JPH0280668A - Textile conditioner composition - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to textile conditioner compositions.

[Conventional technology and issues]

Fabric conditioners are widely used to soften fabrics after washing in anionic detergents. Textile conditioning agents here are amine salts or quaternary nitrogen compounds, all of which contain two long-chain (e.g. C15-22) alkyl and/or alkenyl groups, in particular two CI6-1
Refers to cationic organic compounds having 8 alkyl and/or alkenyl groups, such as taroyl, oleyl, palmityl and/or stearyl groups.

Some of the fabric conditioners used to date are quaternary ammonium salts and especially amidoamines quaternized with distearyldimethylammonium chloride, amidoimidacilline salts, quaternary amidoimidacyline, amidoamine salts. These include salts and polyoxylated amidoamines. Amidoimidacillins and quaternary amidimidacillines are obtained from amidoamines by cyclization. Therefore, for convenience, amidoamine salts, amidoimidacillin salts, and their quaternized and/or alkoxylated compounds are collectively referred to as ``amidoamines''. these are,
Although very sparingly soluble in water, fabric softeners can be dispersed relatively easily into dilute dispersions of up to about 20% concentration. However, when dealing with R-product modifiers, even the more dilute versions of such aqueous dispersions have the problem of high viscosity.

This is a major problem when supplying cationic fabric conditioners in bulk to formulators, as it is difficult to provide the fabric conditioner as a concentrated dispersion that is easily pourable and stable. This makes it difficult to obtain in form. Therefore, manufacturers are strongly interested in reducing the viscosity of bulk products, maintaining their consistency, and if possible, increasing their concentration relatively to reduce costs and eliminate the inconveniences of transporting and storing large amounts of water. I'm interested.

The issue for formulators is even more complex. A balance needs to be struck between the increase in cost per unit weight and the difficulty of pouring. On the one hand, the effect per unit volume increases, but on the other hand, the concentration increases. However, we must also consider that consumers are biased. Consumers believe that higher viscosity necessarily means higher concentration and therefore greater efficacy, and they purchase products with higher viscosity even if they are thinner, even though they are harder to pour out and less cost effective. That's what I do.

Therefore, viscosity control is extremely important for both concentrates and diluted products.

Formulators typically sell compositions containing 3-7% fabric conditioner, the highest concentration that the formulation is pourable. However, in some cases calcium ions, such as calcium chloride, which reduce the viscosity, are added, usually from 100 to
By adding as little as 1,500 ppm, higher concentrations of fabric conditioner can be achieved, for example up to about 15%. Concentrations above about 20% are only possible using water-soluble organic solvents. Manufacturers must prepare substantially anhydrous concentrates in organic solvents such as lower alcohols to achieve concentrations greater than 50%, preferably 75-90%, for efficient transportation to formulators. needed to be manufactured. In practice, the most commonly used solvents are expensive, flammable, odor-prone, and cause undesirable problems in the final formulation, such as changes in the viscosity of the dispersion upon aging. However, isopropanol has generally been considered essential for obtaining pourable concentrate compositions.

Concentrates containing water-compatible solvents are dispersed by stirring in hot water and are formulated with colorants, flavors and very small amounts of soluble calcium salts such as calcium chloride;
Obtain a pourable formulation that is acceptable to consumers.

Due to the difficulty of handling concentrates, the need for hot water, the disadvantages of using solvents, etc., manufacturers have sought alternative methods of producing concentrates for many years without success. Some of these problems are addressed by the use of unsaturated or partially unsaturated raw materials such as oleyl or soft tallow to introduce long chain alkyl/alkenyl groups in the textile conditioner.
and can be somewhat alleviated by using feedstocks with high iodine numbers (ie, high degrees of unsaturation).

Worse, if the iodine value of the raw material is high, the softening effect of the fabric will be poor, and the product will likely oxidize, causing discoloration and off-odor.

Co-pending British Patent Application No. 8719083 describes a new physical state of aqueous cationic fabric conditioners which can be obtained as highly concentrated fluid creams. It has been discovered that when an aqueous dispersion of a cationic fabric conditioner contains an electrolyte at a specific concentration, a characteristic spherical structure is obtained and it immediately becomes creamy. This cream was a fluid concentrated aqueous dispersion, had an excellent fabric softening effect, and could be easily dispersed by stirring or shaking in cold water.

Creams with a similar structure to those obtained by creaming dilute systems can also be prepared directly by mixing electrolytes with f4Ilili products to the desired cream concentration.

However, the properties of the product thus obtained are
Usually inferior to those obtained by creaming dilute solutions. In general, the creams obtained according to our above-mentioned British patent application have a characteristic spherical appearance which can be recognized by optical close microscopy. However, many creams are less than ideal, and some fabric conditioners cannot readily form creams at commercially useful concentrations.

In particular, when fragrances are added to fabric conditioner creams, they often result in unacceptably high concentrations.

[Means to solve the problem]

a small amount of surfactant, for example typically 0.1-2%;
In particular, nonionic, zwitterionic surfactants have been found to substantially reduce the viscosity of the fabric conditioner. This allows even higher concentrations to have acceptable flow properties. Surfactants are pre-included in non-creamy fabric conditioner formulations, but are typically used in a ratio of 3 to 5% by weight of the composition or greater than 1=20% of the weight of the fabric conditioner and are concentrated. Improving product stability and/or dispersibility.

The concentration of surfactant used in the present invention is substantially less than that expected to produce other beneficial effects or dispersion properties. When the surfactant is gradually added to the fabric conditioner in an amount of less than 2% of the weight of the composition, or less than 1 = 3 of the weight of the fabric conditioner, the flowability is highest with increasing concentration of the active agent. As the value increases and then gradually decreases to the commonly used 3% or higher, the flowability becomes lower than that of the wA modifier before being modified.

The concentration of surfactant for best flowability will vary depending on the particular fabric conditioner and surfactant selection.

The present invention therefore makes use of the fabric conditioner composition described in the said British patent specification, which contains water, C.
Contains a fabric conditioner having p5-22 alkyl and/l or alkenyl groups and a nonionic, zwitterionic or semipolar surfactant in an amount sufficient to reduce the viscosity of the composition.

Preferably, the proportion of surfactants is less than 2%, more preferably less than 1.5%, in particular less than 1%, for example less than 0.5%, relative to the total weight of the composition. . The amount of surfactant is preferably less than 1:20, especially less than 3o, most preferably less than 1:35, based on the weight of the cationic fabric conditioner.

Preferably, the concentration of surfactant is greater than 0.01%, in particular greater than 0.05%, such as 0.1%, usually greater than 0.2%, most preferably greater than 0.02%, relative to the total weight of the composition. Greater than .5%. Preferably, the ratio of surfactant by weight of fabric conditioner is 1:200
greater than 1, in particular: greater than 150, more preferably greater than 1100, typically greater than 1:80, greater than 1:50, even more particularly 1:4.
Greater than 0.

The present invention contains an electrolyte, such as calcium chloride, of the type described in our said UK Patent Application, in a concentration of greater than 0.3%, typically between 1 and 15%, based on the weight of the composition. In the present invention, the surfactant is preferably a nonionic surfactant, such as an alcohol alkoxylate or a polyalkoxylate, which is practically applicable for reducing the viscosity of creamed fabric softeners. carboxylic acids, polyalkoxylated amines, polyalkoxylated glycols, or glycol esters, polyalkoxylated sorbitan esters, or alkanoamides.

In each case, the alkylene oxide group is preferably ethylene oxide, less so propylene oxide, or a mixture of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide. Other surfactants that can be used are amine oxides, imidacillines, amidoamines and quaternary ammonium or benzalkonium salts, in each case one long chain (e.g. C8,2°) alkyl group, either Other C6-less alkyl groups, preferably methyl groups. Alternatively, the surfactant may also be betaine or sulfobetaine.

We preferably use quaternary imidacillin fabric conditioners, such as citaloyl or distearyl imidazolinium methosulfate, with two long chains e.g.
゜Those having an alkyl and/or alkenyl group are used. Non-quaternized imidazolinium salts having two C15-2° alkyl groups are also useful. Similarly, two C1~, alkyl groups and 2
Mono- or di-
Also useful are alkylated diamide ammonium salts.

For example, bis(taloamidoethyl)ammonium or bis(stearylamidoethyl)ammonium, mono- or di-methosulfate. Tetraalkylammonium fabric conditioners, such as dimethylcitaroylammonium chloride, are improved according to the invention by adding surfactants. Similarly, citaloyl or distearylbenzalkonium or pyridinium salts or alkoxylated (e.g. ethoxylated) amidoamines or imidacillins, such as bis(taloamidoethyl) mono(1-8 mol) polyoxyethylammonium salts or quaternary ammonium salts. The same is true.

Counterions for the aforementioned textile conditioners are usually chloride, sulfate, phosphate, methosulfate, ethosulfate or organic ions such as formate, acetate, citrate, tartrate or lactate.

The groups CI, ~22 (usually primarily cps and/or C1, groups) are preferably straight-chain or, to a lesser extent, branched alkyl groups, which contain a proportion, preferably a minority proportion, of alkyl groups, e.g. It has an oleyl group. For maximum flexibility, we use an iodine number less than 10,
hard tallow, preferably less than 5
llou+) or other alkyl groups. However, for ease of manufacture, partially unsaturated raw materials are usually preferred.

Commercial textile conditioner compositions require the addition of perfume. However, many fragrances have a strong influence on the rheological properties of fabric conditioner creams and greatly increase the viscosity. The addition of small amounts of surfactants according to the invention can substantially eliminate this problem.

suspended solids such as fumed silica or bentonite,
It may also be useful to add it to fabric conditioner creams. For example, typically bentonite is 0.01 to 3
, for example in a concentration of 0.05-2, in particular 0.1-1% by weight. Such additives have an adverse effect on the rheological properties of the cream, whereas the presence of the surfactants of the invention counteracts this effect.

The present invention will be further explained below with reference to Examples.

Loss 1 Citaloylimidazolinium methosulfate (dit
alloyl imidazolinium me
An initial concentrate consisting of a 90% by weight solution of thosulfate) in isopropanol was added to a 5% by weight aqueous solution of calcium chloride at 60°C, stirred for 15 minutes,
An active dispersion of % by weight was obtained.

The dispersion was allowed to stand for 7 days, and a fluid cream separated from the clear aqueous phase.

This cream has a total solid content of 42.3% by weight (dry area ff1
57.7% by weight). 1% by weight of various surfactants were added to samples of this cream. Burschel-Bulkley model (IIersl+el[1ulkley
The initial and dynamic yield point results were obtained using the Bingham body model (Bingham B Model).
The plastic yield point (Plastic Yield) and plastic viscosity (Plastic Viscosity) were determined using the ody Model.

The results are shown in Table 1, which are averages over the shear range of 0 to 700 seconds. This result was obtained at 20° C. using a 2 degree horizontal angle, a cone with a base diameter of 4 cx, and a plate with a 56.6 μ gap.

Creams for various fabric conditioners were prepared by the method of Example 1 by mixing increasing concentrations of small amounts of each of the two surfactants.

The surfactants used were ethoxylated synthetic CI2-1
．． It was alcohol. The yield point and viscosity were measured in the same manner as in Example 1, and the results are shown in Table 2.

Maru LLu (A) Fabric conditioner cream containing 30% ethoxylated bis(taloyl)methyl methosulfate and 7.5% calcium chloride was tested using a Carrimed viscometer (Carrimed viscometer).
The viscosity measured by viscometer is 112zr's.
Met. To this, addition of 1% by weight of coconut alkylamidoprobyl dimethylaminobetaine surfactant (its salt-lium salt is commercially available under the trademark "EMPIGEN'" BS) reduced the viscosity to 85 zPs.

(B) 1% of commercially available fragrance formulated for ill substance conditioner
was added to the cream of (A) above. In the absence of surfactant, the viscosity increased to 535 zPs.

When adding 1% by weight of surfactant, the viscosity is 294 I
It dropped to t's.

(C) When 3% by weight of bentonite was added to the fabric conditioner composition of (A) above, the viscosity was 769zPs.
rose. By adding 1% surfactant, the viscosity was reduced to 571 zPs.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, the viscosity is low even at high fabric conditioner concentrations, there is no difficulty in pouring out or using it, and costs for transportation, formulation, and use can be reduced.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A cream composition for fabric conditioning containing 1. water, a cationic fabric conditioning agent having two C_1_5_ to_2_2 alkyl and/or alkenyl groups, and 1 to 15% by weight of an electrolyte, the cream comprising: A textile conditioning cream composition characterized in that it contains a nonionic, zwitterionic or semipolar surfactant in an amount sufficient to reduce the viscosity of the composition. 2. The surfactant is present in a proportion of 0.01 to 2% by weight, based on the weight of the composition;
A composition according to claim 1. 3. The surfactant is 0.1 based on the weight of the composition.
3. A composition according to claim 2, wherein the composition is present in a proportion of ~1.5% by weight. 4. Claim 1, wherein the ratio of surfactant is 1:200 to 1:20 based on the weight of the cationic fabric conditioner.
The composition according to any one of Items 1 to 3. 5. Claim 4, wherein the ratio of surfactant is 1:80 to 1:30 based on the weight of the cationic fabric conditioner.
The composition described in Section. 6. The composition according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the surfactant is a polyalkoxylated fatty alcohol, an alkylphenol, a fatty acid or a sorbitan ester. 7. The composition according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the surfactant is betaine or sulfobetaine. 8. A composition according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the textile conditioner is an imidazolinium salt or is quaternized in an imidazolinium salt. 9. The composition according to any one of claims 1 to 8, which contains an effective amount of fragrance. 10. Claims 1 to 9, containing 0.01 to 3% by weight of bentonite.
The composition according to any of the preceding paragraphs.