Patent ID: 6444716
Filing Date: 2002-09-03
Classification: C08J

Abstract:
A polymeric foam material prepared by polymerizing and crosslinking a high internal phase emulsion, the emulsion comprising:1) an oil phase comprising: a) from about 80 to about 99% by weight of a monomer component capable of forming a copolymer having a Tg value of below about 90Â° C. or lower, the monomer component comprising: i) from about 5 to about 80% by weight of a substantially water-insoluble, monofunctional monomer capable of forming a polymer having a Tg of about 35Â° C. or less; ii) from about 0 to about 70% by weight of a substantially water-insoluble, monofunctional comonomer capable of imparting other desired properties to the foam; iii) from about 5 to about 80% by weight of a substantially water-insoluble, polyfunctional crosslinking agent; and b) from about 1 to about 20% by weight of an ASD emulsifier which is soluble in the oil phase, said emulsifier being characterized as comprising the partially dehydrated reaction product of: i) at least one hydrocarbyl substituted succinic acid or anhydride (A) or a reactive equivalent thereof, the hydrocarbyl substituent of said succinic acid or anhydride having an average of from about 8 to about 100 carbon atoms; and ii) at least one coreactant selected from the group consisting of polyols, polyamines, hydroxyamines or mixtures of two or more thereof; wherein said hydrocarbyl substituted succinic acid or anhydride (A) and said coreactant (B) are reacted under conditions so as to cause said reaction product to be partially dehydrated so as to separate water of reaction such that, when (A) is succinic anhydride, from about 0.2 to about 0.9 moles of said water of reaction per equivalent of said succinic anhydride are removed by said partial dehydration, when (A) is said succinic acid the amount of water of reaction that is removed by said partial dehydration is from about 1.2 to about 1.9 moles of said water of reaction per equivalent of said succinic acid, said partially dehydrated product having a total acid number in the range of about 10 to about 100 mg of KOH/g; and 2) an aqueous phase comprising a water solution containing: (a) from about 0.2 to about 40% by weight of a water-soluble electrolyte; and (b) an effective amount of a polymerization initiator; wherein the emulsion has a volume to weight ratio of aqueous phase to oil phase in the range of from about 8:1 to about 140:1.