Process for preparing blends of vinyl esters and reactive diluents

Claim 1

In the process for preparing a curable composition of (1) a vinyl ester resin prepared from an α,β-ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid and a compound containing at least one oxirane group and (2) as a reactive diluent, an ester prepared from the same unsaturated carboxylic acid and an organic hydroxy compound, the improvement being a sequential process wherein said organic hydroxy compound is reacted in a first esterification with an excess of equivalents of said carboxylic acid over that required to make said reactive diluent, and after substantial completion of the esterification, introducing into the reaction mixture of reactive diluent and unreacted carboxylic acid an amount of said oxirane compound in an amount equivalent to the unreacted acid from the first esterification, and causing substantially complete reaction of said oxirane compound and said carboxylic acid in a second esterification.