Polyvinyl alcohol - crystalline solvent system based compositions modified with ethylene polymer

Claim 1

Solid adhesive composition consisting essentially of (1) from about 2 to about 35 percent by weight of a vinyl alcohol polymer selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl alcohol and ethylene/vinyl alcohol copolymers containing at least 50 mol percent vinyl alcohol; (2) from about 10 to about 80 percent by weight of an at least two component crystalline solvent system wherein component (a) is selected from the group consisting of urea, solid alkyl substituted ureas containing a total of up to 9 carbon atoms, thiourea, biuret, and solid aliphatic amides containing up to 6 carbon atoms, and component (b) is ε-caprolactam, the ratio of component (a) to component (b) being from about 80/20 to about 20/80; (3) from about 1 to about 15 percent by weight of at least one ethylene polymer selected from the group consisting of ethylene homopolymer and ethylene copolymers with vinyl esters, acrylates, methacrylates and their terpolymers with carbon monoxide, and their terpolymers with acids selected from the group consisting of acrylic acid and methacrylic acid, provided that when said ethylene polymer is ethylene homopolymer it is present in an amount of up to about 5 percent by weight; (4) from 0 to about 15 percent by weight of thermoplastic tackifier; and (5) from 0 to about 5 percent by weight of normally solid, saturated aliphatic carboxylic acid.