Chloroprene polymer composition

In a chloroprene polymer composition consisting essentially of a benzene soluble chloroprene polymer (A) and a gel chloroprene polymer (B) in a ratio ranging from 20:1 to 1:1, the improvement comprising:

• said benzene soluble chloroprene polymer (A) being obtained by the aqueous emulsion polymerization of chloroprene or a mixture of chloroprene and from 1 to 20 weight %, based on the total monomer content, of an ethylenically unsaturated or conjugated diene comonomer with 0.05 to 5.0 weight % of a molecular weight regulator, said polymerization occurring by polymerizing said chloroprene or chloroprene-monomer mixture in the presence of a quantity of said molecular weight regulator, less than said above indicated amount, sufficient to prevent gel formation during polymerization until a conversion level of 40% to 60% is attained, and then adding to the partially polymerized reaction medium an additional quantity of molecular weight regulator in an amount of from 40% to 70% by weight the amount of molecular weight regulator originally mixed with the monomer and continuing said polymerization until a conversion in excess of 80% is attained;
• and the gel chloroprene polymer (B) being obtained by the aqueous emulsion polymerization of chloroprene or a mixture of chloroprene and from 0.1 to 10% by weight of an ethylenically unsaturated polyfunctional monomer.