Appeal No. 1996-1784
Application 08/131,037
This is an appeal from the examiner’s final rejection of
claims 1-18 and 20-24, which are all of the claims remaining
in the application.
THE INVENTION
Appellants claim a process for producing an acrylic-based
adhesive wherein about 5-95 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 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 adhesive comprising the sequential steps
of:
(a) forming a solvent-free monomeric mixture or solvent-
free partially prepolymerized syrup comprising:
(i) 50-100 parts by weight of at least one acrylic
2
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