Polyoxybutylene-polyoxyethylene aqueous gels

Claim 1

A gel composition which remains a gel at temperatures below room temperature comprising from about 84 percent by weight to about 16 percent by weight of water and from about 16 percent by weight to about 84 percent by weight of a polyoxybutylene-polyoxyethylene block copolymer, all weights based on the weight of the water and the block copolymer wherein said block copolymer is a cogeneric mixture of conjugated polyoxybutylene-polyoxyethylene compounds containing in their structure oxybutylene groups, oxyethylene groups and an organic radical derived from a water-soluble organic compound containing a plurality of reactive hydrogen atoms and 2 to 12 carbon atoms; the compounds being characterized in that all of the oxybutylene groups are present in polyoxybutylene chains that are attached to the organic radical at the site of a reactive hydrogen atom thereby constituting a polyoxybutylene polymer; the oxyethylene groups being attached to the polyoxybutylene polymer in polyoxyethylene chains; the average molecular weight of the polyoxybutylene polymers in the mixture being at least 1200, as determined by hydroxyl number, and the oxyethylene groups present constituting 45 and 85 percent by weight of the mixture, with the provisos that (a) when the hydrophobe molecular weight is about 1200, then the minimum polyoxyethylene content is about 60 percent by weight of the block copolymer and the minimum block copolymer content to form a gel is about 25 percent by weight of the gel composition; (b) when the hydrophobe molecular weight is about 1800, then the minimum polyoxethylene content is about 55 percent by weight of the block copolymer and the minimum block copolymer content to form a gel is about 20 percent by weight of the gel composition; (c) when the hydrophobe molecular weight is about 2400, then the minimum polyoxyethylene content is about 50 percent by weight of the block copolymer and the minimum block copolymer content to form a gel is about 16 percent by weight of the gel composition; (d) when the hydrophobe molecular weight is about 3000, then the minimum polyoxyethylene content is about 45 percent by weight of the block copolymer and the minimum block copolymer content to form a gel is about 16 percent by weight of the gel composition.