Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 14
Claim 1
Independent Claim
178 words
A crosslinked vinylidene chloride polymer microgel powder which can be incorporated in acrylic fibers as a flame-retardant additive, said powders being recovered from a latex obtained by emulsion polymerizing in sequence (a) a first monomer mixture comprising about 85 to about 95 parts by weight of vinylidene chloride, about 5 to about 15 parts by weight of a copolymerizable ethylenically unsaturated comonomer and a minor amount of a copolymerizable crosslinking polyfunctional comonomer, wherein the polymer resulting from the polymerization of the first monomer mixture has a gel content in the range of about 1 to about 50 percent; (b) a minor amount of a polyfunctional comonomer for providing graft sites on the product of (a); and (c) about 10 to about 25 weight percent, based on the weight of the first monomer mixture, of a second monomer mixture comprising about 85 to about 95 weight percent acrylonitrile and about 5 to about 15 weight percent of an ethylenically unsaturated comonomer copolymerizable with acrylonitrile; wherein the microgels in the resulting latex have a diameter less than about 1 micron.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
178 words
A crosslinked vinylidene chloride polymer microgel powder which can be incorporated in acrylic fibers as a flame-retardant additive, said powders being recovered from a latex obtained by emulsion polymerizing in sequence (a) a first monomer mixture comprising about 85 to about 95 parts by weight of vinylidene chloride, about 5 to about 15 parts by weight of a copolymerizable ethylenically unsaturated comonomer and a minor amount of a copolymerizable crosslinking polyfunctional comonomer, wherein the polymer resulting from the polymerization of the first monomer mixture has a gel content in the range of about 1 to about 50 percent; (b) a minor amount of a polyfunctional comonomer for providing graft sites on the product of (a); and (c) about 10 to about 25 weight percent, based on the weight of the first monomer mixture, of a second monomer mixture comprising about 85 to about 95 weight percent acrylonitrile and about 5 to about 15 weight percent of an ethylenically unsaturated comonomer copolymerizable with acrylonitrile; wherein the microgels in the resulting latex have a diameter less than about 1 micron.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
27 words
A powder according to claim 1 wherein the proportion of vinylidene chloride in the first monomer mixture ranges from about 90 to about 95 parts by weight.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
35 words
A powder according to claim 1 wherein the copolymerizable ethylenically unsaturated comonomer of (a) is selected from the group consisting of alkyl esters of acrylic and methacrylic acids and nitriles of ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acids.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
16 words
A powder according to claim 1 wherein the copolymerizable ethylenically unsaturated comonomer of (a) comprises acrylonitrile.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
40 words
A powder according to claim 1 wherein the polyfunctional comonomer of (a) is selected from the group consisting of 1,3-butylene glycol dimethacrylate, 1,3-butylene glycol diacrylate, 1,4-butane diol dimethacrylate, 1,4-butane diol diacrylate, allyl methacrylate, allyl acrylate, vinyl metacrylate, and vinyl acrylate.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
18 words
A powder according to claim 1 wherein the polyfunctional comonomer of (b) comprises a conjugated diolefinically unsaturated monomer.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
33 words
A powder according to claim 1 wherein the amount of the polyfunctional comonomer of (b) ranges from about 1 to about 5 weight percent, based on the weight of the first monomer mixture.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
25 words
A powder according to claim 1 wherein the amount of acrylonitrile in the second monomer mixture ranges from about 85 to about 90 weight percent.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
27 words
A powder according to claim 1 wherein the ethylenically unsaturated comonomer of (c) is selected from the group consisting of alkyl esters of acrylic and methacrylic acids.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
26 words
A powder according to claim 1 wherein the microgels in the resulting latex have a diameter in the range of about 0.1 to about 0.5 micron.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
42 words
A spinning solution for the preparation of flame-retardant acrylic fibers comprising (a) a fiber-forming polymer containing at least 85 weight percent acrylonitrile; (b) a solvent for the fiber-forming polymer; and (c) a crosslinked vinylidene chloride polymer microgel powder according to claim 1.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
39 words
A process for preparing the spinning solution of claim 11 which comprises (a) forming a generally uniform dispersion of the solvent and the crosslinked vinylidene chloride polymer microgel powder; and (b) admixing the fiber-forming polymer with the so-formed dispersion.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
11 words
An acrylic fiber obtained by spinning the solution of claim 11.