Patent ID: 8722837

Claim:
A method of preparing a thermoplastic composition, comprising: oxidatively copolymerizing a monomer composition in an aromatic hydrocarbon solvent to form a solution comprising a poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene ether-co-2,3,6-trimethyl-1,4-phenylene ether); and a block copolymer comprising a poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene ether-co-2,3,6-trimethyl-1,4-phenylene ether) block, and a polysiloxane block comprising, on average, about 10 to about 100 siloxane repeating units; wherein the poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene ether)-co-2,3,6-trimethyl-1,4-phenylene ether) block and the polysiloxane block are linked via an ether oxygen; wherein the monomer composition comprises about 65 to about 93 weight percent of 2,6-dimethylphenol, about 5 to about 25 weight percent of 2,3,6-trimethylphenol, and about 2 to about 10 weight percent of a hydroxyaryl-terminated polysiloxane; wherein said oxidatively copolymerizing a monomer composition comprises a monomer addition period characterized by a first temperature, a build period following the addition period and characterized by a second temperature greater than the first temperature, and a temperature ramp period between the addition period and the build period; and wherein the temperature ramp period comprises increasing the temperature at an average rate of 0.1 to 0.3° C. per minute.