1. A blowing agent composition for the production of thermoplastic foams comprising 3,3,3-trifluoropropene.
2. The blowing agent composition of claim 1 comprising greater than about 10 wt % 3,3,3-trifluoropropene
3. The blowing agent composition of claim 1 comprising greater than about 20 wt % 3,3,3-trifluoropropene.
4. The blowing agent composition of claim 1 comprising greater than about 30 wt % 3,3,3-trifluoropropene
5. The blowing agent composition of claim 1 comprising greater than about 40 wt % 3,3,3-trifluoropropene.
6. The blowing agent composition of claim 1 comprising greater than about 50 wt % 3,3,3-trifluoropropene.
7. The blowing agent composition of claim 1 further comprising a hydrocarbon, halogenated saturated alkane, a halogenated unsaturated alkane, a hydrofluoroether (HFE), an unsaturated hydrofluoroether, a ketone, a fluoroketone, an atmospheric gas, an inert gas, carbon dioxide, methyl formate, an alcohol, trans-1,2-dichloroethylene, CF3SCF3, water, or mixtures thereof.
8. The blowing agent composition of claim 7 where the halogenated saturated alkane is a hydrofluorocarbon (HFC).
9. The blowing agent composition of claim 8 where the HFC is selected from the group consisting of HFC-134a (1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane), HFC-134 (1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethane), HFC-152a (1,1-difluoroethane), HFC-152 (1,2-difluoroethane), HFC-32 (difluoromethane), HFC-143a (1,1,1-trifluoroethane), HFC-143 (1,1,2-trifluoroethane), fluoroethane, KFC-236fa (1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoropropane), HFC-236ea, HFC-227ea (1,1,1,2,3,3,3-heptafluoropropane), HFC-125 (pentafluoroethane), HFC-365mfc (1,1,1,3,3-pentafluorobutane), HFC-245fa (1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane), and mixtures thereof.
10. The blowing agent composition of claim 7 where the halogenated unsaturated alkane is selected from the group consisting of hydrofluoroolefins (FIFO), hydrochlorofluoroolefins (HCFO), and mixtures thereof.
11. The blowing agent composition of claim 10 where said HFO is selected from the group consisting of HFO-1234ze (1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene), HFO-1234yf (2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene), HFO-1225ye (1,2,3,3,3-pentafluoropropene), HFO-1225zc (1,1,3,3,3-pentafluoropropene), HFO-1438mzz (1,1,1,4,4,5,5,5-octafluoropent-2-ene), HFO-1336mzz (1,1,1,4,4,4-hexafluorobut-2-ene), and mixtures thereof.
12. The blowing agent composition of claim 10 where said HCFO is selected from the group consisting of HCFO-1233zd (1-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoropropene), HCFO-1233xf (2-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoropropene), and mixtures thereof.
13. The blowing agent composition of claim 7 where said hydrocarbon is a C3 to C6 hydrocarbon.
14. The blowing agent composition of claim 13 where said alkane is selected from cyclopentane, normal pentane, isopentane, isobutane, normal butane, or mixtures thereof.
15. The blowing agent composition of claim 7 where said atmospheric gas is nitrogen.
16. The blowing agent composition of claim 7 where said inert gas is selected from the group consisting of helium, argon, and mixtures thereof.
17. The blowing agent composition of claim 7 where said alcohol is selected from the group consisting of ethanol, isopropanol, ethyl hexanol, methanol, butanol, and mixtures thereof.
18. A foamable resin composition comprising a thermoplastic resin and a blowing agent composition comprising 3,3,3-trifluoropropene.
19. The foamable resin composition of claim 18 comprising less than about 100 pph of said blowing agent composition with respect to said thermoplastic resin.
20. The foamable resin composition of claim 18 comprising from about 1 pph to about 100 pph of said blowing agent composition with respect to said thermoplastic resin.
21. The foamable resin composition of claim 18 comprising from about 2 pph to about 40 pph of said blowing agent composition with respect to said thermoplastic resin.
22. The foamable resin composition of claim 18 comprising from about 3 pph to about 25 pph of said blowing agent composition with respect to said thermoplastic resin.
23. The foamable resin composition of claim 18 comprising from about 4 pph to about 15 pph of said blowing agent composition with respect to said thermoplastic resin
24. The foamable resin composition of claim 18 where the thermoplastic resin comprises a polyolefin.
25. The expandable resin composition of claim 24 where said polyolefin is selected from the group consisting of polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, and mixtures thereof.
26. The foamable resin composition of claim 18 further comprising a nucleating agent.
27. The foamable resin composition of claim 26 where said nucleating agent in talc.
28. The foamable resin composition of claim 27 where the talc content is less than about 2.5 wt % in the resin.
29. The foamable resin composition of claim 18 further comprising additives selected from the group consisting of dyes, pigments, cell-controlling agents, fillers, antioxidants, extrusion aids, stabilizing agents, antistatic agents, fire retardants, IR attenuating agents, thermally insulating additives, plasticizers, viscosity modifiers, impact modifiers, gas barrier resins, carbon black, surfactants, and mixtures thereof.
30. A foamed product produced with the blowing agent composition of claim 1.
31. The foamed product of claim 27 with a density below 90 kgm3, a closed-cell content less than about 20%, and an average cell size between about 0.05 mm and 1.0 mm.
32. The foamed product of claim 27 with a density below 70 kgm3, a closed-cell content less than about 10%, and an average cell size between about 0.05 mm and 0.40 mm.
33. A process for the production of the foamed product of claim 27.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
What is claimed is:
1. A laser microscope comprising:
a laser light source which generates a laser beam;
an optical path split portion which has a plurality of optical path split elements with different characteristics for separating said laser beam irradiated to a sample from said laser light source and light returned from said sample and includes a selection mechanism to switch these optical path split elements on an optical path;
an imaging lens to converge light which is returned from said sample and is separated in said optical path split portion;
a spectrophotometric detection unit which obtains spectral data of light from said sample;
an optical fiber which guides light from said sample imaged by said imaging lens to said spectrophotometric detection unit, wherein an incident end face of said fiber is arranged to a position substantially conjugate to said sample; and
a transfer mechanism which moves an incident end face of said optical fiber in a plane orthogonal to an optical axis of light incident on said optical fiber.
2. The laser microscope according to claim 1, further comprising a control portion which controls said transfer mechanism, wherein said control portion operates in conjunction with the changeover of said optical path split portion and controls said transfer mechanism so that the center of an incident end face of said optical fiber corresponds to an imaging position of said imaging lens.
3. The laser microscope according to claim 2, wherein said control portion previously stores correction information for making correspondence between the center position of an incident end face of said optical fiber with a possibility of deviation due to changeover by said optical path split portion and an imaging position of said imaging lens, and controls said transfer mechanism based on said correction information in interlock with changeover by said optical path split portion.
4. The laser microscope according to claim 2, further comprising a confocal pinhole arranged immediately in front of an incident end face of said optical fiber, wherein said transfer mechanism moves an incident end face of said optical fiber and said confocal pinhole integrally.
5. The laser microscope according to claim 4, further Comprising a relay optical system arranged between an incident end face of said optical fiber and said confocal pinhole, wherein said transfer mechanism integrally moves an incident end face of said optical fiber, said relay optical system, and said confocal pinhole.
6. The laser microscope according to claim 1, wherein a core diameter of said optical fiber is substantially equal to or smaller than a diffraction diameter (1.22NA) determined by a numerical aperture NA of light incident on an incident end face of said optical fiber and a wavelength .
7. The laser microscope according to claim 1, wherein said optical fiber is a single-mode fiber.
8. A laser microscope comprising:
a laser light source which generates a laser beam;
a beam splitter unit which includes a plurality of optical path split elements having different characteristics for separating said laser beam irradiated to a sample from said laser light source and light from said sample and separates said laser beam and light from said sample by changing these optical path split elements on an optical path;
an imaging lens to converge light which is returned from said sample and is separated in said beam splitter unit;
a spectrophotometric detection unit which obtains spectral data of light from said sample;
an optical fiber which guides light from said sample imaged by said imaging lens to said spectrophotometric detection unit, wherein an incident end face of said fiber is arranged to a position substantially conjugate to said sample;
a transfer mechanism which moves an incident end face of said optical fiber in a plane orthogonal to an optical axis of said imaging lens; and
a control portion which controls said transfer mechanism in conjunction with the changeover of said beam splitter unit so as to allow an incident end face of said optical fiber to correspond to an imaging position of said imaging lens.
9. The laser microscope according to claim 8, further comprising;
a detector which detects light from said sample; and
a reflective member unit which divides light irradiated from said beam splitter unit and returned from said sample between said spectrophotometric detection unit and said detector, wherein
said control portion controls said transfer mechanism in conjunction with changeover by said beam splitter unit and changeover by said reflective member unit.
10. A laser microscope comprising:
a laser light source which generates a laser beam;
an optical path split portion which selects a plurality of optical path split elements with different characteristics for separating said laser beam irradiated to a sample from said laser light source and light returned from said sample;
an imaging lens which converges light which is returned from said sample and is separated in said optical path split portion;
a detection unit which detects light from said sample;
an optical fiber which guides light from said sample imaged by said imaging lens to said detection unit, wherein an incident end face of said fiber is arranged to a position substantially conjugate to said sample; and
a positioning mechanism which positions the center of an incident end face of said optical fiber to an optical axis of light incident on said incident end face.