Radiation-curable poly(α-olefin) adhesives containing pendant olefinic funtionality

Claim 1

A composition radiation-curable to an adhesive comprising: a) an α-olefin polymer having the general formula: ##STR8## wherein x, y, z' and z" are numbers designating the relative molar amounts of monomer units comprising the backbone chain of the polymer such that the polymer has a weight average molecular weight in the range of 50,000 to 3.5 million, x is at least 45 mole percent of (x+y), y is from about 1 to 40 mole percent of (x+y), and (z'+z") is 0.1 to 15 mole percent of (x+y+z'+z") and either of z' or z" can be zero; R 1 is an alkyl group having 4 to 8 carbon atoms; R 2 is hydrogen or a hydrocarbyl group; R 3 is an unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbyl group having 3 to 18 carbon atoms, the unsaturated group of which is separated from the ##STR9## of the α-olefin polymer backbone by at least one carbon atom, preferably selected from linear and branched alkenyl groups having 3 to 18 carbon atoms, non-conjugated polyethylenically-unsaturated aliphatic groups having 6 to 18 carbon atoms, cyclic alkenyl groups having 5 to 18 carbon atoms, and cyclic non-conjugated polyethylenically-unsaturated groups having 6 to 18 carbon atoms, or R 3 can also be --Q--R 7 , wherein R 7 is a C 2 to C 10 monovalent hydrocarbyl group containing one or more ethylenically unsaturated groups and Q is a divalent radical, --O--, or ##STR10## wherein R 8 and R 9 are the same or different C 1 to C 12 monovalent organic groups selected from alkyl, cycloalkyl, alkaryl, alkoxy, and aryloxy groups; and R 4 is hydrogen or R 4 , together with R 3 and the carbon atoms to which they are attached, forms an unsaturated or non-conjugated polyunsaturated monocyclic ring system having 6 to 18 carbon atoms, the unsaturated groups of which are separated from the ##STR11## of the α-olefin polymer backbone by at least one carbon atom; R 5 is hydrogen or a linear or branched alkyl group having 1 to 18 carbon atoms or cyclic alkyl group having 5 to 18 carbon atoms; and R 6 is a linear or branched ethylenically- or non-conjugated polyethylenically-unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbon group having 3 to 18 carbon atoms, or a cyclic ethylenically or non-conjugated polyethylenically-unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbyl group having 5 to 18 carbon atoms; and b) an effective amount of a photoactive crosslinking agent to crosslink the composition upon exposure to a source of actinic radiation.