Process of graft polymerizing ethylenically unsaturated monomers to solid, shaped polycarbonamides employing heat as the sole graft initiator

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR MODIFYING A SHAPED STRUCTURE OF A SOLID, HIGH MOLECULAR WEIGHT, SYNTHETIC LINEAR CONDENSATION POLYCARBONAMIDE WHEREIN THE CARBONAMIDE UNITS ARE LINKING UNITS IN THE MAIN POLYMER CHAIN, WHILE RETAINING THE STRUCTURAL SHAPE, WHICH COMPRISES HEATING THE SHAPED POLYCARBONAMIDE WHILE IN CONTACT WITH A LIQUID CONTAINING POLYMERIZABLE, ETHYLENICALLY UNSATURATED MONOMER OF MOLECULAR WEIGHT GREATER THAN 28, AT A TEMPERATURE BETWEEN ABOUT 25*C. AND ABOUT 100*C. WITH THE PROVISO THAT SAID TEMPERATURE BE SUFFICIENT OF EFFECT GRAFT-POLYMERIZATION BUT BELOW THE MELTING POINT OF SAID POLYCARBONAMIDE, SAID HEATING CONSITUTING THE SOLE MEANS FOR PRODUCING FREE RADICALS APPLIED TO SAID SHAPED MASS PRIOR TO AND DURING THE ABOVE SPECIFIED PROCESS OF HEATING, AND SAID HEATING BEING CONTINUED UNTIL A PREDETERMINED DEGREE OF GRAFT-POLYMERIZATION BETWEEN SAID POLYCARBONAMIDE AND SAID UNSATURATED MONOMER HAS BEEN ACHIEVED WHILE RETAINING THE STRUCTURAL SHAPE OF SAID POLYCARBONAMIDE.