Ester copolymers cross-linkable under acid and alkaline conditions

Claim 1

A substantially-non-cross-linked ester copolymer which is cross-linkable under acidic, alkaline and heated conditions consisting essentially of a copolymerizate with (i) from 75% to 99% by weight of said copolymerizate of ester monomer mixture units, said mixture having from 70% to 100% by weight of an ester monomer selected from the group consisting of (a) vinyl alkanoates having from 1 to 22 carbon atoms in the alkanoate, (b) alcohol esters of acrylic acid, (c) alcohol esters of methacrylic acid, wherein said alcohol is selected from the group consisting of alkanols having from 1 to 18 carbon atoms, cycloalkanols having from 5 to 8 carbon atoms, and mixtures thereof, and (d) mixtures thereof, and from 0 to 30% by weight of said mixture of monomers copolymerizable with said ester monomers selected from the group consisting of (a) vinyl halides, (b) vinylidene halides, (c) vinyl aromatic hyrocarbons, (d) vinyl pyridine, (e) vinyl pyrrolidone, (f) α,β-unsaturated, α-unsaturated alkenoic acids having from 4 to 10 carbon atoms, and (g) their esters with alcohols selected from the group consisting of alkanols having from 1 to 18 carbon atoms, cycloalkanols having from 5 to 8 carbon atoms and mixtures thereof, (h) α,β-unsaturated alkendioic acids having from 4 to 10 carbon atoms and (j) their esters with alcohols selected from the group consisting of alkanols having from 1 to 18 carbon atoms, cycloalkanols having from 5 to 8 carbon atoms and mixtures thereof, (k) alkenes having from 2 to 8 carbon atoms, (1) conjugated alkadienes having from 4 to 8 carbon atoms, (m) acrylonitrile and (n) mixture thereof; (ii) from 0.2% by 15% by weight of said polymerizate of at least one olefinically unsaturated halotriazine monomer units of the formula ##STR4## wherein R 1 is a member selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and methyl, R 2 is a halogen selected from the group consisting of bromo and chloro, R 3 is a member selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, hydroxy, lower alkyl, chloro and bromo, X is a bivalent linkage selected from the group consisting of oxygen, sulfur and --NH--, and n is an integer from 0 to 3; (iii) from 0.2% to 10% by weight of said polymerizate of mono-olefinically unsaturated nitrogen-containing monomer units, said nitrogen-containing monomer containing a nitrogen group selected from the group consisting of (a) an N-methylol group selected from the group consisting of N-methylolacrylamide, N-methylolmethacrylamide and N-methylolallyl carbamate and (b) a protected N-methylol group which reverts to an N-methylol group when heated or treated with an acid or an alkali compound selected from the group consisting of alkyl ethers of the compounds of (a) above, esters of the compounds of (a) above, and Mannich bases of the compounds of (a) above; (iv) from 0 to 10% by weight of said polymerizate of mono-olefinically unsaturated monomer units copolymerizable with said ester monomer mixture selected from the group consisting of alkenoic acid amides having from 3 to 8 carbon atoms, acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, esters of acrylic and methacrylic acids with alcohols selected from the group consisting of alkanediols having from 2 to 8 carbon atoms, alkanetriols having from 3 to 8 carbon atoms, alkanehalohydrins having from 2 to 8 carbon atoms, epoxyalkanols having from 3 to 8 carbon atoms, haloalkanediols having from 3 to 8 carbon atoms, aminoalkanols having from 2 to 8 carbon atoms, and alkylaminoalkanols having from 3 to 8 carbon atoms, and vinyl sulfonate; and (v) from 0 to 0.5% by weight of said polymerizate of olefinically-unsaturated polyallyl cross-linking monomer units, said substantially non-cross-linked ester copolymer being produced by aqueous emulsion polymerization.