A polymeric material includes a polyisobutylene-polyurethane block copolymer. The polyisobutylene-polyurethane block copolymer includes soft segments, hard segments, and end groups. The soft segments include a polyisobutylene diol residue. The hard segments include a diisocyanate residue. The end groups are bonded by urea bonds to a portion of the diisocyanate residue. The end groups include a residue of a mono-functional amine.

Clickable waterborne polymers, click crosslinking of waterborne polymers, click crosslinked waterborne polymers, clickable functional compounds, and click functionalized waterborne polymers are presented. For example, the waterborne polymers have pendant groups bearing alkyne and/or azide groups and alkyne. For example, the functionalized azide-containing functional compounds such as antimicrobial or infrared-refractive compounds. The click crosslinking of clickable waterborne polymers or polymer mixtures, and the click conjugation of clickable waterborne polymers with clickable functional compounds such as clickable antimicrobial or infrared-refractive compounds, which resulted in functional waterborne polymers with antimicrobial or infrared-refractive functions, are presented. The presented polymers, including clickable waterborne polymers, click-crosslinked waterborne polymers, and functional waterborne polymers with, for example, antimicrobial or infrared-refractive functions, can be used in applications such as coating and adhesive compositions. The aqueous suspensions of waterborne polymers can also be used directly as drug delivery systems, or can be crosslinked into hydrogels or composites for biomedical applications such as drug/cell delivery, tissue engineering, and other medical device.

The present invention relates to a process for preparing a thermoplastic copolymer from polycaprolactam and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), to thermoplastic copolymers thus obtained and to shaped articles formed from copolymers of this type.

Disclosed is a method of making a load-bearing traction member. According to the method, a composition including a thermoplastic polyurethane and a compound with a plurality of epoxide groups or a compound with a plurality of groups having the formula

##STR00001##

wherein R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are each groups in a polymer backbone or together form a group having the formula NR.sub.4, wherein R.sub.3 and R.sub.4 each independently represents an organic group, is heated to a fluid state and applied to at least one tension member, and solidified to form a polymer jacket around at least one tension member

A method is disclosed of making a load-bearing traction member. According to the method, a composition including a thermoplastic polyurethane and a blocked isocyanate compound is heated to a fluid state and applied to at least one tension member, and solidified to form a polymer jacket around at least one tension member.

A resin composition for golf balls is made of (A) polyurethane or polyurea and (B) a styrene resin material, component (B) being included in an amount of 0.5 to 50 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of component (A). In a golf ball having a core and a cover of one or more layer encasing the core, at least one cover layer is formed of this resin composition. The resin composition is especially useful as a golf ball cover material because the ball does not fly too far and is easier to control on approach shots, yet does not sacrifice distance on shots with a driver.

The present invention provides an epoxy resin composition, which is improved in terms of storage stability without deteriorating the characteristics of a cured resin, and is also superior in handling property, by using a curing accelerator having higher latency. The epoxy resin composition of the present invention comprises an epoxy resin, a curing agent, and a curing accelerator, wherein the curing accelerator is a reaction product between a carbodiimide compound and an imidazole compound, and is contained in an amount of 0.1 to 5 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of the epoxy resin.

In various embodiments, the present invention provides a functionalized thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) containing bulk incorporated or surface-grafted quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC)s for contact-killing of a variety of microbes, where the QACs are on the surface of TPU to provide a sterile surface material that prevents bacteria commonly involved in device-associated infections (DAIs) from proliferating. The functionalized TPUs of the present invention can be formed into a wide variety of 3-dimensional shapes, such as catheters, medical tubing, laryngeal or tracheal stents, sutures, prosthetics, wound dressings, and/or a coating for medical devices and contains the residue of either a QAC containing diol monomer or an alkene functional diol monomer, which then allows the TPU to be functionalized with a QAC containing disulfide or free thiol compound, to form a quaternary ammonium functionalized thermoplastic polyurethane compound having antimicrobial properties for use in medical devices.

Poly(oxyalkylene)urethane surfactants of the formula (I)
R.sup.2XOCHN[R.sup.1NHCOO[(CH.sub.2).sub.qO].sub.xCONH].sub.nR.sup.1NHCOXR.sup.2(I)
in which R.sup.1: an alkylene radical, a cycloalkylene radical or an arylene radical; X: O or NH; R.sup.2: a linear or branched (C.sub.1-C.sub.4)-alkyl radical, monosubstituted by a group selected from: sulfo, carboxyl and [N,N-di-(C.sub.1-C.sub.4)-alkyl]amino, or disubstituted by: carboxyl; carboxyl and hydroxyl; carboxyl and mercapto; or, if X=O, R.sup.2 may also be defined as [R.sup.3OCONHR.sup.1NHCOO].sub.mR.sup.4 in which R.sup.3: a linear or branched (C.sub.1-C.sub.4)-alkylene radical, monosubstituted by COOH, especially a CH.sub.2[C(COOH)(CH.sub.3)]CH.sub.2 radical, R.sup.1 is as defined above, and R.sup.4: C.sub.2-C.sub.22-alkyl or a CH.sub.2[C(COOH)(CH.sub.3)]CH.sub.2OH radical, and m=an integer from 1 to 10; n=an integer from 1 to 7; q=an integer from 3 to 5; and x=an integer from 10 to 70;
and the water-soluble or water-dispersible salts thereof are described as a solubilizer and stabilizer in active ingredient formulations.

A plasticization-resistant polyurethane membrane for gas separation and producing method are disclosed. The plasticization-resistant polyurethane membrane may include a soft segment, a hard segment and a chain extender. The soft segment may include a polyol compound and the hard segment may include a diisocyanate. The plasticization-resistant polyurethane membrane may be a cross-linked polyurethane membrane.