Patent ID: 7405169

Claim:
A composite material comprising: (a) a substrate material selected from fibers, slivers, chips and combinations thereof; and, (b) a cured binder composition, wherein the cured binder composition is produced from an uncured binder composition comprising a binder copolymer produced by free radical polymerization from (i) component A, wherein component A comprises at least one of a (meth)acrylic acid alkyl ester, styrene, and derivatives thereof; (ii) component B, wherein component B comprises at least one organic silane monomer according to the formula R b —Si—(OR a ) 3 wherein each R a is independently selected from methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, butyl and tert-butyl; and, wherein R b is selected from any substituted or unsubstituted, ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbyl group; and, (iii) component C, wherein component C comprises at least one chain transfer agent; wherein the composite material comprises ≦40 wt % cured binder composition; with the proviso that the cured binder composition contains <1 wt % (based on solids) polymerizable unsaturated carboxylic acid monomer derived units and with the proviso that the uncured binder composition contains <0.5 wt % (based on solids) colloidal silica.