Recording medium of improved stability

Claim 2

A recording medium having reduced sensitivity to light and increased sensitivity to ionizing radiation which comprises a non-solvating binder having fixedly dispersed therein imageable, normally crystalline, conjugated polyacetylene microcrystals wherein said polyacetylene microcrystals are dispersed in said binder from solution in n-butanol, said solution containing a weight ratio of n-butyl alcohol to polyacetylene of between about 1:4 and about 1:0.1.

Claim 3

The recording medium of claim 1 wherein said dispersion is coated on a base film support.

Claim 4

The recording medium of claim 1 wherein said polyacetylene compound is pentacosa-10,12-diynoic acid

Claim 5

The process of preparing a dispersion of imageable, normally crystalline polyacetylenic microcrystals suitable for coating on a film base as a recording medium which comprises: (a) dissolving said imageable, normally crystalline polyacetylenic compound in n-butanol to provide a solution containing a weight ratio of between about 4:1 and about 0:1:1 polyacetylene to n-butanol; (b) under agitation, combining said solution with an aqueous binder solution containing between about 0.1 wt. % and about 50 wt. % of binder and between about 0.001 wt. % and about 5 wt. % of surfactant at an elevated temperature at which said binder is a liquid and below the melting point of said polyacetylene to produce an emulsion; (c) chilling the resulting mixture to produce a solid mass; (d) dividing said mass into particles having an average diameter not in excess of 5 cm; and; (e) evaporating said n-butanol from said particles at a temperature below the melting point of said polyacetylene to produce a dispersion product of said polyacetylene microcrystals uniformly and fixedly distributed in said binder.

Claim 6

The process of preparing a dispersion of imageable, normally crystalline polyacetylenic microcrystals suitable for coating on a film base as a recording medium which comprises: (a) dissolving said imageable, normally crystalline polyacetylenic compound in n-butanol to provide a solution containing a weight ratio of between about 4:1 and about 0:1:1 polyacetylene to n-butanol; (b) under agitation, combining said solution with an aqueous binder solution containing between about 0.1 wt. % and about 50 wt. % of binder and between about 0.001 wt. % and about 5 wt. % of surfactant at an elevated temperature at which said binder is a liquid and below the melting point of said polyacetylene to produce an emulsion; (c) chilling the resulting mixture to produce a solid mass; (d) dividing said mass into particles having an average diameter not in excess of 5 cm; and; (e) evaporating said n-butanol from said particles at a temperature below the melting point of said polyacetylene to produce a dispersion product of said polyacetylene microcrystals uniformly and fixedly distributed in said binder.

Claim 7

The process of claim 4 wherein the dispersion product is melted at a temperature above the melting point of said binder and below the melting point of said polyacetylene and reconstituted with water to a volume at least equal to the amount of evaporated n-butanol.

Claim 8

The process of claim 4 wherein the dispersion product is coated on a film base to form an imaging layer.

Claim 9

The product of the process of claim 6.

Claim 10

The process of claim 5 wherein the dispersion product, after dilution with water, is coated on a film base to form an imaging layer.

Claim 11

The process of claim 4 wherein the emulsion is formed in a high shear mixer.

Claim 12

The process of claim 4 wherein the evaporation of n-butanol in step (e) is effected by air drying.

Claim 13

The process of claim 4 wherein the dispersion product is subjected to ageing at a temperature of between about -78° C. and about 12° C. for a period of from about 0.25 hour to about 30 days

Claim 14

The process of claim 5 wherein the dispersion product after dilution with water, is subjected to ageing at a temperature of between about -78° C. and about 12° C. for a period of from about 0.25 hour to about 30 days

Claim 15

The process of claim 11 wherein the aged product is coated and dried on a film base.

Claim 16

The process of claim 12 wherein the aged product is coated and dried on a film base.