Macrocyclic polyester oligomers and processes for polymerizing the same

Abstract

A water slurry process is used to prepare a prepreg and to manufacture articles from macrocyclic polyester oligomers. In one embodiment, a process for preparing a water suspension of macrocyclic polyester oligomers includes the steps of contacting a macrocyclic polyester oligomer and a polymerization catalyst with water and a surfactant, and mixing the macrocyclic polyester oligomer and polymerization catalyst with water and the surfactant thereby forming a suspension. In another embodiment, a process for impregnating macrocyclic polyester oligomers for polymerization includes the steps of providing a suspension of a macrocyclic polyester oligomer and a polymerization catalyst in water, applying the suspension to a base material, drying to remove water from the suspension, and pressing the dried suspension to a desired form. In yet another embodiment, a composition of macrocyclic polyester oligomer includes a macrocyclic polyester oligomer, a polymerization catalyst, and water. In yet another embodiment, a process for polymerizing macrocyclic polyester oligomers includes the steps of mixing a blend material having a macrocyclic polyester oligomer and a polymerization catalyst with water to form a mixture, applying the mixture to a base material, drying to remove water, heating to polymerize the macrocyclic polyester oligomer, and pressing the polymerized macrocyclic polyester oligomer to a desired form.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.