Claims
- 1. A process for fabricating an article from a thermoplastic composition, said thermoplastic composition being a thermoplastic ionomer, that is, a polymer having a backbone composed of a thermoplastic resin and having polar groups pendant to that backbone, which comprises the steps of:
- (a) suspending said thermoplastic composition in finely divided form in a liquid medium in such amount that solids content of the resulting suspension is in the range of from about 15 to about 75 wt. %; said liquid medium being nonvolatile and being capable of plasticizing the backbone near or above the softening point of that backbone;
- (b) applying said suspension to a surface;
- (c) heating said surface to a temperature at least approximately equal to that of the softening point of said backbone;
- (d) cooling said heated surface to a temperature below that of the softening point of said backbone to form said article in a gelled state; and
- (e) heating at a later time said article in said gelled state to a temperature of about equal to that of the higher softening point of said thermoplastic ionomer to cause curing of said article.
- 2. The process of claim 1 wherein said polar groups are temporarily plasticized during processing by a preferential plasticizer.
- 3. The process of claim 2 wherein said preferential plasticizer is dispersable in the ionomer, is liquid during processing of the ionomer and possesses at least one functional constituent which exhibits a bond moment whose absolute value is at least 0.6 debyes.
- 4. The process of claim 1 wherein the solids content is from 30 to 65 wt. %.
- 5. The process of claim 1 which additionally comprises the subsequent step of cooling said heated surface to a temperature below that of the softening point of said backbone.
- 6. The process of claim 1, wherein said polar groups are prepared by neutralizing acid groups selected from the group comprising carboxylic acid, sulfonic acid and phosphonic acid with base metal compounds or basic nitrogen compounds.
- 7. The process of claim 6, wherein said basic metal compounds are selected from the group comprising of alkali and alkaline earth metal compounds.
- 8. The process of claim 1, wherein said thermoplastic ionomer is selected from the group comprising sulfonated polystyrene, sulfonated poly-t-butylstyrene and copolymers thereof.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of Ser. No. 705,466, filed July 15, 1976, now abandoned; which is a division of Ser. No. 610,826, filed Sept. 5, 1975, now abandoned; which is a division of Ser. No. 429,162, filed Dec. 28, 1973, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,280; which is a division of Ser. No. 229,487, filed Feb. 25, 1972, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (7)
Divisions (3)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
610826 |
Sep 1975 |
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Parent |
429162 |
Dec 1973 |
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Parent |
229487 |
Feb 1972 |
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Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
705466 |
Jul 1916 |
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