Aqueous poly(urea/urethanes) dispersions using polyester glycol

1. An ionomeric urea/urethane polymer comprising (a) repeating units derived from an aliphatic polyester polyol, and (b) repeating units derived from a polyisocyanate,

wherein the urea/urethane polymer contains less than about 2 mole percent of urea units described by the formula —R—N(R 2 )—C(O)—N(R 2 )—R 1 ;

wherein R is a C 6 -C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon radical, R 1 is a C 1 -C 20 aliphatic hydrocarbon radical, and R 2 is H or an amide group that is described by the formula C(O)—N(R 2 )—R—; and

wherein the polyisocyanate is selected from the group consisting of toluene diisocyanate, methylene diphenyldiisocyanate, polymethylene polyphenylisocyanate, and mixtures thereof.

2. A urea/urethane polymer according to claim 1 which comprises repeating units derived from an ionic compound or a potentially ionic compound.

3. A urea/urethane polymer according to claim 2 wherein the ionic compound or potentially ionic compound comprises a hydroxy-carboxylic acid of the general formula (HO) x R 7 (COOH) y , wherein R 7 represents a straight or branched hydrocarbon radical containing 1 to 12 carbon atoms, and x and y each independently represents values from 1 to 3.

4. A urea/urethane polymer according to claim 2 wherein the ionic compound or potentially ionic compound comprises 2,2′ dimethanolpropionic acid.

5. A urea/urethane polymer according to claim 1 wherein the polyester polyol is a dihydroxy-terminated polymer selected from the group consisting of an ethylene adipate, a butylene adipate, an ethylene/butylene adipate, and mixtures thereof.

6. A urea/urethane polymer according to claim 1 wherein the urea/urethane polymer contains less than about 1 mole percent of the described urea units.

7. An aqueous dispersion of a urea/urethane polymer wherein the urea/urethane polymer comprises a polymer according to claim 1 and a surfactant.