Materials and processes for making luggage

Abstract

The invention relates to novel modified polypropylene compositions, especially for luggage case applications. More particularly, the invention relates the blend of PP and elastomer which are compatible to polypropylene are heated to melt in the injection moulding unit barrel. The melted material of the blend bonds together in the predetermined proportion of PP - 60 to 90% and Elastomer which are compatible to Polypropylene - 40 to 10% depending on the product design & structure (For example - Engage , Ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA) etc. to give a single material type with molecular continuity . In short, the material properties are enhanced through molecular properties of each polymer , resulting in manufacture of luggage case as "No break". [This modified polypropylene composition for a luggage case is henceforth called as "K-PP"]. It also relates to manufacturing of various luggage cases from the said material.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to luggage, and more particularly to semi-rigid cases with or without reinforced frames and rigid cases with or without frames. Background technique [0002] In luggage, usually the top half-shell 1 and the bottom half-shell 2 of hard luggage are manufactured from plastic raw materials, namely HDPE, PP, reinforced PP, ABS or PC. These materials are hard in nature and are processed by injection molding or vacuum forming techniques. All of these materials have a tendency to rupture when a force greater than their rupture yield at normal temperature (minus 20°C to 50°C) is applied to them. [0003] The HDEP and PP material shells 1, 2 are usually injection molded and are rigid. Luggage cases manufactured from these materials known in the prior art are fully injection molded cases (IML) or cases with reinforced frames. [0004] Reinforced PP shells are usually pressure formed and are very rigid. Luggage cases made of this ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

It should be remembered that many of today's modes of travel, i.e. by airplane, coach etc., have weight restrictions on the amount of luggage that can be carried by a single passenger, it has been found that although known hard case constructions provide a fairly high degree of reliability and Resistant to damage, but the extra weight of the box places a considerable limit on the actual weight of items that can fit into the box

[0013] On the other hand, although a lighter weight soft case allows more items to be packed into the case, the lighter weight soft case construction provides less reliability against damage, or creates unacceptable contents for the traveler reliability issues

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