Patent ID: 7435522

Claim:
A method of preparing coated carrier particles, comprising: mixing at least a first polymer component with at least a second polymer component to form a polymer mixture; mixing the polymer mixture with solid core particles; coating the polymer mixture onto the solid core particles; and melting the polymer mixture onto the solid core particles; wherein the first polymer component is chosen from the group consisting of acrylate polymers, methacrylate polymers, acrylate copolymers and methacrylate copolymers, and the second polymer component is chosen from the group consisting of styrene-butadiene-styrene copolymers, styrene-isoprene-styrene copolymers, styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene copolymers, styrene-ethylene-propylene copolymers, styrene-ethylene-butylene copolymers, hydrogenated and non-hydrogenated polyisoprene copolymers, hydrogenated and non-hydrogenated polyisoprene/butadiene copolymers, hydrogenated and non-hydrogenated polybutadiene copolymers and hydrogenated and non-hydrogenated styrenic block copolymers, and, wherein the polymeric coating comprises about 90 to about 95 percent by weight of the first polymer component, and from about 5 to about 10 percent by weight of the second polymer component, based on the total weight of the polymeric coating.