aqueous dispersion medium to form aqueous fluoropolymer dispersion and isolating the fluoropolymer from the aqueous medium to obtain fluoropolymer resin. The process comprises contacting the aqueous fluoropolymer dispersion with sorbent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: THE CHEMOURS COMPANY FC, LLC
    Inventors: Paul Douglas Brothers, Gregory Allen Chapman, Subhash Vishnu Gangal
  • Patent number: 9574107
    Abstract: A film layer comprising a high-chi (?) block copolymer for self-assembly and a hexafluoroalcohol-containing surface active polymer (SAP) was prepared on a substrate surface that was neutral wetting to the domains of the self-assembled block copolymer. The block copolymer comprises at least one polycarbonate block and at least one other block (e.g., a substituted or unsubstituted styrene-based block). The film layer, whose top surface has contact with an atmosphere, self-assembles to form a lamellar or cylindrical domain pattern having perpendicular orientation with respect to the underlying surface. Other morphologies (e.g., islands and holes of height 1.0Lo) were obtained with films lacking the SAP. The SAP is preferentially miscible with, and lowers the surface energy of, the domain comprising the polycarbonate block.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Joy Cheng, Anindarupa Chunder, Daniel P. Sanders, Melia Tjio, Ankit Vora
  • Patent number: 9559373
    Abstract: A method of forming a hydrophilic polymer is disclosed. The method can include: reacting a monomer comprising an acid group with a Bronsted base to form an ionic liquid; polymerizing the ionic liquid with at least one other monomer; and converting the ionic liquid back to the acid group after polymerization. Also disclosed are hydrophilic polymers and membrane electrode assemblies formed using the above method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: ITM POWER (RESEARCH) LIMITED
    Inventors: Daniel Greenhalgh, Rachel Lister
  • Patent number: 9556353
    Abstract: An orientation control layer (OCL) for self-assembly of block copolymers comprises a random copolymer comprising a first repeat unit having an ethylenic backbone functional group and a side chain aromatic ring, a second repeat unit comprising an ethylenic backbone functional group and a side chain polycarbonate, and a third repeat unit comprising an ethylenic backbone functional group and a side chain ester or amide bearing an active group capable of forming a covalent bond with a substrate surface (e.g., a silicon wafer). The OCLs are neutral wetting to block copolymers having a high Flory-Huggins interaction parameter chi (?) (“high-chi” block copolymers) such as a block copolymer comprising a polystyrene block and a polycarbonate block. The neutral OCL wetting properties allow for formation of lamellar domain patterns of the self-assembled high-chi block copolymers to be oriented perpendicular to the OCL surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Joy Cheng, Anindarupa Chunder, Melia Tjio, Ankit Vora
  • Patent number: 9546298
    Abstract: A material for a surface modifying agent with which the problems of insufficient durability as abrasion and chemical resistances of surface modification effect in polyurethane surface modification by the prior surface modifying agent are resolved, and is immobilized in a matrix resin firmly and improved in durability. A reactive fluorine-containing highly branched polymer obtained by: polymerizing monomer A having in a molecule two or more radically polymerizable double bonds, monomer B having in a molecule a fluoroalkyl group and at least one radically polymerizable double bond, and monomer C having in a molecule an alcoholic hydroxy group and minimum, one radically polymerizable double bond, in presence of a polymerization initiator D in an amount of 5 % to 200 % by mole with respect to the number of moles of the monomer A; a curable composition containing the reactive fluorine-containing highly branched polymer; and a cured film obtained from the composition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2017
    Assignee: NISSAN CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroyasu Tamura, Masayuki Haraguchi, Masaaki Ozawa
  • Patent number: 9545627
    Abstract: A method for producing a protein adsorbent comprising a substrate and a molecular chain fixed on the surface of the substrate is disclosed. The method comprises, in this order: a dry-heat treatment step of heating a pretreatment adsorbent comprising the substrate and the molecular chain fixed on the surface of the substrate, in which the molecular chain contains a weak electrolytic ion-exchange group; and a wet-heat treatment step of heating the pretreatment adsorbent in a moistened state with a liquid or steam to obtain the protein adsorbent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2017
    Assignee: ASAHI KASEI CHEMICALS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naoyuki Shinohara, Yuta Sato
  • Patent number: 9540461
    Abstract: A compound of formula CF2?CFCF2OSF5 and polymers comprising recurring units deriving from CF2?CFCF2OSF5 are disclosed as well as processes for their preparation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: SOLVAY SPECIALTY POLYMERS ITALY S.P.A.
    Inventors: Cristiano Monzani, Vito Tortelli
  • Patent number: 9534097
    Abstract: A composition and method of forming a composition including a compound including a poly(phenylene) backbone represented by the following formula: wherein each of R1, R2 and R3 may be the same or different and is H or an unsubstituted or inertly-substituted aromatic moiety; wherein Ar1 is an unsubstituted or inertly-substituted aromatic moiety; wherein R4 is an alkylene, perfluoroalkyl, polyethylene glycol, or polypropylene glycol moiety; wherein each of R6, R7, R8, R9, R10 and R11 is H or a monovalent hydrocarbon group including two to 18 carbon atoms, with the proviso that each R6, R7, R8, R9, R10 and R11 cannot be H; and wherein each of Y6, Y7, Y8, Y9, Y10 and Y11 may be the same or different and is H or a functional group are disclosed. The composition can be used as anion-exchange membranes and as an electrode binder material in anion exchange membrane fuel cells.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventor: Michael R. Hibbs
  • Patent number: 9534106
    Abstract: A process for manufacturing a dispersion of a vinylidene fluoride (VDF) thermoplastic polymer [polymer (F)], said process comprising polymerizing VDF in an aqueous phase comprising from 0.5 to 1.5 g/l of at least one surfactant of formula F—(CF2CF2)3—CH2CH2—SO3Xa, wherein Xa is H, a alkali metal or a NRH4 group, with RH being H or a C1-C6 hydrocarbon group [surfactant (T)] and an organic oxidizing agent [agent (O)] as polymerization initiator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Assignee: SOLVAY SPECIALTY POLYMERS ITALY S.P.A.
    Inventors: Bradley Lane Kent, Valeriy Kapelyushko, Giulio Brinati, Alessandro Veneroni
  • Patent number: 9532567
    Abstract: A copolymer comprising trans-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene units and vinylidene fluoride units, and methods of making the same. A method of preventing biofouling on an article of manufacture, comprising applying such copolymer to the article of manufacture. A process of preparing a surface having a surface energy of between about 20 and about 30 mJ/m2, comprising applying such a copolymer to a support. A method of preventing accumulation of ice on an article of manufacture, comprising applying such a copolymer to an article of manufacture. A method of preparing a polymer, comprising a step of adding trans-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene/vinylidene fluoride copolymer as a polymer processing additive/aid to said polymer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Changqing Lu, Andrew J. Poss, Rajiv R. Singh, David Nalewajek, Cheryl Cantlon