Patent ID: 8609770

Claim:
An article comprising a thermoplastic composition which comprises or is produced from, based on the weight of the thermoplastic composition, about 70 to about 99.8% of a polyester composition and a modifier wherein the article is selected from the group consisting of a household item, part for machinery and vehicle, container cap or closure, profile, and overmolded article; the household item is selected from the group consisting of a comb, hair setting and styling utensil, personal care utensil, eyeglass frame, telephone, computer housing, keypad, mouse unit, writing utensil, flatware, calculator, camera, pail, garbage container, game board and piece, toy, credit card, furniture handle, and tool handle; the part for machine and vehicle is selected from the group consisting of a steering wheel, handle, knob, belt, board, electronic or electrical connector; air bag plug, lighting hardware, auto lamp socket and bases, and auto air intake duct; the container includes a bowl, tray, cup, can, bucket, tub, box, vial, bottle, vial, and jar; the polyester composition comprises poly(trimethylene terephthalate) or poly(tetramethylene terephthalate), or combinations thereof; the modifier comprises at least one aliphatic, monofunctional organic acid, at least one ionomer derived from an ethylene acid copolymer, and optionally at least one ethylene ester copolymer; the organic acid has 4 to 36 carbon atoms, optionally substituted with a C 1-8 alkyl group; the ethylene ester copolymer wherein comprises, based on the weight of the ethylene ester copolymer, (i) about 20 to about 95% of copolymerized units of ethylene, (ii) 0 to about 25% of copolymerized units of at least one ester of the formula CH 2 ═C(R 1 )CO 2 R 2 , and (iii) 0 to about 80 weight % of copolymerized units of at least one ester of the formula CH 2 ═C(R 3 )CO 2 R 4 ; (ii) and (iii) cannot both be 0 weight %; R 1 is hydrogen or an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms; R 2 is a glycidyl group; R 3 is hydrogen or an alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms; and R 4 is an alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms; from about 75% to about 100% of the combined acid moieties in the modifier are neutralized to form salts with metal cations; and the cations comprise at least about 75 equivalent % of magnesium, calcium, zinc, or combinations of two or more thereof; and wherein the melt viscosity of the thermoplastic composition is at least 10% less than that of the polyester composition without the modifier.