Appeal No. 1996-1782
Application 08/131,036
This is an appeal from the examiner’s final rejection of
claims 1-20, 22-26, 28 and 29, which are all of the claims
remaining in the application.
THE INVENTION
Appellants claim a process for producing an acrylic-based
composition wherein about 5-70 wt% conversion of a specified
monomer mixture or partially prepolymerized syrup to an
acrylic copolymer is obtained in an irradiation stage at a
recited relatively low radiation intensity, and then at least
substantially complete conversion is achieved at a recited
higher intensity. Appellants state that the multi-stage
irradiation process increases the speed, relative to a one-
step irradiation process, at which acrylic-based compositions
such as adhesives and acrylic-based pressure sensitive
adhesive tapes having acceptable properties are produced.
Claim 1 is illustrative and reads as follows:
1. A multi-stage irradiation process for the production
of an acrylic-based composition comprising the sequential
steps of:
(a) forming a solvent-free monomeric mixture or solvent-
free partially prepolymerized syrup comprising:
(i) about 50-100 parts by weight of at least one
acrylic acid ester of an alkyl alcohol, said alcohol
-2-2
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