GB436084A - Improvements in and relating to the manufacture of useful materials containing polymerized organic compounds - Google Patents

Abstract

Materials useful as substitutes for glass, wood or metal are manufactured by supporting or suspending one or more pieces of absorbent material (i.e. porous, woven, perforated or reticular material) in a chamber, introducing one or more unpolymerized or partially polymerized unsaturated organic compounds capable of forming hard polymerization products, if necessary with the addition of hardening agents, and then polymerizing or completing polymerization of the said compounds. Suitable absorbent materials are fabric, paper, coarse or fine wire mesh, plywood, perforated or expanded metal, molton, filter paper, jute, linen and sheets or strips of compressed wood pulp. The unsaturated organic compounds are preferably those containing two or more doubly linked carbon atoms and particularly those containing the group CH2 : C =, e.g. the methyl and ethyl esters of methacrylic acid, acrylic acid nitrile, vinyl esters, e.g. vinyl acetate, vinyl halides, styrene or isoprene, or mixtures thereof, also acrylic acid esters with the addition of hardening agents. There may be added to the monomeric or partially polymerized products, softening agents, e.g. isobutyl phthalate or other phthalic esters, tartaric esters, phosphoric esters or acetines, drying and non-drying oils, mineral oils, natural or artificial resins, e.g. copals, colophony, dammar, resin esters, shellac, phenol-formaldehyde condensation products, polyhydric alcohol-polybasic acid condensation products, urea-formaldehyde condensation products or p-toluenesulphonamide-aldehyde resins, cellulose acetate, albuminous substances, gelatine, dyestuffs and substances producing cloudiness or turbidity. Polymerization may be effected by the action of heat, light, substances yielding oxygen, e.g. benzoyl peroxide, or combinations of these means, if desired in solution or emulsion and if desired in the presence of substances regulating the polymerization, e.g. oil of turpentine. Sheets of the useful materials may be made by carrying out the process in narrow chambers which can be heated or cooled on both sides, e.g. in a series of spaces formed by inserting frames between chambers through which a temperature-regulating fluid is circulated. The chambers in which polymerization is effected preferably have smooth walls, e.g. of glass; for instance they may be constructed by joining glass plates at their edges by elastic side walls. The products may be used in the manufacture of motor bodies, parts of aeroplanes and railway carriages, film spools, toys, camera housings, dishes, casings for wireless sets, and as floor coverings, wainscoting and building materials.