Mineral wool fibber batting, method for the production thereof and use of same

Abstract

This invention relates to mineral wool fiber batting that is stabilized or bonded by a binder including polymers containing carboxyl groups and selected cross-linking agents. Said mats can be used as insulating material and are characterized by low formaldehyde emissions or the absence thereof.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . Mineral wool fiber batting provided with a binder which includes polymers containing carboxyl groups and/or their salts and a crosslinking agent selected from the group consisting of: compounds with multi-valent metal ions; bisoxazolines; polyoxazolines; bisamino oxazolidines; polyamino oxazolidines; carbodiimides; bisepoxides; polyepoxides; and masked isocyanates. 
     
     
         22 . Mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 21 , characterized in that the polymers containing carboxyl groups and/or their salts are chosen from the group consisting of: copolymers derived from vinyl esters; copolymers derived from esters of α, β ethylenically unsaturated C 3 -C 8  mono or dicarboxylic acids; copolymers derived from alkenyl aromatics; and mixtures of the foregoing polymers, wherein these copolymers have at least 1 wt % of polymerized mono or dicarboxylic acid units. 
     
     
         23 . Mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 21 , characterized in that the polymers containing carboxyl groups and/or their salts have at least 1 to 10 wt % of polymerized mono or dicarboxylic acid units. 
     
     
         24 . Mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 21 , characterized in that the polymer is chosen from the group consisting of: copolymers derived from one or several vinyl esters and from monomers containing the carboxyl groups and/or their salts; copolymers derived from vinyl esters, esters of α, β ethylenically unsaturated C 3 -C 8  mono or dicarboxylic acids with C 1 -C 8  alkanols and from monomers containing carboxyl groups and/or their salts; copolymers derived from vinyl esters, from olefins and from monomers containing carboxyl groups and/or their salts; copolymers derived from vinyl esters, ethylene, esters of α, β ethylenically unsaturated C 3 -C 8  mono or dicarboxylic acids with C 1 -C 8  alkanols as well as monomers containing carboxyl groups and/or their salts; copolymers from esters of acrylic acids and/or methacrylic acids and monomers containing carboxyl groups and/or their salts; copolymers derived from styrene, butadiene and/or esters of α, β ethylenically unsaturated C 3 -C 8  mono or dicarboxylic acids with C 1 -C 8  alkanols as well as monomers containing carboxyl groups and/or their salts. 
     
     
         25 . Mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 24 , characterized in that the polymer is chosen from the group consisting of: copolymers derived from monomers that contain-vinyl acetate and carboxyl groups or salts of carboxyl groups; copolymers derived from vinyl esters, esters of acrylic acids and/or methacrylic acids and/or fumaric acids and/or maleic acids with C 1 -C 8  alkanols and with monomers containing carboxyl groups or salts of carboxyl groups; copolymers derived from vinyl acetate with ethylene and with monomers containing carboxyl groups or salts of carboxyl groups; copolymers derived from vinyl esters, ethylene, esters of acrylic acids and/or methacrylic acids and/or fumaric acids and/or maleic acids with C 1 -C 8  alkanols and with monomers containing carboxyl groups or salts of carboxyl groups; copolymers derived from styrene with butadiene and/or esters of acrylic acids and/or methacrylic acids with C 1 -C 8  alkanols and monomers containing carboxyl groups or salts of carboxyl groups. 
     
     
         26 . Mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 25 , characterized in that the polymer is a polyvinyl ester functionalized with monomers containing carboxyl groups or salts of carboxyl groups, which contains at least 50 wt % vinyl acetate monomer units. 
     
     
         27 . Mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 21 , characterized in that the binder is applied in a form of an aqueous dispersion of the polymers. 
     
     
         28 . Mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 21 , characterized in that the binder content is 0.5 to 10 wt %. 
     
     
         29 . The mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 21 , characterized in that the binder content is from 0.1 to 5 wt %. 
     
     
         30 . Mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 21 , characterized in that of the crosslinking agent contains a compound with a multivalent metal cation selected from the group consisting of: Al 3 +, Zn 2 +, Sn 2 +, Sn 4 +, Ti 4 +, TiO 2 +, Hf 4 +, HfO 2 +Zr 4 +, ZrO 2 +. 
     
     
         31 . Mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 21 , characterized in that the crosslinking agent comprises a crosslinking agent selected from the group consisting of: bisoxazolines; polyoxazolines; bisamino oxazolidines; and polyamino oxazolidines. 
     
     
         32 . Mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 31 , characterized in that the crosslinking agent comprises a bisoxazoline compound of formula I or a polyoxazoline polymer containing the structural units of formula II 
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
         wherein R 1  are alkyls, cycloalkyls, aryls or aralkyls, R 2  is hydrogen or alkyl, and n is an integer from 1 to 50. 
       
     
     
         33 . The mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 32 , wherein the crosslinking agent is a bisoxazoline compound and R 1  is C 2 -C 6  alkyl or phenyl. 
     
     
         34 . The mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 32 , wherein the crosslinking agent is a polyoxazoline polymer and R 2  is hydrogen or C 1 -C 6  alkyl. 
     
     
         35 . Mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 31 , characterized in that the crosslinking agent comprises a bisamino oxazolidine compound form formula III or a polyamino oxazolidine polymer containing the structural units of formula IV: 
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
         wherein R 3  and R 4  independently mean hydrogen, alkyl, cycloalkyl or aryl, R 1 , R 2  and n have the above-defined meanings, and R 5  is alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl or aralkyl. 
       
     
     
         36 . The mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 35 , wherein the crosslinking agent is a bisamino oxazolidine and R 3  and R 4  are independently hydrogen or C 1 -C 6  alkyl. 
     
     
         37 . The mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 35 , wherein the crosslinking agent is a polyamino oxazolidine polymer and R 5  is C 1 -C 6  alkyl or phenyl. 
     
     
         38 . Mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 21 , characterized in that the binder includes at least one carbodiimide as a cross-linking agent. 
     
     
         39 . Mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 38 , characterized in that the carbodiimide is a compound of formula V
   R 6 —N═C═N—R 7   (V).
   wherein R 6  and R 7  independently mean hydrogen, alkyl, N,N-dialkyl aminoalkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl or aralkyl.   
     
     
         40 . The mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 39 , wherein R 6  and R 7  are independently C 1 -C 6  alkyl, N,N-dialkyl aminopropyl, phenyl or cyclohexyl. 
     
     
         41 . Mineral wool fiber binder according to  claim 21 , characterized in that the binder contains at least one bisepoxide or polyepoxide as a cross-linking agent. 
     
     
         42 . Mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 41 , characterized in that the binder contains bisepoxide compound of formula VI or formula VII 
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
         wherein R 8  is alkyl cycloalkyl, aryl or aralkyl. 
       
     
     
         43 . The mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 42 , wherein R 8  is C 2 -C 6  alkyl, phenyl, biphenyl, —C 6 H 4 —C(CH 3 ) 2 —C 6 H 4 —, —C 6 H 4 —CH 2 -C 6 H 4 —, —C 6 H 4 —O—C 6 H 4 — or —C 6 H 4 —S—C 6 H 4 —. 
     
     
         44 . Mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 21 , characterized in that the binder contains at least one masked isocyanate as a cross-linking agent. 
     
     
         45 . The process of manufacturing the mineral wool fiber batting according to  claim 21  comprising:
 a) applying a cross-linkable composition containing the carboxyl groups and/or polymers containing their salts and a cross-linking agent chosen from the group of compounds with multivalent metal ions; bisoxazolines; polyoxazolines; bisamino oxazolidines; 
 polyamino oxazolidines; carbodiimides; bisepoxides; polyepoxides; and masked isocyanates to the unbound mineral wool fiber mats, and 
 b) solidifying the mineral wool fibers to a bonded mineral wool fiber batting by activating the binder. 
 
     
     
         46 . The process in accordance with  claim 45 , characterized by the fact that the cross-linkable composition is applied in a form of an aqueous dispersion. 
     
     
         47 . The process according to  claim 45 , further comprising using the bonded mineral wool fiber batting as thermal insulation material for a building.