CA1257086A

CA1257086A - Antistatic compositions comprising polymerized oxyalkylene monomers and an inorganic salt containing borates, carboxylates, phosphates or sulfonates

Info

Publication number: CA1257086A
Application number: CA000478978A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Janglin Chen; James E. Kelly; James Plakunov, (Deceased)
Original assignee: Eastman Kodak Co
Current assignee: Eastman Kodak Co
Priority date: 1984-08-01
Filing date: 1985-04-12
Publication date: 1989-07-11
Also published as: JPS6141143A; EP0170529A2; EP0170529B1; US4582781A; JPH0410054B2; EP0170529A3; DE3585856D1

Abstract

-i-ANTISTATIC COMPOSITIONS COMPRISING POLYMERIZED
OXYALKYLENE MONOMERS AND AN INORGANIC SALT
CONTAINING BORATES, CARBOXYLATES, PHOSPHATES OR SULFONATES
Abstract of the Disclosure Antistatic compositions are disclosed comprising a hydrophilic binder, surface-active polymer having polymerized oxyalkylene monomers and an inorganic salt characterized in that the salt is selected from the group consisting of inorganic tetrafluoroborates, perfluoroalkyl carboxylates, hexafluorophosphates and perfluoroalkyl sulfonates.

Description

~$~

AMTISTATlC COMPOSITIONS COMPRISING POLYMERI%ED
OXYALKYLENE MONOMERS AND AN INORGANIC SALT
CONTAINING BORATES, CARBOXYLATES, PHOSPHATES OR SULFONATES
Field of the Invention The present invention relstes to antistatic - composition~ and elements, including photographic elements. More specifically, the present invention relates to antistatic compositions comprl~lng poly-merized oxyalkylene monomers and inorganlc salts and the use of such compositions as antistatic layers.
BACKGROUND OF T E INVENTION
The unwanted build-up of static electricity on an insulated support is well known. This pheno-menon occurs on any element having an electricallyinsulating support surface.
In photographic elements, including electro-photo~raphic elements, rRdiation-sensitive emulsions are usually coated on an insulating support. It has been a practlce to reduce the electrostatic charge build-up by coating the surface of the support on which no photographic emulsions Hre coated with an antistatic composition. Sometimes a photographic emulsion layer is also coated with antistatic com-positions. Such antist6tic compositions decrease thesurface resistivity thereby preventing the accumula-tion of electrical chsrges.
In U.S. Patent 4,272,616 a homogeneous anti-static composition comprisin~ a hydrophilic binder, such as gelatin, containlng a nonionic polyoxyethyl-ene surface-active a~ent and an alkali metal thio-cyanate, iodide, perchlorate or periodate is dis-closed. Such antistatic compositions are effective in reducing the surface resistivity oE such supports to about 10ll ohms/sq at 30% relatiYe humidity (RH~ The problem is th~t such antistatics are not ~ ' ~

~2~7086 compatible with all photogr~phic element~ or the m~nufacture of ~uch element~. Some of the alkali metal ~&lt~ used thereln h~ve an adver~e effect on Bome radiatlon-BenBitive photographlc emulsions-Other ~uch ~alts, BUCh ~B the perchlor~te6, are knownto be explosive, thus producing a manufacturing hazard. The purpose of the pre6ent invention i6 to provide novel altern&tive ~ntistàtic compo~itlon~
which have none of the ~bove drawback~ of the above prior ~rt salt~.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provide6 an antist~tic compo~ition compris~ng a binder, a surface-active polymer havlng polymerized oxy~lkylene monomers &nd a salt, said salt being characterized in that the cation is inorganic, and the anion is selected from the group con-sisting of inorganic tetrafluoroborates, perfluoroalkyl carboxylates, hexafluorophosphates and perfluoroalkyl sulfonates.
Such compo~ition6, when coated on insulating surfaces, reduce the surface re6istivity of emul6ion layer6 and support6 a8 much a6 five orders of magni~
tude at 20% relative humidity. Moreover, such com-position6 do not cause the adver6e effects on some r~diation~sen~itive emul6ions or pre6ent the manu-facturing problem of the ~bove prior art compo~itions.
The alkylene portion of the oxyalkylene monomer refers to divalent hydrocarbon groups having

2 to S carbon atoms 6uch a~ ethylene, propylene and butylene.
In one a~pe t, the present invention pro-vides ~n~i6tatic eompo~itio~s wherein the oxyalkylene monomer i~ selected from the group eon~i~ting of oxy-ethylene and oxypropylene and the g~lt i~ selected from the group con6igting of alkall metal tetra-fluoroborateæ, alkali met~l tr~fluoromethane~ulfon-ates, alkali me~al ~rifluoro~cet~tes, ~lkali met~l perfluorobut~noste~, ~lksli metal hexafluoropho~-phates and alk~li met~l perfluorobut~ne6ulfonates.

, ( . ~ , ~ .

~L257~86 In another aspect, the present invention provides elements, including photographic element~, comprising layers of the antistatic compositions of this invention.
~etails of the Invention The antistatic compositions of the present invention are generally prepared by combining the binder with an aqueou6 solution of ~he surface-active polymer containing the polymerized alkylene oxide monomers and an aqueous solution of the selected inorganic salt. The resulting antistatic composition can be co~ted on lnsulating supports to reduce the res~stivity of the support.
The b~nder i8 generally present in the com-position, on ~ dry basis, in an amount of from 10 to95 welght percent. Useful binders for forming the antistatic compositions are selected rom the many known photographically useful hydrophilic colloid compositions. Suitable hydrophilic colloids include both naturally occurring substances such as proteins, protein derivatives, cellulose derivatives, e.g.
cellulose esters, gelatin, e~g. alkali-treated gela-tin (cattle bone or hide gelatin) or ~cid-treated gelatin (pigskin gelatin), gelatin derivatives, e.g.
~oetylated gelatin, phthalated gelatin ~nd the like~
polysaccharides such as dextran, gum arabic, zein, casein, pectin, collagen derivatives, collodion, agar-agar~ arrowroot, albumin ~nd the like aB de-scribed in numerous p~ten~s relating to the photo-graph~c arts.
Other hydrophilic colloids include colloidalalbumin or casein, etc., cellulose compounds such as carboxymethyl cellulose or hydroxyethyl cellulose, etc.; and synthetic hydrophilic colloids such as polyvinyl alcohol, poly-N-vinylpyrrolidone, poly-acrylic acid copolymers, polyacrylamide or deriva-tives of them or partially hydrolyzed products of ~257~

them, etc. If necessary, mixtures of two or more of these colloids are used. Among them, the most useful one is gelatin. The gelatin used h~re includes the so-called lime ~reated gelatin, acid treated gelatin and enzyme treated gelatin.
The surface-active polymers are generally present in the composition, on a dry basis, in an amount from 2 to 80 we~ght percent. Any surface-active polymer including homopolymers and copolymers ~nd polymerized oxyalkylene monomers will be useful.
Useful co-monomers include alkyl siloxane monomers and vinyl monomers as illustrated in TAble I infra.
Useful surface-active polymers containlng blocks of polymerized oxyalkylene monomers are diæclosed in U.S. Patents 2,917,480, 4J272,616, 4,047,958 and Japanese Patent Applications 55/70837 and 52/16224.
Some preferred polymers containlng polymerized blocks of oxyalkylene are presented in Table I.

~257~86 TABLE I

1) Block copolymers of propylene oxide and ethylene oxide available from BASF under the name Pluronic~, ~.g. Pluronic~ P123 and Pluronics~ 25R5:

HO~--CH2CH2 ~ ~H-CH2- ~ CH2CH2 ~ H
a plus c - 10 to 270 b = 20 to 70 or HO~--CH2,CH- ~ ~CH2CH2~--e~CH21CH- ~ H
.CH3 CH3 wherein d plus f = 10 to 160 and e - 15 to 60.
2) Tetrafunctional block copolymers derived from the addition of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide to ethylene diamine available from BASF under the name Tetronics~, e.g. Tetronics T1304:

H-~OCH2CH2~-~0H~H2C)x\ (CH2~H ~ CH2CH20~--H
Y NCH2CH2 ~
H-~OCH2CH2~-y~OH~H2C)x/ ~CH2~H ~ CH2CH2O~y----H

wherein x = 5 to 30 and y a 10 tO 150 -TABLE I cont'd

3) Polyethoxylated derivatives of castor oil avail-able from BASF under the name Industrol~ CO, e.g~ Industrol~ C0-40:

O
H-O-C-R Castor Oil OH
wherein R = -~CH2~ - CH=CH-CH2-~H-~CH2~-CH3.

4) Polyethoxylated ether derivatives of alkyl sub-stituted acetylenic diols available from Air Products Co. under the name Surfynol~, e.g.
Surfynol~ 465:

CH3-~H-CH2-~-C~C-~-CH2-~H-CH3 HO~CH2CH2~)g t~CH2CH2 ~ OH

25wherein g plus h = 10 to 30.

~2~ii7(318~

TABLE I cont'd S) Dimethylsiloxane-alkylene oxide llnear BA~ block copolymers available from Dow Corning under the name Q4-36670:

Ho~H2cH2o~c~cH30 ~2c~l2cH2~ocH2cH~ocH2cH2~oH
CH
wherein i ~ 10 to S0, J ~ 0 to 30 and k ~ 9 to 17.

6) Polyoxyethylene(20) sorbitan monolaurate avall-able from ICI of America under the name Tween~ 20.

7) Polyoxyethylene perfluorodecenyl ether available from ICI of America under the name Monflor~, e.g. Monoflor0-51:

CnF2n_1tCH2cH2o~cnF2n--1 wherein n ~ 10 and m ~ 20 to 25.

~257~

TABLE I cont'd 8) Dimethylsiloxane-ethylene oxide block copolymers 5av~ilable Çrom Petr~rch Systems, Inc. under the n~me Petrarch~ PS, e.g. PS071 ~nd PS073:

0 t(}S i ) p R~CH2CH2(~

wherein q/p = 1 to 5.

9) Polyoxyethylene l~uryl, cetyl, stearyl or oleyl ethers available from ICI of AmericR under the neme Bri~ Compounds.

10) Poly~lkylene oxide modified dimethylpolysiloxene branch chain copolymer available from Union Cerbide under the neme Silwet, e.g.
Silwet~ L-7605:

H3C-Si-O--- --Si-O- _ --Si--O ~ --Si--CH

CH3 CH3 t l3H~ CH3 _ _O - u (C2H4o)v(c3H6o)~R

wherein t ~ S to 100;
u ~ 2 to 50;
v ~ 5 to 50 and s ~ 0 to 50.

~, ~ ~ 7 ~

TABLE I cont'd 11) Alkyl or unsubstituted phenoxypoly(oxyethylene)-5ethanol available from GAF under the name Igepal~ Compounds.
-12) Octylphenoxypoly(oxyethylene)ethanol availablefrom Rohm ~ H~as under the neme Triton~ X-405.

13) Ethoxylated f~tty ~lcohol polyoxyethylene ethers avail~ble from Emery Industries under the name Trycol~ LAL Compounds.

14) F(CF2CF2) CH2CH2O(CH2CH2O)XH wherein x i9 10 3-~
to 20 ~vailable from DuPont under the name Zonyl~ FSN.

3o ~570&6 The inorganic salt is generally present in the composition in an amount of from 2 to 80 weight percent. The inorganic salt is a tetrafluoroborate, perfluoroalkyl carboxyla~e~ hexafluorophosphate or perfluoroalkyl sulfonate. The alkyl group in perfluoroalkyl has 2 to 20 carbon atoms. Alkali and alkaline earth metals and ammonium ~alts of such materials are examples of useful inorganic salts.
Examples of alkali metals include potassium~ sodium, lithium, cesium and rubidium. Examples of alkaline earth metals ere beryllium, calcium, strontium and barium. Some preferred sal~s are CF3S03K, LiBF4, NaBF4, C~Fg S03 K, C3 F7COOK, KPF6 and CF3 S03 Li.
Coated layers of the antistatic compos~tion should include sufficient polyoxyalkylene surface-active agents and inorganic salts to exhibit the antistatic effect. A preferred amount of the poly-oxyalkylene surface-active agent is in the range of about 5 to 500 mg/m2 and particularly about 20 to 200 mg/m2. A preferred amount of the salt used together therewith is in the range of about 5 to 500 mg/m2 and particularly about 10 to 200 mg/~2.
Blnder coverage should be ln ~he range of 0.1 to 10 g/m2. Of course, the above-described ranges vary according to the type of the photographic film base, photographic composition, form or application method used. A suitable ratio for the amount of polyoxyalkylene compound to salt is about 1:0.1 to

5.0 and preferably about 1:0.3 to 2 by weight.
The composition6 can be coated on a wide variety of supports to form a wide variety of useful antistatic elements. The support can be a number of materials which can take a number of forms. For example, the compositions can be coated on polymeric 35 materi~ls such as poly~ethylene terephthalate), cellulose acetate, polystyrene, poly(methyl meth-acrylate) and the like. The compo~itions can also be ~ 2~7 ~

coated on other Buppor~6 8uCh as glas6, paper includ-ing resin-coated paper, and metals. Fibers including synthetic fibers, useful for weaving into cloth, can be used as the support. Planar supports such a6 polymeric films useful in photography are particu-larly useful~ In addition, the compositions of the present inven~ion can be coated onto virtually Any article where it is desired to decrease re6istivity.
For example, the composi~ions can be coated on small plastic parts to prevent the unwanted buildup of static electricity or coated on small polymeric spheres or other shapes such as those used for toners in electrography and the like.
The compositions of the present invention can be applied to the support using any suitable method. For example, the compositions can be coated by spray coating, fluidized bed coa~ing, dip coating, doctor blade coating or extrusion hopper coating, to mention but a ew.
In some embodiments~ it may be desirable to coat the layer of the antistatic compositions of ~he present invention with a protective layer. The pro-tective layer can be present for a v~riety of rea-sons. For example, the protective layer can be an ~brasion-re6istant layer or a layer wh~ch provides other desirable physical properties. In many embodi-ments 9 for example, it can be desirable to protect the layers of the antistatic composition from condi-tions which could cause the leaching of one of the componenti. Where the antistdtic layer of the pre-sent invention is part of an element ha~ing a basic layer, it can be desirable to provide a barrier in the form of ~ protective layer to prevent the contact of the anti6tatic layer by ba6e. The protective layer is preferably a f~lm-forming polymer which can be applied using coating techniques æuch as those ~ 257 ~5 described above for the conductive layer it~elf~
Suitable film-forming resins include cellulose acetatP, cellulose acetate butyrate, poly(methyl methacrylate), polyesters, polycarbonates and the like.
The coating compositions of the present invention are particularly useful in forming anti-static layers for photographic elements. Elements of this type comprise a support having coated thereon at least one radiation-sensitive layer. Layers of the antistatic composition can be in any position in the photographic element. The antistatic compositions are advan~ageously coated directly on the support which can have a thin subbing layer as is known in the art, and are then overcoated with the described protective layer. Alternatively, the antistatic layers can be on the same side of the support as the radiation-sensitive materials and the protective layers can be included as interlayers or overcoats, i~ desired.
The radiation-sensitive layers of the photo-graphic or electrophotographic elements can take a wide variety of forms. The layers can comprise photographic silver salt emulsions, such as silver halide emulsions; diazo-type compositlons; vesicular image-forming compositions; photopolymerizable com-positions; electrophotographic compositions com-prising radiation-sensitive semiconductors; and the like. Photographic silver halide emulsion~ in~lud-ing, but not limited to, single or multilayer,black-and-white or color, with or without incorpor-ated couplers are particularly preferred and are described, for example~ in Research Disclosure, Item 17643 (Silver Halide Elements), December 1978, pages 22-31 and Research Disclosure, Item 13431 (Radio--graphic Elements~, August 1979, pages 433-41.

By practicing the present invention, the problems caused by static charges generated in pro-duction and use are significantly diminished. For example, the occurren~e of static marks caused by con~act between the emulsion face and the b~ck face of the photographic sensitive material, contact of one emulsion face with another emul6ion face and con~act of the photographic sens I tive material with other materials such as rubber, metal, plastics and fluorescent in~ensifying screens is remark~bly reduced by practicing the present invention. Fur-ther, surface resistivity of the photographic 6ensi-tive materials rem~rkably decreases when the salts and polyoxyalkylene compounds in the present inven-tion are used together in a hydrophilic binder andapplied to the outside layer of the photographlc sensitive materials.
Moreover, the combinations of compounds used in the present invention effectively prevent the static charges generated in placing films in cassettes or loading films in cameras or in taking many photographs continuously at a hi~h speed by an automatic camera. The an~istatic effect does not deteriorate with the lapse of time or low humidity.
The present invention is now illustrated in more detail-by reference to the following examples.
However, the present invention is not to be construed as being limited to these examples.
The resis~ance of the surface of the coat-ings of the presen~ invention can be measured using well-known techniques. The resistivity is the elec-~rical resistance of a square of a thin film of mate-rial measured in the plane of the material between opposite sides. This is described more fully in 35 R. E. Atchison, Aust. J. Appl. Sci., 10, (1954).

2~ 6 The following examples are pre~ented to urther clarify the inven~ion.

Example 1 Single Layer Coatings A layer of deionized bone gelatin was coated on a polyester support at a level of 0.097 g/m2 (Example lA). Addi~ions of ~urface-active polymer~
having polymerlzed oxyalkylene monomers and of ~alts were made (Examples lB~lU) as listed ln Table I, ~nd a~ the levels (mg/m2 of coating) indicated.
Samples of the coatings were conditioned to 50%, 20% and/or 15% relative humidity. The surface resistivi~y was measured at 24C using a Keithly Picoammeter, according to the procedure of ASTM
Standard D-257. The results are tabulated in Table II.

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Z ~ ~ ~ ~ ~, ' ~L25~086 a c ~ ~ c c a a c c ~ ~ ~ c c c c a Ei g~ ? ~ ?

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o o ~ 0 ~ o p4 ~ Z O P~
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~Z57 As compared ~o the control Example lA, Example lB and lC show significant reductions in surface æensltivity when the surface-active polymer or the salt are added separately. However, the combination of salt and polymer of this invention in Example lD shows a much greater, synergistic reduc-tion in sur~ace resistivi~y of five orders of magni-tude at 50% RH, and even more a~ 20% RH. This effectiveness is largely retained even at the lower addenda levels of Examples lE and lF. Fxample~
lF-lU illustrate ~he similar reductions in surface resi~tivity provided by other polymer and salt com-binations of the lnvention.

Example 2 Medical X-ray Film Coatings A radiographic emulsion layer was coated on a polyester support at a level of 2.37 gm Ag/m2 and 1.51 gm gelatin/m2. The emulsion comprised cubic silver bromoiodide grains of O~9~m mean size~ and 4 mole percent iodide. The emuls~on layer also contained KNO3 at 129 mg/m2. Over the emulsion a protective layer was coated at a level of 0.65 g/m2. Surface-active polymers and alkali metal salts were added to the lat~er overcoat ~6 indlcated in Table III. The surface resistivity was determined ~ 50% and 20% r~lative humidity a~
described for Example 1 except a Tera ohmmeter (Guidelines Instruments Model 9520) was used to measure resistivity. The results are tabulated in Table III. Reduction of ~his resi6~ivi~y of three orders of magnitude or more are obtalned a~ 20~ RH
using the antistatic composition of this invention.

.25~ 8 rA
V ~ ~ .,~
~ O ~ U
O
o~ V ~ ~
~) r_~ H H

P~ o c~
,1 ~ _ O O
X ~C
J~ h O X C0 C~J

~q p~ _- o o V ra _ _ _, 0 ~ ~ O O O
O t~ ~1 ~ ~
~ 00~ X X X
S~ ~ O ~J
~ ~ U~
O U~
H O ~ ~
H~1 t~l O ~D 00 H A E~l U~ ,_1 ~ ~ ~d ~
~ ~ ~ O ~ ~O
~ ~ P~ r~
Q~ P~ ~
O ~ r.
rl J- O O O
~Cl ~ 0 O
P~ ~n . c~ c~

H
~ I~
a~ ~ a~ ~D
~1 ~ ~ ~D
O ~ u~
~11 0 e: I
~ O' Q~ I

O ¢ P U
~1 Z; ~
X

~25~

Example 3 Control Coatin~
On a polyester support was coated a layer of deionized bone gelatin at a level of 2.71 g/m2.
Over this was applied a deionized bone gelatin over-coat at 0.89 g/m2. The coa~ing was hardened with bis(vinylsulfonylmethyl) ether at 2% of the total dry gelatin weight. The surface resistivi~y was measured as described in ~he previous example.
Co~ing of the Invention The coatlng of the lnvention was prepared as described for the control coating, except that 215 mg/m2 each of polymer 10) of Table I (Union Carbide Silwet9 L7605) and of potassium hexafluoro-phosphate (KPF6) were added to the overcostlayer. The resistivity was measured, giving the values tabulated below in Table IV.

gl257 _ :C O O
~ O X X
, ~q rl A r~l 0 ~q a~ 3 P~
.~, o a~ _ _ o ~ $ O O
td P~ ~ ~ U
4~
~ ~ X ~ ~
C~ U~ ~

J-P a ~ O

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CQ C~l ~ ~ 0~
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Example 4 Sensitometric Effec~s of Salts of U.S.
47272,616 Compared to the Salts Used in the Present Invention On a polyester support was coated a green-sensitized silver bromoiodide medical x-ray emulsion of mean grain size 0.75~m, containing 3.4 mole %
iodide 9 at 1.9 g/m2 Ag and 1.5 g/m2 gelatin.
Over the emulsion layer was coated a protec~ive layer containing 0O65 g/m2 gelatin. Salts were added to the emulsion layer as indicated in Table V, in each case at a level of 1.08 x 10- 3 moles/m2 -Samples of the coatings were exposed through a graduated density scale for 1/50 seconds to a 600-wa~ quartz halogen source filtered with a Corning~ C-4010 filter to simulate a green-emitting fluorescent screen exposure. The samples were then processed in a KODAK X-OMAT~ processor, Model M6. Development was for 26 seconds at 35C, fixing for 21 seconds at 35C, and washing for 16 seconds at 32C, using KODAK RP X-OMAT~ Developer and Fix.
The sensitometric results are tabulated in Table V. The speed was measured at a density of l.O.

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The invention has been degcrlbed in detail with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit S and scope of the invention.

.

Claims

WE CLAIM:

1. An antistatic composition comprising from 10 to 95 weight percent hydrophilic binder, a surface-active polymer having from 2 to 80 weight percent of polymerized oxyalkylene monomers and 2 to 8 weight percent of a salt, said salt being characterized in that the cation is inorganic, and the anion is selected from the group consisting of tetrafluoroborates, perfluoroalkyl carboxylates, hexafluorophosphates and perfluoroalkyl sulfonates.

2. The composition of claim 1 wherein the oxyalkylene monomers are selected from the group consisting of oxyethylene end oxypropylene and the salt is selected from the group consisting of alkali metal tetrafluoroborates, alkali metal trifluoro-methanesulfonates, alkali metal trifluoroacetates, alkali metal perfluorobutanoates, alkali hexafluoro-phosphates and alkali metal perfluorobutane-sulfonates.

3. The composition of claim 2 wherein the polymer is selected from Table I herein and the salt is selected from the group consisting of potassium trifluoromethanesulfonate, potassium perfluoro-butanesulfonate, potassium perfluorobutanoate, lithium tetrafluoroborate and lithium trifluoro-methanesulfonate.

4. The composition of claim 1 wherein the weight ratio of the polymer to the inorganic salt is in the range of from 1:0.1 to 1:5.

5. The composition of claim 1 wherein the polymerized oxyalkylene monomer is oxyethylene and the salt is CF3SO3Li.

6. An element comprising a support and a layer of an antistatic composition comprising from 10 to 95 weight percent hydrophilic binder, a surface-active polymer having from 2 to 80 weight percent of polymerized oxyalkylene monomers and 2 to 8 weight percent of a salt, said salt being characterized in that the cation is inorganic, and the anion is selected from the group consisting of tetrafluoroborates, perfluoroalkyl carboxylates, hexafluorophosphates and perfluoroalkyl sulfonates.

7. A photographic element comprising a support having thereon a radiation-sensitive layer and a layer of an antistatic composition comprising from 10 to 95 weight percent hydrophilic binder, a surface-active polymer having from 2 to to weight percent of polymerized oxyalkylene monomers and 2 to 8 weight percent of a salt, said salt being characterized in that the cation is inorganic, and the anion is selected from the group consisting of tetrafluoroborates, perfluoroalkyl carboxylates, hexafluorophosphates and perfluoroalkyl sulfonates.

8. The element of claim 6 or 7 wherein the oxyalkylene monomer is selected from the group consisting of oxyethylene and oxypropylene and the salt is selected from the group consisting of alkali metal perfluoromethanesulfonates, alkali metal tetrafluoroborates, alkali metal perfluoropropyl carboxylates, alkali metal hexafluorophosphates and alkali metal perfluorobutanesulfonates.

9. The element of claim 6 or 7 wherein the polymer is selected from the polymers of Table I
And the salt is selected from the group consisting of potassium trifluoromethanesulfonate, potassium perfluorobutanesulfonate, potassium trifluoro-acetate, potassium perfluorobutanoate, lithium tetrafluoroborate, potassium hexafluorophosphate and lithium trifluoromethanesulfonate.

10. The element of claim 6 or 7 wherein the antistatic layer comprises from 5 to 500 mg of polymerized polyoxyalkylene monomers per square meter of the layer, from 5 to 500 mg of the inorganic salt per square meter and from 0.1 to 10 gm of the binder per square meter.

11. The element of claim 7 wherein the photographic element is a radiographic element having a silver halide emulsion on each side of the support and wherein the antistatic layer overcoats each of the radiographic emulsions.

12. The element of claim 7 wherein the antistatic composition is coated on the support surface which is remote from the radiation-sensitive layer.