GB1122138A - Improvements to or relating to polyamides - Google Patents

Abstract

A polyamide comprises the condensation product of a diamine of formula <FORM:1122138/C3/1> in which R is a divalent C1-C4 aliphatic hydrocarbon radical, R1 is a substituted or unsubstituted C1-C6 alkyl radical or an inert unreactive substituent such as Cl, Br2, NO2 or CN and n is O or an integer from 1 to 4, and a polymeric fat acid, or an amide forming derivative thereof having a dimer content of at least 90% by wt. The molar equivalent of amine is substantially equal to the molar equivalent of carboxyl groups employed. The polymeric fatty acid is preferably derived from an ethylenically unsaturated acid, e.g. a tall oil acid, but saturated and acetylenically unsaturated acids are also disclosed. A C1-C8 alkyl ester of the polymeric fatty acid may be employed. In preferred examples R is methylene, R1 is methyl and n is 0 or 1, e.g. 4,41-diaminodicyclohexyl-methane, p,p1 - methylene dianiline or 4,41-diamino - 3,31 - dimethyldicyclohexylmethane. A portion of the polymeric fatty acid may be replaced by a dicarboxylic acid of formula: R11OOC.COOR11 or R11OOC.R111.COOR11 in which R111 is a C1-C20 aliphatic radical, a C6-C20 substituted or unsubstituted alicyclic hydrocarbon radical, aromatic or aliphatic substituted aromatic radical; R11 is hydrogen or a C1-68 alkyl radical, e.g. sebacic acid, suberic acid, 1,12-docenanoic acid or an amide, nitrile or acid chloride thereof. Copolymers may also be obtained using an amino acid: H2N(CH2)xCOOR11 where x is an integer from 1-15 and R11 is as defined above and/or the corresponding lactam <FORM:1122138/C3/2> Stabilizers, fillers, pigments and antioxidants may also be present. Reaction may take place at 100-300 DEG C. for from 1/2 -8 hours.