This invention pertains to resin additive compositions and more particularly to such compositions of a single general type including any known type of additive and adapted to be included in and compatible with many common resin systems.

As used herein, the term "resin additive" refers to a finely divided particulate material which is generally insolvent in most solvent systems and which is generally used to impart color (in the case of pigments), fire resistance (antimony oxide), lubricity (talc) and other similar properties to resinous materials which are thereafter formed into a final product such as a molding, a film, etc.

The artisan may select from a wide variety of such additives, depending on the application, the properties required, the compatibility of the additive with the environment in which it will be used, including, for example, exposure to heat, cold or reactive atmosphere, etc.

Similarly an immense variety of resins are also available. Compatibility between the additive and resin must therefore be considered. While few additives are chemically incompatible with any given resin system, it is generally difficult to disperse most typical solid particulate additives in most resin systems because of the generally inherent insolubility of such additives in most resin systems.

This problem has been solved conventionally by first dispersing or suspending the additive material in a dispersant composition which is soluble in or compatible with a given resin system.

Difficulty has been encountered in the prior art, however, in selecting a dispersant composition which effectively disperses a chosen additive and which is sufficiently compatible with, or preferably soluble in, a chosen resin system.

Ideally, a single dispersant composition should be sufficiently compatible with all known classes of additives and resin systems to facilitate the dispersion of any additive in any resin. Heretofore, no such single dispersion composition has been known.

It is therefore the general object of the present invention to provide such a single, as nearly as possible, universal dispersant composition and to provide an additive composition based on such universal dispersant composition, which will effectively disperse substantially any generally insoluble particulate additive in many common resin systems.

This, and other more detailed objectives which will become apparent in the course of the subsequent discussion, are met by a dispersant composition consisting essentially of 30 - 80 weight % film forming material, such as cellulose acetate butyrate or a solid plasticizer, such as camphor, sucrose benzoate and dicyclohexylphthalate, and 20 - 70 weight % of an aryl sulfonamide-formaldehyde resin. The present invention also encompasses a composition consisting essentially of from 40 - 90 weight % of a particulate additive material, the remainder of the composition consisting of the above-described universal dispersant.

In its preferred embodiment, this invention consists of a composition loaded with from 55 - 65 weight % pigment, the remainder consisting of 40 - 70 weight % aryl sulfonamide-formaldehyde resin and 30 - 70 weight % cellulose acetate butyrate. Preferably also, the resin is colorless and has a softening point between 60° - 70°C and the cellulose acetate butyrate has a butyrate content, in weight %, of from 17 - 65 and a falling ball viscosity, based on standard ASTM tests, of from 1/2 - 40 seconds.

In a particular embodiment of this invention, a surfactant, such as a non-ionic surfactant including, for example an alkylarylpolyether, is included in the universal dispersant composition prior to its combination with the pigment to be dispersed. The surfactant assists in the scavenging of residual water in the pigment filter press cake, which is at times the form in which pigment is received and mixed with the universal dispersant of the present invention.

For a better understanding of this invention, reference is made to the detailed discussion thereof which follows, taken in conjunction with the subjoined claims.

Generally, pigments are either organic or inorganic compounds which impart color to a resin system by virtue of their dispersion therein but which are chemically non-reactive with the resin system. The organic compounds include several classes, to wit: the indanthrone compounds, the beta-oxy-naphthoic acid compounds, and the phthalocyanine compounds. Pigments within these classes include specifically derivatives of the generic compounds and most specifically metal derivatives thereof. The inorganic pigment compounds include cadmium sulfide, cadmium sulfide-selenide, iron oxide, elemental carbon, titanium dioxide, and chromates, molybdates, sulfates, carbonates and oxides of lead.

Based upon the dispersibility characteristics of pigments of the foregoing types and within the foregoing classes either known from past tests or predicted on the basis of chemical structures and chemical similarities, and with a view also to the pigment and pigment classes of most significant commercial interests, numerous pigments have been selected for testing to insure their compatibility with and dispersibility in the universal dispersant, and pigment compositions based thereon, of the present invention. The pigments which have been successfully tested include:

                 C.I. No. C.I. Name______________________________________Red Lake "C"       15585      Red 53BON Red            15860      Red 52Lithol Rubine      15850      Red 57Pigment Scarlet    16105      Red 60Quinacridone       46500      Violet 19Red 2B             15865      Red 48Phthalocyanine Blue              74160      Blue 15Phthalocyanine Green              74260      Green 7Diarylide Yellow (AAA)              21090      Yellow 12Diarylide Yellow (AAOT)              21095      Yellow 14Diarylide Yellow (AAMX)              21100      Yellow 13Disazo Yellow       n/a       Yellow 83Carbon BlackTitanium DioxideChrome Yellow______________________________________

Other typical resin additives which may be dispersed in the dispersant of this invention include calcium carbonate, clay, antimony oxide, talc, barium sulfate, activated silica, magnesium silicate and other similar fillers, extenders, and property modifiers.

Based on laboratory tests, and some pilot plant or plant scale development tests, the universal dispersant systems of the present invention have been found to be compatible with and dispersible (including in most cases soluble) in the following types of resin systems:

Nitrocellulose (both regular and spirit soluble and of all known viscosities)

Polyvinyl chloride and vinylacetate copolymers thereof (including 8 - 16% acetate)

"Thermoplastic rubber", a polyolefin-based material, manufactured by Uniroyal Corporation.

Thermoplastic, ketone soluble acrylics

Ketone or acetate soluble polyurethanes and polyesters

Polyolefins, including particularly high density polyethylene

Solution grades of polyamides, such as Versamid 960, a product of General Mills and Butyl Benzyl Phthalate, a plasticizer commonly added to plastisols.

Thus, it is clear that the universal dispersant of the present invention, and particularly the additive compositions based on this universal dispersant composition, provide an effective means to disperse practically all known pigments and many other additives in many commercially significant resin systems.

The universal dispersant of the present invention consists basically of from 30 - 80 weight % film forming material, such as cellulose acetate butyrate or a solid plasticizer, such as camphor, sucrose benzoate and dicyclohexylphthalate, with a maximum of 70 weight % preferred, and from 20 - 70 weight % of an aryl sulfonamide-formaldehyde resin with a mimimum of 30% preferred.

Cellulose acetate butyrate, the preferred (for most purposes) film forming constituent of the dispersant of the present invention, is a well-known compound. As commercially available from Eastman-Kodak Company, this material may include from 17 - 65 weight % butyrate (or more accurately butyryl substituent). The number of hydroxyl groups in the compound per four anhydroglucose units may vary from less than 1 to slightly above 2 and the falling ball viscosity of the compound may vary from less than 1/2 to 40 seconds as tested by A.S.T.M. method D-1343-54T in the solution described as Formula A of A.S.T.M. method D-871-54T. Cellulose acetate butyrate of various types throughout these ranges of properties have been found to be useful in the compositions of the present invention.

Aryl sulfonamide-formaldehyde resins are common resins of commerce, normally available from the Organic Chemical Division of the Monsanto Chemical Company, 800 N. Lindbergh Blvd. Saint Louis, Missouri, under the trade names "Santolite MHP" and "Santolite MS." Preferably the resin is colorless and has a softening point between 60° - 70°C. Such resins and methods for making same are thought to be disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,545,174-- Sido.

Because some pigment and other types of additive materials are received in cake form from a filtering process, they include a certain amount of residual water. Therefore, in some cases it is desirable to include a surfactant to prevent the water from interfering in the dispersion process. In order that the surfactant does not in turn cause a compatibility problem with a resin in which the additive is ultimately dispersed together with the universal dispersant composition of the present invention, it is preferred that such a surfactant be a non-ionic surfactant such as an alkylarylpolyether having the following general structural formula: ##EQU1## wherein Ph is phenyl and x is a numerical average having a value of from 1 to 70.

Such a product may be produced, for example, by the reaction of octyl phenol with ethylene oxide.

Generally, the resin additive compositions of this invention are produced in conventional equipment such as a 150 gallon vaccum-equipped Baker Perkins heavy-duty dispersion blade mixer and a standard plastics granulater. The additive, in whatever form received, such as pigment filter press cake is simply added to the universal dispersant and combined therewith in such a conventional mixer. In such equipment, a plant scale test production run has been made utilizing benzidine yellow organic press cake pigment (in a concentration of 65 weight %) within a resin blend, comprising 30 weight % cellulose acetate butyrate and 70 weight % "Santolite M.H.P." aryl sulfonamide-formaldehyde resin, as the dispersant. A smooth, readily dispersible, dispersed pigment composition was formed.

In other examples of this invention, a variety of additives, including pigments, and dispersant compositions, at various concentrations, have been utilized and tested for compatibility in typical resin systems. Several such examples are listed in the Table which follows.

                                  TABLE__________________________________________________________________________               DISPERSANT Additive   Wt%  Surfactant,               Wt%                  Aryl  film former                               Resin Systems in whichDescription   Additive        if any    sulfonamide                        and wt%                               dispersibility demonstrated        (and wt%) wt% in                        thereof in                  dispersant                        dispersant__________________________________________________________________________PCN Blue   75   --     25 60    40 (CAB)*                               nitrocellulose, polyvinyl chloride,                               polyvinyl chloride-polyvinyl                               acetate,                               acrylicPCN Blue   70   --     30 67    33 (CAB)*                               nitrocellulose, polyvinyl chloride,                               polyvinyl chloride-polyvinyl                               acetate,                               polyamidBenzidine   65   --     35 71.5  28.5 (CAB)*                               nitrocellulose, polyvinyl chloride,Yellow                              polyvinyl chloride-polyvinyl                               acetate,                               thermoplastic rubberCarbon Black   55   Triton X-100               45 45    55 (CAB)*                               nitrocellulose, polyvinyl chloride,        (1%)                   polyvinyl chloride-polyvinyl                               acetate,                               polyolefinBON Red 60   --     40 70    30 (CAB)*                               nitrocellulose, polyvinyl chloride,                               polyvinyl chloride-polyvinyl acetateQuinacridone   60   --     40 60    40 (CAB)*                               nitrocellulose, polyvinyl chloride,Violet                              polyvinyl chloride-polyvinyl                               acetate,Disazo Yellow   65   --     35 55    45 (CAB)*                               nitrocellulose, polyvinyl chloride,                               polyvinyl chloride-polyvinyl                               acetate,                               butyl benzl phthalatePerylene   45   --     55 30    70 (CAB)*                               nitrocellulose, polyvinyl chloride,Scarlet                             polyvinyl chloride-polyvinyl acetateChrome Yellow   80   --     20 50    50 (CAB)*                               nitrocellulose, polyvinyl chloride,                               polyvinyl chloride-polyvinyl                               acetate,                               urethaneTitanium   85   --     15 65    35 (CAB)*                               nitrocellulose, polyvinyl chloride,Dioxide                             polyvinyl chloride-polyvinyl                               acetate,                               polyesterBentone 27   75   --     25 60    40 (Camphor)                               nitrocellulose, polyvinyl chloride,                               polyvinyl chloride-polyvinyl acetateBentone 38   80   --     20 40    60 (Camphor)                               nitrocellulose, polyvinyl chloride,                               polyvinyl chloride-polyvinyl acetateChrome Yellow   85   Triton X-100               15 50    50 (Sucrose                               nitrocellulose, polyvinyl chloride,        (1%)             Benzoate)                               polyvinyl chloride-polyvinyl__________________________________________________________________________                               acetate *Cellulose acetate butyrate

While this invention has been described with respect to particular embodiments thereof, it should be understood that various other embodiments would be apparent to those skilled in the art, which other embodiments may also be within the true spirit and scope of the present invention. It is intended that the following claims be construed to encompass all such alternative embodiments of this invention.