Claims
- 1. A method for treating carpet, comprising the steps of:
- providing a substrate comprising unscoured carpet fibers; and
- applying to the substrate a composition comprising a fluorochemical and the reaction product of a polycarboxylic acid with a mixture of ammonium hydroxide and an alkali metal hydroxide.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the composition is an aqueous dispersion.
- 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the composition is applied topically.
- 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:
- curing the composition with the application of heat.
- 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the carpet fibers comprise polypropylene.
- 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the composition has a pH of at least about 5.5.
- 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the polycarboxylic acid is a polyacrylate.
- 8. The method of claim 1, wherein said polycarboxylic acid is a copolymer of maleic anhydride and at least one ethylenically unsaturated monomer.
- 9. The method of claim 8, wherein said ethylenically unsaturated monomer is an alkyl vinyl ether.
- 10. The method of claim 9, wherein said alkyl vinyl ether is methyl vinyl ether.
- 11. The method of claim 8, wherein said ethylenically unsaturated monomer is an .alpha.-olefin.
- 12. The method of claim 11, wherein said .alpha.-olefin is an alkene containing 4 to 12 carbon atoms.
- 13. The method of claim 12, wherein said .alpha.-olefin is selected from the group consisting of isobutylene, 1-butene, 1-hexene, 1-octene, 1-decene, and 1-dodecene.
- 14. The method of claim 8 wherein said ethylenically unsaturated monomer is styrene.
- 15. A method for treating carpet, comprising the steps of:
- providing a substrate comprising unscoured carpet fibers;
- providing a polycarboxylic acid;
- at least partially neutralizing the polycarboxylic acid with a base;
- forming a composition comprising the partially neutralized polycarboxylic acid and a fluorochemical; and
- applying the composition to the substrate, said method providing the unscoured carpet with soil resistance, water repellency and/or oil repellency which is comparable to or exceeds that of scoured fibers treated with the same materials.
- 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the composition is applied topically.
- 17. The method of claim 15, wherein the base is sodium hydroxide.
- 18. The method of claim 15, wherein the base is a mixture of sodium hydroxide and ammonium hydroxide.
- 19. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of:
- curing the composition with the application of heat.
- 20. The method of claim 15, wherein the carpet fibers comprise polypropylene.
- 21. The method of claim 15, wherein the composition has a pH of at least about 5.5.
- 22. The method of claim 15, wherein the composition has a pH of at least about 6.
- 23. The method of claim 15, wherein said polycarboxylate is a copolymer of maleic anhydride and at least one ethylenically unsaturated monomer.
- 24. The method of claim 23, wherein said ethylenically unsaturated monomer is an alkyl vinyl ether.
- 25. The method of claim 24, wherein said alkyl vinyl ether is methyl vinyl ether.
- 26. The method of claim 23, wherein said ethylenically unsaturated monomer is an .alpha.-olefin.
- 27. The method of claim 26, wherein said .alpha.-olefin is an alkene containing 4 to 12 carbon atoms.
- 28. The method of claim 27, wherein said .alpha.-olefin is selected from the group consisting of isobutylene, 1-butene, 1-hexene, 1-octene, 1-decene, and 1-dodecene.
- 29. The method of claim 28, wherein said .alpha.-olefin is 1-octene.
- 30. A method for treating carpet, comprising the steps of:
- providing a substrate comprising unscoured carpet fibers;
- providing an aqueous dispersion comprising a fluorochemical and the reaction product of a polycarboxylic acid with ammonium hydroxide and an alkali metal hydroxide, said dispersion having a pH of at least about 5;
- topically applying the dispersion to the substrate with a wet pick-up of less than about 60%; and
- curing the dispersion onto the substrate with the application of heat.
- 31. The method of claim 30, wherein the reaction product is formed by reacting the polycarboxylic acid with a mixture of ammonium hydroxide and an alkali metal hydroxide.
- 32. The method of claim 30, wherein the carpet fibers comprise polypropylene.
- 33. The method of claim 30, wherein the polycarboxylic acid is a polyacrylate.
- 34. The method of claim 30, wherein said polycarboxylic acid is a copolymer of maleic anhydride and at least one ethylenically unsaturated monomer.
- 35. The method of claim 34, wherein said ethylenically unsaturated monomer is an alkyl vinyl ether.
- 36. The method of claim 35, wherein said alkyl vinyl ether is methyl vinyl ether.
- 37. The method of claim 30, wherein said ethylenically unsaturated monomer is an .alpha.-olefin.
- 38. The method of claim 37, wherein said .alpha.-olefin is an alkene containing 4 to 12 carbon atoms.
- 39. The method of claim 37, wherein said .alpha.-olefin is selected from the group consisting of isobutylene, 1-butene, 1-hexene, 1-octene, 1-decene, and 1-dodecene.
- 40. The method of claim 34 wherein said ethylenically unsaturated monomer is styrene.
- 41. A method for treating carpet, comprising the steps of:
- providing a substrate comprising unscoured carpet fibers; and
- applying to the substrate an aqueous composition comprising a fluorochemical and the reaction product of a polycarboxylic acid with a base; wherein the aqueous composition has a pH of at least about 5.5, said method providing the unscoured carpet with soil resistance, water repellency and/or oil repellency which is comparable to or exceeds that of scoured fibers treated with the same materials.
- 42. The method of claim 41, wherein the base is selected from the group consisting of ammonium hydroxide and alkali metal hydroxides.
- 43. The method of claim 41, wherein the base is ammonium hydroxide.
- 44. The method of claim 41, wherein the base is a mixture of ammonium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide.
- 45. The method of claim 41, wherein the aqueous composition has a pH of at least about 6.
- 46. The method of claim 41, wherein the aqueous composition has a pH of at least about 9.
- 47. The method of claim 41, wherein the polycarboxylic acid is a polyacrylate.
- 48. The method of claim 41, wherein the aqueous composition is applied topically with a wet pick-up of less than about 60%.
- 49. The method of claim 41, wherein said polycarboxylate is a copolymer of maleic anhydride and at least one ethylenically unsaturated monomer.
- 50. The method of claim 49, wherein said ethylenically unsaturated monomer is an .alpha.-olefin.
- 51. The method of claim 49, wherein said .alpha.-olefin is an alkene containing 4 to 12 carbon atoms.
- 52. The method of claim 51, wherein said .alpha.-olefin is selected from the group consisting of isobutylene, 1-butene, 1-hexene, 1-octene, 1-decene, and 1-dodecene.
- 53. The method of claim 52, wherein said .alpha.-olefin is 1-octene.
- 54. The method of claim 49, wherein said ethylenically unsaturated monomer is an alkyl vinyl ether.
- 55. The method of claim 54, wherein said alkyl vinyl ether is methyl vinyl ether.
- 56. The method of claim 41, further comprising the step of:
- curing the composition with the application of heat.
- 57. The method of claim 41, said carpet fibers comprise polypropylene.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 5,756,181, which is incorporated herein by reference.
US Referenced Citations (26)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0 725 183 |
Aug 1996 |
EPX |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
685327 |
Jul 1996 |
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