Artificial masses and processes of preparing them

313,569. I. G. Farbenindustrie Akt.- Ges. June 14, 1928, [Convention date]. Polymerized vinyl halides.-Vinyl halides are polymerized by heating them at a very slowly rising temperature under pressure, in the presence or absence of a catalyst such as organic or inorganic superoxides and, if desired, while subjecting them to the action of chemically active rays. An indifferent solvent such as benzene, chloroform or ethylene chloride, or one that is itself capable of undergoing polymerization such as butadiene, vinyl acetate or styrene may be added. When working without a solvent, the product is precipitated in the form of a white cake; when with a solvent, glassy masses of high elasticity and power of resistance are obtained. After they have been freed from volatile constituents they may be worked up, like celluloid, into commodities of the most varied kind. Thev mav be combined with resins, oils, cellulose derivatives or filling materials of any kind. In combination with solvents such as chlorinated hydrocarbons, cvclohexanone and some ethers and esters of high boiling point or mixtures thereof, they can be worked up into lacquers. In examples (1) vinyl chloride is introduced under pressure into a bomb lined with enamel or a noble metal and heated gradually from 30‹ to 60‹ C. during several hours, the final temperature being maintained for a long time: the white cake obtained may be purified by precipitation from solvents and worked up to shaped articles; (2) vinyl chloride and ethyl chloride are mixed with intensive cooling and afterwards heated in an autoclave as in (1), giving a transparent vitreous mass which by heating may be converted into solid incombustible insulating substances; (3) vinyl chloride is mixed with vinyl acetate and treated as in (2) giving a transparent product which, when dissolved in a mixture of cyclohexanone and benzene, gives a lacquer which may be used alone or combined with a cellulose derivative, a resin, caoutchouc or the like.