TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a shaping material, a resin shaped product, a cosmetic container, a semiconductor container, and a method of producing a semiconductor container. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a shaping material and so forth containing a crystalline alicyclic structure-containing resin.

BACKGROUND

Crystalline alicyclic structure-containing resins have been attracting attention in recent years as materials for various resin shaped products due to having excellent physical properties such as heat resistance, mechanical strength, and solvent resistance.

In one example, Patent Literature (PTL) 1 describes a polymer composition that contains a crystalline norbornene-based polymer, an amorphous alicyclic structure-containing polymer, and so forth, and also describes medical equipment obtained through shaping of this polymer composition. In this document, coagulation and direct drying are given as examples of purification methods that can be used after production of the crystalline norbornene-based polymer.

Among crystalline alicyclic structure-containing resins, polymers that include a large quantity of repeating units derived from specific monomers such as dicyclopentadiene are known to generally have high melting points.

For example, PTL 2 describes a hydrogenated product of a norbornene-based ring-opened polymer that has a melting point and also describes an injection molded item thereof. PTL 2 also discloses that a hydrogenated dicyclopentadiene ring-opened polymer has a melting point of 272° C.

Moreover, PTL 3 describes a hydrogenated dicyclopentadiene ring-opened polymer having syndiotactic stereoregularity and also describes a crystalline resin composition containing this polymer and a crystal nucleating agent. PTL 3 also discloses that the melting point of an actually obtained hydrogenated dicyclopentadiene ring-opened polymer was 265° C.

PTL 4 discloses that heat shrinkage and the like of a stretched film obtained through stretching of a resin film having a crystalline alicyclic structure-containing resin as a main component can be controlled by bringing the stretched film into contact with a hydrocarbon solvent.

PTL 4 also discloses that when a stretched film having a hydrogenated dicyclopentadiene ring-opened polymer as a main component is immersed in toluene or cyclohexane, a value for the rate of heat shrinkage of the stretched film decreases compared to that of the stretched film prior to immersion.

This indicates that in a situation in which crystallization has proceeded to a certain extent in a resin shaped product containing a crystalline alicyclic structure-containing resin, the inclusion of a hydrocarbon solvent therein can cause rearrangement of polymer chains and allow further progression of crystallization.

In recent years, there have been many attempts to obtain a wide range of shaped products capable of displaying higher performance than conventionally achieved. In one example, PTL 5 describes an injection molded item for medical applications and a blow molded item for medical applications that are obtained by shaping, under specific conditions, a resin composition that contains 70 weight % to 90 weight % of a norbornene-based polymer and 10 weight % to 30 weight % of a block copolymer composed of a hydrogenated styrene-based thermoplastic elastomer. In another example, PTL 6 describes a food container obtained through shaping of a hydrogenated norbornene-based ring-opened polymer that includes a repeating unit derived from 2-norbornene and that has a melting point within a range of 110° C. to 145° C. In yet another example, PTL 7 describes a container for a wafer used in semiconductor production (semiconductor container) wherein at least one of a main body and a lid of the container is formed by a shaped product of a cycloolefin resin.

CITATION LIST

Patent Literature

PTL 1: JP 2011-26614 A

PTL 2: JP 2002-20464 A

PTL 3: JP 2015-54885 A

PTL 4: JP 2016-26909 A

PTL 5: JP 2015-160399 A

PTL 6: JP 2008-137671 A

PTL 7: JP H11-74337 A

SUMMARY

Technical Problem

Demands relating to shaping materials that have excellent formability while also having a high melting point and shaped items that have higher performance than conventionally achieved have been increasing in recent years. However, the various resins disclosed in PTL 1 to 7 have not been able to satisfy this need.

Accordingly, an objective of the present disclosure is to provide a shaping material that contains a high-melting point resin and has excellent formability, and also to provide a resin shaped product, a cosmetic container, and a semiconductor container that are obtained through shaping of this shaping material.

In particular, cosmetic containers are normally required to be hygienic and have excellent safety and stability such that elution of components of the container does not occur even while in contact with contents of the container. In addition, the development of containers having complicated structures, low-capacity containers, and so forth in recent years has made it necessary for shaping material used in production of cosmetic containers to have excellent formability. However, the various resins disclosed in PTL 1 to 7 have not been able to satisfy this need.

Accordingly, another objective of the present disclosure is to provide a cosmetic container having excellent performance.

Furthermore, in recent years, it has become desirable to provide even faster production processes for semiconductor devices from a viewpoint of improving production yield. For this reason, a semiconductor container (FOUP: Front Opening Unified Pod) that is used to transfer a semiconductor wafer in a semiconductor production process is required to be able to house the semiconductor wafer after heating thereof in the production process, even without providing cooling time for the semiconductor wafer. However, the various resins disclosed in PTL 1 to 7 have not been able to satisfy this need. Note that a FOUP is a front opening cassette unified box for transport and storage defined by “SEMI Standard E47.1”.

Accordingly, another objective of the present disclosure is to provide a semiconductor container having high heat resistance and also to provide a method of producing a semiconductor container that enables good production of this semiconductor container.

Solution to Problem

The present disclosure aims to advantageously solve the problems set forth above by disclosing a shaping material comprising a crystalline alicyclic structure-containing resin, wherein the crystalline alicyclic structure-containing resin has a melting point of 200° C. or higher, and content of chlorobenzene-soluble components in the shaping material is 1,000 ppm or less as an o-dichlorobenzene-equivalent value based on gas chromatography analysis with o-dichlorobenzene as a standard substance. A shaping material that contains a crystalline alicyclic structure-containing resin having a melting point of 200° C. or higher and in which the content of chlorobenzene-soluble components is 1,000 ppm or less as set forth above has excellent formability despite containing a high-melting point resin.

The “melting point of a crystalline alicyclic structure-containing resin” can be measured by differential scanning calorimetry in accordance with JIS K7121. Moreover, the “content of chlorobenzene-soluble components in a shaping material” can be measured by a method described in the EXAMPLES section.

In the presently disclosed shaping material, the crystalline alicyclic structure-containing resin is preferably a hydrogenated dicyclopentadiene ring-opened polymer. When the crystalline alicyclic structure-containing resin is a hydrogenated dicyclopentadiene ring-opened polymer, it is possible to further improve heat resistance and chemical resistance of the shaping material and of a shaped product or the like obtained using the shaping material.

The presently disclosed shaping material can suitably be used in injection molding. Use of the presently disclosed shaping material in injection molding enables stable production a resin shaped product in which crystallization has sufficiently progressed.

A presently disclosed resin shaped product that can advantageously solve the problems set forth above is obtained through melt shaping of any one of the shaping materials set forth above.

The presently disclosed shaping material has excellent crystallinity and is suitable for melt shaping because it rapidly crystallizes upon cooling from a molten state. Moreover, a resin shaped product having excellent mechanical strength can be obtained through melt shaping of the presently disclosed shaping material. Furthermore, a cosmetic container and a semiconductor container having excellent attributes can suitably be produced through any one of the shaping materials set forth above.

In particular, a presently disclosed semiconductor container preferably has a degree of crystallinity of 10% or more. A semiconductor container having a degree of crystallinity of 10% or more has excellent chemical resistance. Note that the “degree of crystallinity” can be measured using an X-ray diffractometer.

Moreover, the present disclosure aims to advantageously solve the problems set forth above by disclosing a method of producing a semiconductor container comprising: a purification step of holding a target resin including a crystalline alicyclic structure-containing resin having a melting point Tm (° C.) of 200° C. or higher in a purification temperature range of not lower than 140° C. and not higher than 300° C. for not less than 0.5 hours and not more than 100 hours to obtain a purified target resin; and a shaping step of heating a pre-crystallization shaping material including the purified target resin to a higher temperature than the melting point Tm (° C.) to melt the pre-crystallization shaping material and subsequently shaping the pre-crystallization shaping material while holding the pre-crystallization shaping material in a crystallization temperature range of not lower than (Tm−140°) C. and lower than the melting point Tm (° C.) to cause crystallization. The method of producing a semiconductor container including the production steps set forth above enables good production of a semiconductor container having high heat resistance.

In the presently disclosed method of producing a semiconductor container, content of chlorobenzene-soluble components in the pre-crystallization shaping material used in the shaping step is preferably 1,000 ppm or less as an o-dichlorobenzene-equivalent value based on gas chromatography analysis with o-dichlorobenzene as a standard substance.

When the content of chlorobenzene-soluble components in the pre-crystallization shaping material is 1,000 ppm or less, it is possible to efficiently produce a semiconductor container for which the amount of evolved outgas is small.

Advantageous Effect

According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a shaping material that contains a high-melting point resin and has excellent formability.

Moreover, according to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a resin shaped product, a cosmetic container, and a semiconductor container that are obtained through shaping of a shaping material that contains a high-melting point resin and has excellent formability.

Furthermore, according to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a method of producing the aforementioned semiconductor container.

