Radiation curable partial esters of anhydride-containing copolymers

Claim 1

A radiation-curable partial ester of a free anhydride-containing copolymer corresponding to the structural formula: ##STR6## wherein: R 1 and R 2 are each independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl containing of from 1 to 20 carbon atoms, aryl containing of from 6 to 10 carbon atoms, alkaryl containing of from 7 to 14 carbon atoms, cycloalkyl containing of from 4 to 12 carbon atoms, and a halo radical; R 3 , R 4 and R 5 are each independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, and an alkyl radical containing of from 1 to 5 carbon atoms; the radical R 6 is a member selected from the group consisting of an alkyl, arylalkyl, alkyl-substituted arylalkyl and oxyalkylated derivatives of each of such radicals containing of from 2 to 4 carbon atoms in each oxyalkylene group, which group may be of 1 to 20 repeating units; the radical A is a linear or branched divalent alkylene of from 1 to 20 carbon atoms, or an oxyalkylated derivative thereof containing of from 2 to 4 carbon atoms in each oxyalkylene group, which group may be of 1 to 20 repeating units, and subscripts x, y, z, m and p are each whole numbers such that the sum of x, y, z, m and p may range from 4 to about 20, with x, p, m and y each being equal to or greater than 1, and z may be 0, said partial ester being characterized a exhibiting a number average molecular weight of between about 1,000 and 20,000, an acid number of at least about 40, and an acrylate equivalent per gram value of at least about 0.1.