Application of durable, antistatic, soil release agent

Claim 1

Process for applying durable, antistatic soil release agent to a substrate, said agent being of the formula ##STR9## wherein X is an aminoplast resin moiety having amino nitrogen atoms and 4 to 6 methylene groups, each of which methylene groups is attached to an amino nitrogen atom; Y 1 is O(C 2 H 4 O) 5-20 R 1 wherein R 1 is C 1-5 alkyl; Y 2 is O(C 2 H 4 O) 5-88 R 1 wherein R 2 is C 6-20 alkyl; ##STR10## wherein R 3 is C 4-20 alkyl, C 4-20 alkenyl or benzyl, R 4 is C 1-4 alkyl, A.sup.⊖ is an organic or inorganic anion, each of m and n is at least 1 and the sum of m and n is 12 to 100; each of a and b is 0 to 2 and the sum of a and b is 0 to 2; c is 1 to 2; the sum of a, b and c is 1 to 4; said agent having a calculated hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB) of 14.5 to 18.0, a 20 weight % aqueous solution viscosity, as measured at 20° C. on a Brookfield viscometer, of 0.250 to 16.000 pascal seconds, an electrical resistivity (Keithley log R) on polyester fabric, at 20±2% relative humidity and 23°±1° C., of no greater than 13.00 initially and no greater than 14.25 after ten washes, and a soil release rating on polyester fabric of at least 3 initially, said process comprising the steps: (a) diluting the agent with normally liquid medium to achieve the desired application liquid viscosity, (b) adding sufficient salt of a mono-, di- or trivalent metal or of an ammonium cation to achieve a cloud point (measured as described herein), of the diluted agent of step (a) of less than 100° C. but greater than 25° C., or adding sufficient polyacidic compound having a second dissociation constant of greater than 1×10 -8 to achieve a pH of the diluted agent of step (a) of 3.0 to 6.0, or adding both said salt and said polyacidic compound to achieve said cloud point and pH, (c) applying the diluted agent of step (b) to the subtrate to be treated so as to achieve the desired level of agent on the substrate, (d) drying and curing the agent on the substrate, and (e) recovering substrate which has been durably treated with the agent of the aforesaid formula.