Water-dispersible copolyester-ether compositions

A linear, water-dispersible sulfopolyester having a Tg of -20.degree. C. to 100.degree. C. and an inherent viscosity of 0.1 to 1.1 dl/g, said sulfopolyester consisting essentially of the reaction product of:

• (A) 60 to 95 mole %, based on moles of acid in the sulfopolyester, of at least one difunctional dicarboxylic acid which is not a sulfomonomer, said dicarboxylic acid being selected from the group consisting of succinic, glutaric, adipic, azelaic, sebacic, fumaric, maleic, itaconic, 1,3-cyclohexane dicarboxylic, 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic, diglycolic, 2,5-norbornanedicarboxylic, phthalic, terephthalic, 1,4-naphthalenedicarboxylic, 2,5-naphthalenedicarboxylic, diphenic, 4,4'-oxydibenzoic, 4,4'-sulfonyldibenzoic, and isophthalic acid;
• (B) 5 to 40 mole %, based on moles of acid in the sulfopolyester, of at least one difunctional sulfomonomer selected from the group consisting of sulfophthalic acid, sulfoterephthalic acid, sulfoisophthalic acid, 4-sulfonaphthalene-2,7-dicarboxylic acid, and esters thereof;
• (C) 0.1 to 50 mole %, based on moles of glycol in the sulfopolyester, of at least one higher order polyalkylene glycol having a number average molecular weight of 650 to 2,000 and having the structure:
• ##STR3## wherein R is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and an alkyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, n is an integer of 2 to 200, m is an integer of 1 to 10 when R is an alkyl group or m is an integer of 2 to 10 when R is hydrogen, provided that the mole % of the higher order polyalkylene glycol is inversely proportional to the value of n;
• (D) 0.1 to 99.9 mole %, based on moles of glycol in the sulfopolyester, of at least one polyethylene glycol having a number average molecular weight of less than 300 and having the structure:
• H--(OCH.sub.2 CH.sub.2).sub.n' --OH
• wherein n' is an integer of 2 to 500 provided that the mole % of the polyethylene glycol is inversely proportional to the value of n';
• and
• (E) 10 to 75 mole %, based on moles of glycol in the sulfopolyester, of a glycol which is not a polyalkylene or polyethylene glycol, said glycol being selected from the group consisting of cycloaliphatic glycols having 6 to 20 carbon atoms, aliphatic glycols having 3 to 20 carbon atoms, and mixtures thereof;
• the sulfopolyester containing substantially equal molar proportions of acid equivalents (100 mole percent) and glycol equivalents (100 mole percent).