Aqueous binders for heat-sealing applications

1. A process, consisting of applying a heat-sealing lacquer in a single layer to an aluminum surface to obtain a lacquered aluminum surface, then drying the lacquered aluminum surface to obtain a lacquer-coated aluminum surface, and then heat sealing the lacquer-coated aluminum surface to a substrate

wherein:

the heat-sealing lacquer comprises at least 50% by weight of an aqueous dispersion comprising:

a first polymer phase having a glass transition temperature of from −10 to 25° C., and

a second polymer phase having a glass transition temperature of from 30 to 45° C., and comprising from 2 to 10% by weight of at least one acid copolymerizable with methacrylates, based on a total weight of the first polymer phase and the second polymer phase;

the aqueous dispersion comprises from 15 to 64% by weight of at least one polymer comprising:

from 25 to 78% by weight of an alkyl ester of methacrylic acid,

from 4 to 40% by weight of an alkyl ester of acrylic acid,

from 2 to 9% by weight of the at least one acid copolymerizable with methacrylates, and

up to 20% by weight of at least one other monomer copolymerizable with (meth)acrylates, but which is not a (meth)acrylate,

based on a total weight of the first polymer phase and the second polymer phase; and

the aqueous dispersion is formed by emulsion polymerization, such that:

a first monomer mixture, which forms a polymer having a glass transition temperature of from −10 to 25° C., is initially polymerized; and after polymerization of the first monomer mixture,

a second monomer mixture, which forms a polymer having a glass transition temperature of from 30 to 45° C. is added, and polymerized,

to form a core-shell particle comprising the first polymer phase and the second polymer phase.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the aqueous dispersion comprises from 15 to 64% by weight of the at least one polymer comprising:

from 25 to 78% by weight of the alkyl ester of methacrylic acid;

from 4 to 40% by weight of the alkyl ester of acrylic acid;

from 2 to 9% by weight of the at least one acid copolymerizable with methacrylates; and

from 4 to 20% by weight of the at least one other monomer copolymerizable with (meth)acrylates; but which is not a (meth)acrylate,

based on the total weight of the first polymer phase and the second polymer phase.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the at least one polymer in the aqueous dispersion comprises:

from 49 to 65% by weight of an alkyl ester of methacrylic acid;

from 17 to 30% by weight of an alkyl ester of acrylic acid;

from 3 to 8% by weight of (meth)acrylic acid; and

from 8 to 15% by weight of styrene,

based on the total weight of the first polymer phase and the second polymer phase.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the at least one polymer in the aqueous dispersion further comprises from 2 to 12% by weight of an alkyl ester of (meth)acrylic acid having at least one other functional group, based on the total weight of the first polymer phase and the second polymer phase.

5. The process of claim 4 , wherein the alkyl ester of (meth)acrylic acid having at least one other functional group comprises hydroxyethyl (meth)acrylate, and an amount of the hydroxyethyl (meth)acrylate in the at least one polymer is from 3 to 7% by weight, based on the total weight of the first polymer phase and the second polymer phase.

6. The process of claim 4 , wherein the alkyl ester of (meth)acrylic acid having at least one other functional group comprises hydroxyethyl (meth)acrylate, and an amount of the hydroxyethyl (meth)acrylate in the polymers is from 4 to 6% by weight, based on the total weight of the first polymer phase and the second polymer phase.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein the at least one polymer in the aqueous dispersion comprises:

from 37 to 70% by weight of methyl methacrylate, butyl methacrylate, or both;

from 12 to 35% by weight of a C 1 -C 4 -alkyl ester of acrylic acid;

from 3 to 7% by weight of a hydroxy-functional (meth)acrylate;

from 2 to 9% by weight of (meth)acrylic acid; and

from 4 to 20% by weight of styrene,

based on the total weight of the first polymer phase and the second polymer phase.

8. The process of claim 7 , wherein the at least one polymer in the aqueous dispersion comprises:

from 49 to 65% by weight of the methyl methacrylate, the butyl methacrylate, or both;

from 20 to 30% by weight of the C 1 -C 4 -alkyl ester of acrylic acid;

from 4 to 6% by weight of the hydroxy-functional (meth)acrylate;

from 5 to 7% by weight of the (meth)acrylic acid; and

from 8 to 15% by weight of the styrene,

based on the total weight of the first polymer phase and the second polymer phase.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein:

the first monomer mixture comprises one or more hydroxy-functional (meth)acrylates;

the second monomer mixture comprises a carboxylic acid copolymerizable with meth)acrylates; and

a ratio by weight of the first monomer mixture to the second monomer mixture ranges from 1:9 to 8:2.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein the second monomer mixture is polymerized in the presence of a chain-transfer agent.

11. The process of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a styrene, a polyethylene terephthalate, a polylactic acid or a polyvinyl chloride.

12. The process of claim 1 , wherein:

the first polymer phase has a glass transition temperature of from −5 to 5° C.; and

the second polymer phase has a glass transition temperature of from 30 to 45° C.

13. The process of claim 1 , wherein the second monomer mixture is polymerized in the presence of 0.2% by weight of n-dodecyl mercaptan as a chain-transfer agent.

14. The process of claim 1 , wherein the aqueous dispersion is a filtered aqueous dispersion.

15. The process of claim 1 , wherein:

the heat sealing occurs at a pressure of at least 1 kp/cm 2 ; and

the heat sealing occurs at a temperature of from 100 to 240° C.