GB554372A - Improvements in or relating to cellulose derivative compositions and filaments, films and other articles made therefrom - Google Patents

Abstract

554,372. Cellulose derivative compositions; artificial filaments, films &c. BRITISH CELANESE, Ltd. Sept. 20, 1941, No. 12190. Convention date, Feb. 13. [Class 2 (ii)] Shaped articles having a basis of a carboxylic acid ester of cellulose are obtained by shaping a solution, in a volatile solvent, of a carboxylic ester of cellulose and an ester of methacrylic acid with a partially etherified polyhydric alcohol in a substantially unpolymerized condition consisting essentially of the monomer. The volatile solvent is removed and the shaped articles are treated so as to cause polymerization in situ of the methacrylate contained in them. The methacrylate may be an ester of methacrylic acid with the monoethyl or monobutyl ether of ethylene glycol, with the monoethyl ether of diethylene glycol, with 1:3 butylene glycol monomethyl ether, with the monobutyl ether of diethylene glycol, or with the monomethyl ether of tetraethylene glycol. The cellulose ester may be cellulose acetate, propionate, butyrate, or acetate-butyrate. The volatile solvent may be acetone, acetone with ethyl or methyl alcohol, or methylene chloride with ethyl or methyl alcohol. The solutions may be used as spinning solutions for the production of yarns, or films, or other sheet materials, or they may be used as lacquers or coating compositions for metal, glass, or other surfaces, or they may be used as adhesives, e.g. for uniting clear plastic sheets to sheets of glass in the production of shatterless glass. Filaments or films may be made by wet or dry extrusion methods. Films or sheets may be made by casting on to metal or glass forming-surfaces. Wrapping foils, films for photographic purposes, or sheets for laminating with glass, may be made. Sheets may be made by blocking and cutting. Polymerization may be effected by exposure of the shaped articles to heat or light, e.g. ultra-violet light or by addition of catalysts such as organic peroxides, e.g. benzoyl peroxide, or ozonides, to the solution followed by heating the product. The methacrylate may be present in the solutions in varying amounts e.g., 20-100 per cent. based on the weight of the cellulose ester.