Asphaltene-Stabilized Polyisobutylene Pressure-Sensitive Adhesives for Ultraviolet Protection and Surface Bonding

Abstract

The usual way to protect indoor areas from solar UV radiation is to use UV-absorbing materials, which are applied as a thin film on the surface of the windowpane. Asphaltenes are useless wastes from crude oil refining that absorb UV radiation well, which gave the idea of their use in protective coatings. Pressure-sensitive adhesives based on polyisobutylene containing from 5 to 30 wt% of asphaltenes were obtained. Deterioration of the adhesive properties with the introduction of 5–20 wt% of asphaltenes was shown by adhesion tests, which can be associated with the plasticization of the polymer matrix. At the same time, the use of 30 wt% of asphaltenes leads to the polymer matrix reinforcement with the restoration of adhesive properties to the original level or even slightly higher. The rheological study of adhesives at 25 °C and 120 °C showed the structural network formation by asphaltenes at a content of 30 wt%, explaining the increase in adhesion performance. According to microscopy, asphaltenes are flat brown glass shards in a polymer matrix. They absorb electromagnetic radiation, predominantly in the UV range, while maintaining relative translucency in the visible range. This makes it possible to obtain thin films from the asphaltene-filled adhesive for bonding glass sheets to produce UV-blocked and tinted windowpanes.

The Effect of Non-Solvent Nature on the Rheological Properties of Cellulose Solution in Diluted Ionic Liquid and Performance of Nanofiltration Membranes

“…In our case, if we consider the interdependences of storage and loss moduli in Cole-Cole coordinates, it appears that the experimental points for all samples lie approximately on the same straight line (Figure 1c). The invariance of the Cole-Cole plots means that DMSO does not change the microstructure of the cellulose solution [78,79], whose gelation is due to glass transition rather than phase separation, which is prevented by an extremely high viscosity thanks to the glass state [80].…”

Asphaltenes from Heavy Crude Oil as Ultraviolet Stabilizers against Polypropylene Aging

“…One can assume that asphaltenes can act by two mechanisms simultaneously due to their complex multi-component composition. The surface blocking is realized due to the high absorption capability of asphaltenes as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons towards UV radiation [61]. Asphaltenes prevent UV radiation from penetrating deep into the material, absorbing and dissipating it as heat, which is visually reflected in their black color and strong coloring ability towards polymers or aromatic solvents.…”

“…Rational utilization of residual asphaltenes is a significant environmental problem, which is solved by using asphaltenes in the production of emulsions [41][42][43], carbon fibers [44][45][46][47], and bitumen binders [48,49]. Furthermore, asphaltenes are an inexpensive filler used to improve the operational properties and reduce the cost of polymer materials [50], such as epoxy plastics [51][52][53][54], polyethylene [55][56][57][58][59], polypropylene [60], polyisobutylene [61], poly(methyl methacrylate) [62], polystyrene [63,64], and its copolymers [65][66][67]. Asphaltene-containing composite plastics can be used in many industries, except for products that have direct contact with human skin or food due to the potential carcinogenicity of asphaltenes [68,69].…”

“…In recent years, asphaltenes have been used as stabilizers against thermal oxidative degradation [70], as they suppress the adverse action of free radicals. Moreover, asphaltenes can act as UV absorbers [71], which potentially may be utilized for ultraviolet protection [61] and anti-aging of polymers [72]. However, none of the existing studies have explored the possibility of using asphaltenes as UV stabilizers for preventing polymer aging and the resulting deterioration of their mechanical properties.…”

Epoxy Phase-Change Materials Based on Paraffin Wax Stabilized by Asphaltenes

“…Asphaltenes are a heavy fraction of crude oil, remaining after oil deasphalting or refining [ 65 ]. They require rational disposal, and there are ways to use asphaltenes for producing plastics [ 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 ], bitumens [ 70 , 71 ], and carbon fibers [ 72 ]. Asphaltenes are a broad spectrum of chemicals having hydrophobic hydrocarbon structures with some hydrophilic functional groups [ 73 , 74 ].…”