Polymer ahoy material and process for production thereof

Abstract

A reactive, powdered polymeric material, the polymeric material comprising polymer particles (i) having an average particle size less than about 1000 .mu.m; (ii) which are made up of a plurality of smaller particles; and (iii) having energy stored therein. A process for producing the powdered polymeric material is described. The process comprises the steps of: (i) placing polymeric material in a milling chamber equipped with impact means; (ii) accelerating the impact means to at least about 50 ml/s.sup.2 ; (iii) impacting the polymeric material with the impact means; (iv) repeatedly welding and fracturing the polymeric material; and (v) repeating Steps (ii), (iii) and (iv) until a powdered polymeric material is produced having an average particle size less than about 1000 .mu.m. During Steps (iii) and (iv), the temperature of the milling chamber is maintained below the glass transition temperature of the polymeric material. The powdered particulate material particularly suited for processing a single polymer or a mixture of two or more polymers which are otherwise difficult to process at a temperature less than the melting point of the polymer to produce a polymer alloy having desirable physical properties.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.