Production of molding materials of bitumen and polyolefins

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR PRODUCTION OF MOLDING MATERIALS FROM BITUMEN AND OLEFIN POLYMERS WHICH COMPRISES FORMING A STREAM OF MOLTEN BITUMEN FLOWING AT LAMINAR FLOW WITH AT MOST SLIGHT TURBULENCE AT A FLOW VELOCITY OF 0.3 TO 1.5 METERS PER SECOND AND HAVING A TEMPERATURE OF 150-250* C., EXTRUDING INTO SAID LAMINAR STREAM, IN THE DIRECTION OF FLOW OF SAID BITUMEN, STRANDS OF A MOLTEN OLEFIN POLYMER SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF POLYETHYLEN, POLYPROPYLENE, POLYISOBUTYLENE, ND AN INTERPOLYMER OF ETHYLENE WITH AT LEAST ONE MEMBER SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF PROPYLENE, BUTENE-1, VINYL ACETTE, VINYL PROPIONATE, AND ACRYLIC ESTERS OF ALKANOLS HAVING 1-4 CARBON ATOMS, SAID INTERPOLYMERS CONTAINING 70-95% BY WEIGHT OF ETHYLENE, SAID MOLTEN POLYMER HAVING AN EXTRUSION TEMPERATURE OF 180-250*C., SAID MOLTEN POLYMER FURTHER HAVING DISTRIBUTED THEREIN 5-30% BY WEIGHT, BASED ON THE MOLTEN POLYMER, OF FINELY DIVIDED PARTICLES OF MINERAL FILLER OF PARTICLE SIZES IN THE RANGE OF 0.01 TO 90 MICRONS, SAID PARTICLES ACCELERATING THE RATE OF DISSOLVING OF SAID POLYMER IN SAID BITUMEN, AND FLOWING SAID STREAM OF MOLTEN BITUMEN AND SAID STRANDS IN SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL FLOW IN A PRIMARY DISSOLVING ZONE FOR AT LEAST 0.5 SECOND AND A DISTANCE OF AT LEAST 0.3 METER TO DISSOLVE SAID POLYMER IN SAID BITUMEN.