Polyester molding composition

1. A thermoplastic polyester resin molding composition comprises an alkylene aryl polyester, a core shell impact modifier for enhancing heat resistence having a shell derived from an alkylacrylate and a rubbery acrylate core derived from an acrylate having 4 to 12 carbon atoms, an effective amount of a difunctional epoxy compound for enhancing hydrolysis resistance of the resin, and a combination of color enhancing stabilizers comprising a thioester stabilizer, a phosphite stabilizer and a hindered phenol stabilizer.

2. A thermoplastic molding composition of claim 1 comprising the following;

(a) 60–98% alkylene terephthalate

(b) 1–30% acrylic rubber core shell impact modifier

(c) 0.1–5.0% dicycloaliphatic epoxide

(d) 0.1–2.0% phosphite

(e) 0.1–2.0% hindered phenol

(f) 0.1–2.0% thioester

(g) 0–0.1% alkali carboxylate salt

(h) 0.1–2.0% polyester, polyamide or polyolefin mold release.

3. A thermoplastic resin composition according to claim 1 having repeating units of the following general formula:

where n is an integer of from 2 to 6 and R is a C 6 –C 20 aryl radical comprising a decarboxylated residue derived from an aromatic dicarboxylic acid.

4. A thermoplastic resin composition according to claim 3 wherein the alkylene aryl polyester is selected from the group consisting of poly(ethylene terephthalate), poly(propylene terephthalate), poly(cyclohexane dimethanol terephthalate), poly(butylene terephthalate) and mixtures thereof.

5. A composition of claim 1 wherein said thioester stabilizer is the type having a sulfur linkage and an ester linkage separated by a divalent alkyl group having a formula:

where m is from 1 to 5.

6. A composition of claim 5 wherein the thioester stabilizers comprise pentaerythritol tetrakis (3-(dodecylthio)propionate).

7. A composition of claim 1 wherein said phosphite is represented by the phosphite formula:

where at least one of R 1 , R 2 and R 3 is an aryl radical of 6 to 30 carbon atoms and any other(s) of R 1 , R 2 , and R 3 are H or alkyl of 1 to 30 carbon atoms.

8. A composition of claim 1 wherein the acrylic rubber has a particle size of from 300 to 800 nm.

9. A thermoplastic resin composition according to claim 1 wherein said acrylic core shell rubber comprises a multi-phase composite interpolymer comprising about 25 to 95 weight percent of a first acrylic elastomeric phase polymerized from a monomer system comprising about 75 to 99.8% by weight C 1 to C 14 alkyl acrylate, 0.1 to 5% by weight crosslinking monomer, 0.1 to 5% by weight graftlinking monomer, said crosslinking monomer being a polyethylenically unsaturated monomer having a plurality of addition polymerizable reactive groups and about 75 to 5 weight percent of a final, rigid thermoplastic acrylic or methacrylic phase polymerized in the presence of said elastomer.

10. A thermoplastic resin composition according to claim 1 wherein said difunctional epoxy compound said at least one difunctional epoxy compound having at least one cyclohexane ring moiety and having two terminal epoxy functional groups, wherein at least one of the two terminal epoxy functional groups is a substituent on at least one cyclohexane ring moiety; and an effective amount of a catalyst compound.

11. A thermoplastic resin composition according to claim 10 wherein at least one difunctional epoxy compound is selected from the group consisting of bis(3,4-epoxycyclohexylmethyl) adipate; vinylcyclohexene diepoxide; 3,4-epoxycyclohexylmethyl-3,4-epoxycyclohexylcarboxylate and mixtures of any of the foregoing.

12. A composition as defined in claim 10 wherein said catalyst compound is selected from the group consisting of alkaline metal halides, carboxylates, carbonates and bicarbonates and mixtures thereof.

13. A composition as defined in claim 12 wherein said catalyst component comprises alkaline metal salts of an alkyl or aromatic carboxylic acid.

14. A composition as defined in claim 10 wherein said catalyst compound is present in an amount ranging from about 0.001 to about 1 weight percent based on the total weight of the composition.

15. A thermoplastic resin composition according to claim 1 further comprising a fibrous glass reinforcement in an amount from about 3 to 50 pbw of the total composition.

16. A composition of claim 1 wherein a color change of less than about 20 delta E units, as measured by CIELab method of ASTM D2244 after heating in air at 155° C. for 21 days.

17. A composition of claim 1 wherein elongation at break is greater than 10%, as measured by ASTM D638 after heating in air at 155° C. for 21 days.

18. An article made from the composition of claim 1 .

19. An article of claim 18 selected from the group consisting of: electrical connectors, enclosures for electrical equipment, automotive engine parts, lighting sockets and reflectors, electric motor parts, power distribution equipment and communication equipment.