Calenderable acrylic polymers and textiles treated therewith

Claim 1

A calenderable, soft, three-stage acrylic polymeric composition, said composition having a calculated T g of from about (-)40° C. to about (+)20° C., the isolated and dried particles of which comprise about 30-60% by weight of a polymeric first stage, about 30-60% by weight of a polymeric second stage, and about 5-20% by weight of a polymeric third stage, wherein (1) said first stage is formed by emulsion polymerization of a first monomer composition having a T g of about (-)10°. or lower consisting essentially of: (a) about 70-95% by weight of at least one (C 1 -C 8 ) alkyl acrylate, (b) about 0-15% by weight of at least one (C 1 -C 8 ) alkyl methacrylate, (c) about 4-10% by weight of a latent cross-linking monomer selected from acrylamide or methacrylamide, and (d) about 0.5-4% by weight of at least one alpha, beta-ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid selected from acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, and itaconic acid; (2) said second stage is formed by emulsion polymerization, in the presence of said first stage, of a second monomer composition having a T g of about (-)10 to (+)60° C. consisting essentially of: (a) about 40-70% by weight of at least one (C 1 -C 8 ) alkyl acrylate, (b) about 20-50% by weight of at least one (C 1 -C 8 ) alkyl methacrylate, (c) about 4-10% by weight of a latent cross-linking monomer selected from acrylamide and methacrylamide, and (d) about 0.5-4% by weight of at least one alpha, beta-ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid selected from acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, an itaconic acid; and (3) said third stage is formed by emulsion polymerization, in the presence of said second stage polymerization product, of a third monomer composition consisting essentially of: (a) about 50-100% by weight of methyl methacrylate, and (b) about 0-50% by weight of a comonomer selected from those comonomers copolymerizable with methyl methacrylate and having a calculated T g of less than (-)25° C.