Claims
- 1. A method of preparing substantially water swellable polyelectrolyte fibers which comprises
- A. extruding a composition comprising
- 1. a solution of a carboxylic synthetic polyelectrolyte wherein the solution comprises water, lower alcohols, or mixtures thereof and about 5 to about 60% by weight of a carboxylic polyelectrolyte, and
- 2. at least about 0.1% by weight based on the polyelectrolyte of a crosslinking agent reactive with carboxylate groups into a bath comprising lower alkyl ketones or chlorinated hydrocarbons to form an extruded fiber,
- B. separating the extruded fiber from said bath, and
- C. heating said fibers to a temperature greater than about 30.degree. C. to crosslink said polyelectrolyte fibers.
- 2. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the crosslinking agent is present in the range from 0.1 - 10% by weight.
- 3. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the carboxylic polyelectrolyte consists of a terpolymer of ethyl acrylate, sodium acrylate, and sodium methacrylate with 50 mole percent being ethyl acrylate.
- 4. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the carboxylic polyelectrolyte consists of polysodium acrylate.
- 5. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the carboxylic polyelectrolyte consists of poly(isobutylenecodisodium maleate).
- 6. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the crosslinking agent is the diglycidyl ether of polypropylene glycol.
- 7. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said crosslinking agent is selected from polyhaloalkanols, sulfonium zwitterions, haloepoxyalkanes, polyglycidyl ethers, and mixtures thereof.
- 8. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the crosslinking agent is a polyglycidyl ether.
- 9. The polyelectrolyte fiber produced by the method of claim 1.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This case is a division of Ser. No. 468,794, filed May 9, 1974, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,663, issued Sept. 14, 1976, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 371,909, filed June 20, 1973, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (16)
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
468794 |
May 1974 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
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371909 |
Jun 1973 |
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