JP2012080919A - Pillow member, and pillow - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a pillow member having moderate flexibility and superior hygroscopic property, and to provide a pillow.SOLUTION: There are provided the pillow member 3 with a silk fibroin porous body used therein and the pillow 10 with the pillow member 3.

Description

  The present invention relates to a pillow member and a pillow.

  Traditionally, pillows are the main bedding that is indispensable in order to reduce the burden on the neck especially by resting or sleeping, and to ensure a comfortable feeling of rest or sleep. In addition, natural materials such as cotton, feathers, wool, buckwheat husks, hinoki and bamboo charcoal, as well as artificial materials such as chemical fibers and low-resilience urethane are used as the internal filler. There are various types of pillow users, from infants to the elderly, by gender, healthy people, sick people, etc. The shape of the pillow adapted to the user varies greatly from person to person. In addition, the influence of pillows on human sleep is great, and among them, the flexibility of pillows varies greatly depending on the body shape and preferences of the user, so it is required to provide pillows with various flexibility.

  However, when using a natural material that has been used in the past as an internal filler, in order to obtain a pillow with the desired flexibility, the filler has to be changed. Variation may occur. On the other hand, pillows having various shapes using urethane foam as a filler are known (see, for example, Patent Document 1), but have low hygroscopicity, and have a characteristic urethane odor immediately after production. Problems such as emanation are known.

JP 2003-339505 A

  Then, an object of this invention is to provide the member for pillows and pillows which have moderate softness | flexibility, the freedom degree of a shape, and was excellent in moisture absorption.

  As a result of intensive studies, the present inventors have found that the above problems can be solved by a pillow member using a silk fibroin porous body and a pillow using the pillow member.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the member for pillows and pillows which have moderate softness | flexibility, the freedom degree of a shape, and was excellent in moisture absorption can be provided.

It is a perspective view which shows one aspect | mode of the silk pillow of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the one aspect | mode of the silk pillow of this invention. 2 is a scanning electron micrograph of a cross section of a porous body produced in Example 1. FIG.

The pillow member of the present invention is characterized by using a silk fibroin porous material.
Here, the silk fibroin porous material refers to a porous material containing silk fibroin and preferably having an average pore diameter of 10 to 300 μm.

  The pillow member according to the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it is made of a silk fibroin porous material. Examples thereof include a pillow core material, an outer bag covering the pillow, a pillow cover, and the like. A pillow is made using one or more of these.

1 and 2 show an embodiment of the pillow according to the present invention. The pillow 10 includes a core material 3 and an outer bag 1, and further includes a pillow cover 2 as necessary. Any one or more of the pillows 10 are made of a silk fibroin porous material. It is configured. When the outer bag 1 and the pillow cover 2 are made of a silk fibroin porous body, a smooth touch peculiar to silk can be obtained.
Since the silk fibroin porous material can be controlled in its flexibility, strength, shape and the like by the production method, a porous material having desired properties can be used according to the user's request. Therefore, for example, silk fibroin porous bodies having different characteristics can be used for both the outer bag 1 and the core material 3.

  The shape of the pillow member of the present invention is not particularly limited, and when used as the outer bag 1 or the pillow cover 2, for example, it can be a sheet. In addition, the silk fibroin porous body can be formed into a desired shape and size depending on the shape of the mold used in the manufacturing process. It can be formed in various shapes that support the neck, the head, and the curved surface. Further, as the filler used as the core material 3, a silk fibroin porous body such as a block shape, a spherical shape, or a cylindrical shape may be used.

  The tensile strength of the silk fibroin porous body is preferably 1 kPa to 400 kPa. If it is 1 kPa or more, it has sufficient strength and durability as a pillow is sufficient. On the other hand, if it is 400 kPa or less, a moderate softness | flexibility can be given to a pillow. From the above viewpoint, the tensile strength is more preferably 40 kPa to 300 kPa, and further preferably 80 kPa to 200 kPa.

Further, the silk fibroin porous body in the present invention may have a porous layer and a film layer having no pores on one or both sides thereof, while the silk fibroin porous body is a porous layer. It may consist only of.
The film layer has no pores or is a layer having very few pores and high surface smoothness as compared with the porous layer. By having such a film layer, the flexibility of the pillow member can be controlled, and the surface can be easily wiped off.
Moreover, the member for pillows of this invention can contain various active ingredients in the porous layer. For example, by adding essential oils such as lavender, peppermint, rosemary, jasmine, sage, thyme, and chamomile, an aromatherapy effect can be imparted, and an antibacterial component, a deodorizing component, and the like can also be included. In particular, when these active ingredients are contained in the core material 3, the active ingredients can be held up to the inside by immersing the core material 3 in a liquid containing the active ingredients and drying, and the effect is maintained for a long time. be able to.

Next, the manufacturing method of the silk fibroin porous body used in this invention is demonstrated.
The silk fibroin porous material used in the present invention can be produced by freezing and then thawing a silk fibroin solution obtained by adding a specific additive to a silk fibroin aqueous solution.
The silk fibroin used here may be any silk fibroin as long as it is produced from silkworms such as rabbits, wild silkworms, and tengu. In the production of the silk fibroin porous material in the present invention, it is used as a silk fibroin aqueous solution. However, silk fibroin has poor solubility and is difficult to dissolve directly in water. As a method for obtaining a silk fibroin aqueous solution, any known method may be used, but a method in which silk fibroin is dissolved in a high concentration lithium bromide aqueous solution, followed by desalting by dialysis and concentration by air drying is simple.
In the method for producing a silk fibroin porous body, the concentration of silk fibroin is preferably 0.1 to 40% by mass, and preferably 0.5 to 20% by mass in a silk fibroin solution to which an additive has been added. More preferably, it is 1 to 12% by mass. By setting within this range, a porous body excellent in the balance between strength and flexibility can be efficiently produced.

Examples of the additive include water-soluble organic solvents, aliphatic carboxylic acids, and amino acids. The additive is not particularly limited but is preferably water-soluble.
As said additive, it is preferable to use an aliphatic carboxylic acid and / or an amino acid from a viewpoint of the intensity | strength of a silk fibroin porous body.
Moreover, as an aliphatic carboxylic acid used in manufacture of a silk fibroin porous body, that whose pKa is 5.0 or less is preferable, the thing of 3.0-5.0 is more preferable, and 3.5-5. Even more preferred is zero.

  Examples of the water-soluble organic solvent include methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, butanol, glycerol, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), dimethylformamide (DMF), pyridine, acetone, acetonitrile, and the like.

  As the aliphatic carboxylic acid, for example, a saturated or unsaturated monocarboxylic acid, dicarboxylic acid, or tricarboxylic acid having preferably 1 to 6 carbon atoms, more preferably 3 to 5 carbon atoms can be preferably used. For example, formic acid Preferred examples include monocarboxylic acids such as acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, lactic acid, acrylic acid, 2-butenoic acid, and 3-butenoic acid; and dicarboxylic acids such as oxalic acid, malonic acid, succinic acid, and fumaric acid. These aliphatic carboxylic acids can be used alone or in combination of two or more.

The amino acid is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include monoaminocarboxylic acids such as valine, leucine, isoleucine, glycine, alanine, serine, threonine, and methionine, and monoaminodicarboxylic acids (acidic amino acids) such as aspartic acid and glutamic acid. Examples include aliphatic amino acids, aromatic amino acids such as phenylalanine, and amino acids having a heterocyclic ring such as hydroxyproline. Among these, acidic amino acids and oxyamino acids such as hydroxyproline, serine, and threonine are preferable from the viewpoint of easy shape adjustment. . From the same viewpoint, monoaminocarboxylic acid is more preferable among acidic amino acids, aspartic acid and glutamic acid are particularly preferable, and hydroxyproline is more preferable among oxyamino acids. These amino acids can be used alone or in combination of two or more.
Amino acids include L-type and D-type optical isomers, but when L-type and D-type are used, there is no difference in the resulting porous material. Good.

  The amount of the water-soluble additive in the silk fibroin solution is preferably 0.01 to 18% by mass, more preferably 0.1 to 5.0% by mass, and 0.5 to 4.0% by mass. More preferably. By setting within this range, a porous body having sufficient strength can be produced. Further, if the silk fibroin solution having an additive added to the silk fibroin aqueous solution is 18.0% by mass or less, the silk fibroin porous body having a stable and uniform structure is difficult to gel when the solution is allowed to stand. can get. Moreover, it is preferable that it is 1-500 mass% with respect to fibroin, as for the compounding quantity of an amino acid, it is more preferable that it is 5-50 mass%, and it is further more preferable that it is 10-30 mass%.

Next, a silk fibroin porous body is produced by pouring the silk fibroin solution to which the above additives are added into a mold or a container, freezing it in a low-temperature thermostatic bath, and then thawing it. The freezing temperature is not particularly limited as long as the silk fibroin solution containing the additive is frozen, but is preferably about −10 to −30 ° C. Further, the freezing time is preferably 4 hours or more at a predetermined freezing temperature so that it can be sufficiently frozen and kept in a frozen state for a certain time. As a method of freezing, the silk fibroin solution may be frozen to a freezing temperature all at once, but once it is kept at about −5 ° C. for about 2 hours to be in a supercooled state and then lowered to the freezing temperature. Freezing is preferable for obtaining a porous body having high mechanical strength. The structure and strength of the porous body can be controlled to some extent by adjusting the time taken from −5 ° C. to the freezing temperature.
Thereafter, the silk fibroin porous material is obtained by thawing the frozen silk fibroin solution. The melting method is not particularly limited, and examples include natural melting and a method of storing in a thermostatic bath.

  The obtained porous body contains additives, but depending on the application, if it is necessary to remove the additives, the additives can be removed from the porous body by an appropriate method. . For example, the simplest method is to remove the additive by immersing the porous body in pure water. Or depending on the kind of additive, it is possible to remove an additive and a water | moisture content simultaneously by freeze-drying a porous body.

The silk fibroin porous material can be made into a shape suitable for the purpose, such as a film shape, a block shape, a tubular shape, or the like by appropriately selecting a mold or a container for producing the porous material.
In the silk fibroin porous material taken out from these molds and containers, a film layer having a thickness of about 1 to 100 μm is formed on the surface that touches the molds and containers. As described above, the film layer is a layer having substantially no pores, and does not have pores, or is a layer having very few pores as compared with the porous layer. That is, the silk fibroin porous body may have a porous layer and a film layer covering the porous layer, and may be used after removing the film layer depending on its use. You may use it, leaving a film layer. For example, in the case of a silk fibroin porous body made of a block-shaped mold or container, if the four side film layers are removed and cut at the porous layer portion, the porous layer and one side thereof have pores. It is possible to obtain a silk fibroin porous body having a non-performing film layer.

  The mold or container is preferably made of aluminum in consideration of heat conduction. However, a silk fibroin solution should be used after a resin sheet such as a Teflon sheet or a sheet with a rough surface such as filter paper is placed inside the mold or container. Can be poured into a porous body. When installing a resin sheet such as a Teflon sheet, the film layer can be more actively formed, and when installing a sheet with a rough surface such as filter paper, the sheet peels off the film layer, When removed from the mold, a porous body having no film layer is obtained. About adoption of these sheets, what is necessary is just to select suitably according to the use of a porous body.

The silk fibroin porous material thus obtained has a sponge-like porous structure. Normally, this porous material contains water unless water is removed by freeze-drying or the like. It is a hard structure. A dried silk fibroin porous material can be obtained by freeze-drying the porous material. However, since the dried silk fibroin porous material is hard and brittle, it can be used in an aqueous solution of polyethylene glycol or glycerin. By soaking or containing an anti-drying agent, a material having good flexibility even after drying is obtained, which is suitable as a material for a pillow member or pillow.
In addition, when the hydrous silk fibroin porous material is used as the pillow member of the present invention, the water-containing silk fibroin porous material can be encapsulated in a plastic film or the like to prevent leakage of moisture. preferable.

  EXAMPLES The present invention will be described more specifically with reference to examples. However, the present invention is not limited to these examples.

Example 1
For silk fibroin aqueous solution, fibroin powder (KB Selen, trade name: “Fibroin IM”) is dissolved in 9M lithium bromide aqueous solution, insoluble matter is removed by centrifugation, and dialysis is repeated against ultrapure water. Was obtained by The obtained silk fibroin aqueous solution was air-dried in a dialysis tube and concentrated. An acetic acid aqueous solution was added to the concentrated solution to prepare a silk fibroin solution having a silk fibroin concentration of 5% by mass and an acetic acid concentration of 2% by mass.
This silk fibroin solution was poured into a mold (inside size; 80 mm × 40 mm × 4 mm) made of an aluminum plate, and was frozen and stored in a low-temperature thermostatic bath (NCB-3300 manufactured by EYELA).
For freezing, the low-temperature thermostat was cooled to -5 ° C in advance, and a mold containing the silk fibroin solution was put into the low-temperature thermostat and held for 2 hours, and then cooled to -20 ° C and held for 5 hours. The frozen sample was returned to room temperature by natural thawing, then removed from the mold, immersed in ultrapure water, and the acetic acid used was removed by exchanging the ultrapure water twice a day for 3 days.

(Measuring method of mechanical properties)
The mechanical properties of the obtained silk fibroin porous material were evaluated using INSTRON Micro Tester Model 5548. A test piece of 40 mm × 4 mm × 4 mm was cut out from the produced silk fibroin porous material, and the maximum breaking strength (tensile strength) and the maximum strain (elongation) when the test piece was pulled at 2 mm / min were measured. In addition, the elastic modulus was obtained from the slope when the strength and strain were graphed. The results are shown in Table 1. In addition, the measurement result produced the test piece of 5 points | pieces from the produced porous body, and also cut out the test piece of 5 points | pieces from the porous body produced on the different day, and measured the average value which measured about those 10 points | pieces Show.

  Moreover, the structure of the obtained silk fibroin porous body was observed using a scanning electron microscope. The scanning electron microscope was measured using a Philips XL30-FEG in a low vacuum non-deposition mode and an acceleration voltage of 10 kV. The structure of the silk fibroin porous body was not the surface of the porous body, but the inside exposed by cutting the porous body. A scanning electron micrograph of the cross section of the obtained porous body is shown in FIG.

  From the results shown in Table 1, it was confirmed that the tensile strength of the silk fibroin porous material was suitable as a pillow member.

  The pillow member of the present invention is made of a silk fibroin porous material, has moderate flexibility, has a high degree of freedom in shape, and is excellent in hygroscopicity. It is useful as a member of a pillow.

10: Pillow 1: Outer bag 2: Pillow cover 3: Heartwood

Claims (3)

  A member for a pillow comprising a silk fibroin porous material.   The pillow member according to claim 1, wherein the silk fibroin porous body has a tensile strength of 1 to 400 kPa.   A pillow comprising the pillow member according to claim 1 or 2.