be applied to the dry mat in any suitable manner all of which methods are known in the art for example the binder can be sprayed on or preferably the binder can be poured over the mat and the excess binder removed under vacuum in the final cured mat the binder will comprise about 20 to about 35 weight percent of the mat preferably about 30 weight percent the binder on the mat can be cured in any suitable manner preferably it will be passed through an oven at a temperature of about 500 u00b0 to about 650 u00b0 f for a time sufficient to cross link the components of the binder and to produce a non tacky mat the following example sets forth the procedure for producing a preferred binder composition of this invention one thousand pounds of water were added to a mix tank and with slow agitation 2983 pounds of carboxylated styrene butadiene rubber latex and 2567 pounds of ethylene vinyl chloride acrylamide were sequentially introduced hereinto one hundred pounds of a water diluted anti foam agent were introduced into the tank and the composite was stirred for 16 hours thereafter 230 pounds of methylated melamine formaldehyde were introduced into the main mix tank followed by 1000 pounds of water while continuing to stir sufficient ammonium hydroxide was added to adjust the ph to 6 5 u00b1 0 2 and 267 4 pounds of 10 weight percent ammonium sulfate were sequentially added to the mix tank 99 1 pounds of the antifoam agent were then added to the mix tank and sufficient.