Patent ID: 7741401

Claim:
An aqueous thickener blend composition comprising: A) An aqueous acid-suppressible associative thickener polymer composition comprising, based on the weight of the aqueous acid-suppressible thickener composition: (a) 1% to 60% by weight of an acid-suppressible associative thickener having a backbone comprising a polyoxyalkylene, a polysaccharide, or a polyvinyl alcohol, said acid-suppressible associative thickener further comprising a plurality of hydrophobic groups attached to or within the backbone wherein one or more of said hydrophobic groups comprises a secondary amine, or a tertiary amine, or a tertiary phosphine, or a combination thereof, and optionally a quaternary amine, with the proviso that less than 80% of the total amine functionality is a quaternary amine; wherein the secondary amine, tertiary amine, and tertiary phosphine are defined such that the carbon atoms adjacent to nitrogen or phosphorus are not classified as carbonyl or thionyl carbons; (b) sufficient acid to substantially protonate the secondary amine, or the tertiary amine, or the tertiary phosphine, or combination thereof; (c) 40% to 99% by weight of water; and (d) 0% to 15% by weight of an organic co-solvent, surfactant, cyclodextrin compound, or any combination thereof, as a viscosity-suppressing additive; and B) A thickener selected from the group consisting of an hydrophobically modified alkali soluble or alkali swellable thickener (HASE), an alkali soluble or alkali swellable thickener without hydrophobic modification (ASE), and mixtures thereof.