Method of dispersing bundles of glass fibers for making glass fiber mats by the wet-laid process

Claim 1

In the manufacture of uniform glass mats at a high rate of production by the wet-laid process, the improved method which comprises: forming an aqueous dispersion of glass fibers by mixing bundles of said fibers of about 1/4 to 3 inches in length in an aqueous medium at a fiber consistency of about 0.001 to 3% with about 5-500 ppm of a dispersant which is a polyethoxylated derivative of an amide condensation product of fatty acids and polyethylenepolyamines, said product comprises predominately a mixture of the I-IV compounds as defined below: ##STR2## wherein a through k are positive integers; a and e can be simultaneously or individually zero; b, f, g and j can be individually, simultaneously or in any combination, zero; b cannot be zero unless a is zero; f and g cannot be zero unless e is zero; 200≧a+b+2c+4d+e+f+g+2h+2i+j+2k≧10; and R is alkyl, C 8 -C 30 , thereby to substantially disperse said bundles into individual fibers within the aqueous medium, and, passing said dispersion through a mat-forming screen to form the desired uniform glass fiber mat.