Thickening agents comprising a crosslinked polymer powder
The present application relates to a thickening composition comprising (a) 10-50% by weight, based on the total composition (a)+(b), of a crosslinked hydrophilic water soluble or swellable liquid dispersion polymer and (b) 50-90% by weight, based on the total composition (a)+(b), of a crosslinked polymer or copolymer of an unsaturated carboxylic acid in powder form, which is especially useful for thickening printing pastes for multicolour jet-printing.
1 . A thickening composition comprising:
(a) 10-50% by weight, based on the total composition (a)+(b), of a crosslinked hydrophilic water soluble or swellable liquid dispersion polymer and
(b) 50-90% by weight, based on the total composition (a)+(b), of a crosslinked polymer or copolymer of an unsaturated carboxylic acid in powder form.
2 . A composition according to claim 1 wherein component (a) is an anionic polymer.
3 . A composition according to claim 2 wherein the anionic polymer is the polymer of an unsaturated carboxylic acid.
4 . A composition according to claim 3 wherein the anionic polymer is poly(acrylic acid) or poly(methacrylic acid).
5 . A composition according to claim 3 containing the polymer of an unsaturated carboxylic acid wherein 55-90% of the carboxylic acid groups are in the form of an alkali metal salt or ammonium salt.
6 . A composition according to claim 1 wherein component (b) is made by precipitation polymerization.
7 . A composition according to claim 1 wherein component (b) is a crosslinked poly(acrylic acid) or a crosslinked poly(methacrylic acid).
8 . A composition according to claim 1 containing additionally (c) a hydrophobic liquid.
9 . A composition according to claim 8 containing mineral oil or paraffin oil as component (c).
10 . A composition according to claim 8 containing 40 to 80% by weight of component (c), based on the total composition (a)+(b)+(c).
11 . A printing paste comprising a thickening composition according to claim 1 .
12 . A printing paste according to claim 11 containing at least one dye.
13 . A printing paste according to claim 11 containing at least one reserving agent.
14 . A printing paste according to claim 11 containing at least one agent to protect the print against the action of chlorine.
15 . A process for the multicolour jet-printing of textile materials, wherein the material is printed with an aqueous printing paste containing dyes and a thickening composition according to claim 1 .
16 . A process according to claim 15 , wherein the pH of the aqueous printing paste is ≦5.
17 . A printing paste according to claim 12 containing at least one reserving agent.
18 . A printing paste according to claim 12 containing at least one agent to protect the print against the action of chlorine.
19 . A printing paste according to claim 13 containing at least one agent to protect the print against the action of chlorine.