Fluoropolymer dispersion treatment employing ultraviolet light and oxygen source to reduce fluoropolymer resin discoloration

1. Process for reducing thermally induced discoloration of fluoropolymer resin, said fluoropolymer resin produced by polymerizing fluoromonomer in an aqueous dispersion medium to form aqueous fluoropolymer dispersion and isolating said fluoropolymer from said aqueous medium to obtain said fluoropolymer resin, said process comprising:

exposing the aqueous fluoropolymer dispersion to ultraviolet light in the presence of an oxygen source, wherein said aqueous fluoropolymer dispersion contains hydrocarbon surfactant which causes said thermally induced discoloration.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein said process reduces thermally induced discoloration by at least about 10% as measured by % change in L* on the CIELAB color scale.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein said fluoropolymer dispersion is polymerized in the presence of hydrocarbon surfactant.

4. The process of claim 1 wherein said oxygen source is selected from the group consisting of air, oxygen rich gas, ozone containing gas and hydrogen peroxide.

5. The process of claim 1 wherein said oxygen source comprises ozone containing gas.

6. The process of claim 1 wherein said oxygen source comprises hydrogen peroxide.

7. The process of claim 1 wherein the solids content of said dispersion during said exposing to ultraviolet light is about 2 weight % to about 30 weight %.

8. The process of claim 1 wherein said ultraviolet light has a wavelength in the UVC band.

9. The process of claim 1 wherein said exposing the aqueous fluoropolymer dispersion to ultraviolet light in the presence of an oxygen source is carried out at a temperature of about 5° C. to about 70° C.

10. The process of claim 1 wherein the fluoropolymer resin has an initial thermally induced discoloration value (L*i) at least 4 L units on the CIELAB color scale below the L* value of equivalent fluoropolymer resin of commercial quality manufactured using ammonium perfluorooctanoate fluorosurfactant.

11. The process of claim 1 wherein said hydrocarbon surfactant is selected from anionic surfactants represented by the formula R-L-M wherein R is preferably a straight chain alkyl group containing from 6 to 17 carbon atoms, L is selected from the group consisting of —ArSO 3 − , —SO 3 − , —SO 4 − , —PO 3 − , —PO 4 − and —COO − , wherein —ArSO 3 − represents aryl sulfonate, and M is a univalent cation selected from H + , Na + , K + and NH 4 + .