Foam, method of forming the foam, print cartridge including the foam, and printing apparatus including the print cartridge

Abstract

A foam used in a print cartridge and a method of forming the same. The foam includes 0.1-5.0 wt % of silver nanoparticles, based on the total weight of the foam. The print cartridge has a deodorizing, antibacterial, and disinfectant function.

1 . A method of forming a foam, comprising: 
 mixing a prepolymer, a polyol, a polymerization catalyst, silver nanoparticles, a surfactant, and a cell regulator, to obtain a molding composition;    continuously loading the molding composition on a conveyor whose sidewalls defining a tunnel along a longitudinal direction of the conveyor;    moving the loaded conveyor to form a tack-free foam structure; and    cutting the foam structure in a perpendicular direction to a bottom plane of the conveyor.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the material composition comprises 10 to 100 parts by weight of the polyol, 0.01 to 20 parts by weight of the polymerization catalyst, 0.1 to 20 parts by weight of the silver nanoparticles, 0.1 to 50 parts by weight of the surfactant, and 0.1 to 20 parts by weight of the cell regulator, based on 100 parts by weight of the prepolymer.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the prepolymer is selected from a group consisting of toluene diisocyanate, diphenylenemethane diisocyanate, and a mixture thereof.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the polyol is selected from a group consisting of polyester-based polyol, polyether-based polyol, and a mixture thereof.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the polyol is used in an amount of 10 to 100 parts by weight, based on 100 parts by weight of the prepolymer.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the polymerization catalyst consists of a tertiary amine such as dimethylhexylamine, dimethylcyclohexylamine, pentamethyldiethylenetriamine, dimethylethanolamine, tetramethylethylenediamine, tetramethylhexamethylenediamine, triethylenediamine, and tetramethylpropanediamine, its carboxylate or quaternary ammonium salt, or an organic metal compound such as dibutyltin dilaurate, lead octylate, potassium acetate, and potassium octylate, alone or in combination.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the polymerization catalyst is used in an amount of 0.01 to 20 parts by weight, based on 100 parts by weight of the prepolymer.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the silver nanoparticles have a primary particle size of 30 nm to 100 μm.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the surfactant is one or more selected from a group consisting of trichlorofluoromethane, chlorine, fluoro, and methane.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the cell regulator is an organo-tin compound.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein in the operation of moving the loaded conveyor to form a tack-free foam structure, the loaded conveyor moves for 10 minutes to 2 hours.  
   
   
       12 . A method of forming an open cell foam comprising: 
 forming a predetermined sized foam structure containing many oval cells grown and arranged by foaming; and    cutting the foam structure in a major axis direction of the cells so that obtained foam pieces have a predetermined thickness in a minor axis direction of the grown cells.