JPH01213480A - Concentrated soft-finishing agent for clothes - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the above soft-finishing agent capable of imparting softness and antistaticity to various fibers and causing little increase of viscosity with time, by using a quaternary ammonium salt and a specific polyalkylene adduct as active components. CONSTITUTION:The objective concentrated soft-finishing agent for clothes causing little increase of viscosity with time and having high stability can be produced by compounding (A) 7-30wt.% of a quaternary ammonium salt and (B) 0.2-10wt.% of a polyether compound (or its derivative) produced by adding an alkylene oxide containing ethylene oxide as essential component to a compound having >=5 active hydrogen atoms (e.g. sorbitol, phenolic resin or polyamine). The polyether compound contains >=60wt.% of the polyethylene chain in total and has a molecular weight of 200,000-2,000,000. Preferable examples of the component B are a compound produced by esterifying the terminal hydroxyl group of a polyether compound with a fatty acid and a cationized product of the above compound.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a fabric softener, and more particularly, to a fabric softener that thickens over time and is capable of imparting excellent flexibility and antistatic properties to various fibers. This invention relates to a concentrated clothing fabric softener that has a small amount of moisture.

[Conventional technology and its problems]

When clothing is repeatedly worn and washed, the fiber treatment agent may be washed off, or the fibers themselves may become hard due to deterioration, resulting in an undesirable feel. Therefore,
In recent years, fabric softeners that can impart flexibility and antistatic properties to fibers have been widely used in many households.

Currently, the commercially available household fabric softeners are:
Most of them are based on cationic surfactants having one or two long-chain alkyl groups in the molecule, especially di(hardened tallow alkyl) dimethylammonium salts.

These soft bases containing quaternary ammonium salts as main components are poorly soluble in water, and are usually produced in the form of 3 to 5% by weight aqueous dispersions or emulsions. As the number of garments that use fabric softeners increases, distribution costs and packaging costs will decrease,
Concentrated clothing fabric softeners, which are highly concentrated aqueous dispersions, are strongly desired for the purpose of reducing inventory space at homes, retail stores, and the like.

However, when the concentration exceeds 5% by weight, the aqueous dispersion described above significantly thickens, causing various troubles in handling.

Traditionally, in order to produce such high-concentration fabric softeners, there have been 1) a method of adding a water-soluble cationic activator; 2)
The following methods are known: 3) Adding ethylene oxide adducts of higher alcohols or alkylphenols; 4) Adding urea, ethylene glycol, etc.; and 4) Adding water-soluble salts.

However, in cases 1) to 3), the degree of concentration is insufficient or the viscosity increases over time, making it impossible to obtain sufficient effects.

In the case of 4), although the initial viscosity reduction effect is observed, the effect of suppressing the increase in viscosity over time is small, and when a large amount of salt is added, the aqueous dispersion tends to separate easily.
A satisfactory concentrated clothing fabric softener has not yet been obtained.

[Means for solving problems]

Under these circumstances, the present inventors conducted intensive research to solve the above problems, and found that when dispersing a high concentration of quaternary ammonium salt, when a specific polyoxyalkylene adduct is applied, the initial We have obtained the knowledge that physical properties can be improved and viscosity increase over time can be significantly suppressed, and based on this knowledge, we have completed the present invention relating to a concentrated type fabric softener.

That is, the present invention adds an alkylene oxide containing ethylene oxide as an essential component to (a) a quaternary ammonium salt, and (ra) a compound having five or more active hydrogens;
and the total weight of the polyoxyethylene chain portion is 60% or more of the total weight, and the molecular weight is 200.000
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a concentrated clothing fabric softener characterized by containing as an active ingredient one or more polyether compounds or derivatives thereof having a molecular weight of more than 2,000,000.

In the present invention, (a
) Examples of quaternary ammonium salts include the following, and two or more types may be used as a mixture.

R': C7 to C21 saturated or unsaturated straight or branched alkyl group or hydroxyalkyl group R2: C, to C24 saturated or unsaturated straight or branched alkyl group or hydroxyalkyl group R', R', R6: C, ~C3 alkyl group or hydroxyalkyl group or -([:)1. -CH-0 editorial (however, n=l0. Y-hydrogen or C1l.

R5: C24-C36 saturated or unsaturated branched alkyl group or hydroxyalkyl group R7, R'': C7-C21 saturated or unsaturated straight-chain or branched alkyl group or hydroxyalkyl group A, B: C, ~C5 Alkylene group X: C)1.SO,,C,)I,So,, (:
nH2,,,,COO, n=0 to 17. ['n)1.
,,,． n=8-18 for 0PO3. )IOCf12C
OO.

Examples of compounds having 5 or more active hydrogens, which are the starting materials for the polyoxyalkylene adduct used as component (b) of the present invention, include sorbitol, sugar syrup, polyglycerin, polyvinyl alcohol, and polyvinyl acetate. There are saponified products, etc. Polyhydric phenols include phenol resins and formalin condensates of alkylphenols, and polyamine compounds include diethylenetriamine, triethylenetetramine, tetraethylenepentamine, pentaethylenehexamine, etc., and polyethyleneimine. . Further, partially amidated products or N-alkyl substituted polyamines which are derivatives of these polyamines and which have five or more remaining active hydrogens can be used.

A polyether compound, which is a polyoxyalkylene adduct, can be easily produced by adding an alkylene oxide that essentially contains ethylene oxide to a compound having five or more active hydrogens by a conventional method. Among these, ethylene oxide alone or a block or partially block adduct of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide is particularly preferred, and the addition order may be in any order, but propylene oxide (hereinafter abbreviated as PO) is added first. When ethylene oxide (hereinafter abbreviated as EO) is added, a good concentrated type fabric softener can be obtained.

The molecular weight of the polyether compound or its derivative is 200.
The range is more than 200.000 and less than 2.000.000, preferably more than 200.000 and less than 1.000.000. The total weight of the EO chain portion is 6 of the total molecular weight.
It is 0% by weight or more, preferably 80% by weight or more.

Derivatives of the polyether compound of the present invention include crosslinking products with compounds having incyanate groups, sulfates, phosphoric oxides, carboxyalkylated products, fatty acid esters of the terminal hydroxyl group of the polyether compound, or a part of the nitrogen atom. Examples include cationized ones. Among these, fatty acid esters and cationized products are particularly preferred.

In the case of fatty acid esterification, the fatty acid used preferably has 7 to 23 carbon atoms, but the number of double bonds, branching, etc. do not have a significant effect on performance.

Examples of the cationized product include compounds obtained by cationizing a polyether compound with dialkyl sulfuric acid, alkyl halide, etc., and cationized products neutralized with acetic acid, alkylbenzenesulfonic acid, etc.

It is believed that the remarkable bulkiness and large molecular weight of component (a) of the present invention sterically protects the particles of the quaternary ammonium salt in water, thereby preventing aggregation between the particles and suppressing viscosity increase.

(a) in the concentrated clothing fabric softener of the present invention.

The content of component (a) is 7 to 30% by weight, preferably 10 to 20% by weight, and the content of component (6) is 0.2 to 10% by weight.
, preferably 0.5 to 5% by weight.

(a) If the content of the component is less than 7% by weight, there will be less benefit from concentration compared to conventional softeners with normal concentrations;
When it exceeds 30% by weight, the viscosity becomes high and various troubles occur in handling.

When the amount of the component (3) is less than 0.2% by weight, the initial viscosity is high and the effect of suppressing thickening over time is low, and when it exceeds 10% by weight, it is economically disadvantageous.

The concentrated clothing softener of the present invention contains softening base ingredients other than component (a) used in normal clothing softeners, fragrances, pigments, nonionic active agents, silicone compounds,
Antibacterial agents, solvents such as isopropyl alcohol, ethylene glycol, and propylene glycol, and water-soluble salts such as common salt, ammonium chloride, and calcium chloride may be added.

The procedure for blending component (a), component (5), and other components is not particularly limited, but in general, a predetermined amount of component (b) is added to an aqueous solution or dispersion to soften the component (a). Depending on the point, component (a) is added at room temperature to 70°C and stirred. Other components such as nonionic active agents and salts may be added together with component (a), or may be added after component a) and component (a) are blended. The most efficient method for reducing the initial viscosity of a concentrated clothing fabric softener is to add other components such as component (a) and salt to a concentrated aqueous dispersion of component (a). On the other hand, the simplest blending procedure in terms of equipment is a method in which component (a) and component (a) or a portion of other components are mixed in advance and dispersed in water.

In all of these cases, the mixer can be a blade agitator, a line mixer, or a high-pressure jet mixer, but
Good dispersion performance will be obtained if a stirrer with a large shearing force is used after mixing by Ni-Goo or feather stirring in advance.

〔Effect of the invention〕

The concentrated clothing fabric softener of the present invention, which essentially contains components (a) and (b), exhibits its effectiveness when used in an amount that is approximately inversely proportional to the active ingredient, compared to a fabric softener with a normal concentration. Therefore, it is an excellent product that leads to significant energy and resource savings at each stage of transportation, packaging, and inventory.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be specifically explained below with reference to Examples, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

Examples 1 to 19, Comparative Examples 1 to 6 The following evaluations were performed using the softening agents shown in Table 3 containing the component (a) shown in Table 1 and the component (b) shown in Table 2. Incidentally, I to ■ in the structure of component (a) refer to the above formulas ■ to ■.

(2) Physical properties and stability The concentrated clothing fabric softener was stored at -10°C, room temperature, and 50°C for 20 days, and its appearance and fluidity were measured. The results are shown in Table 3.

All of the concentrated clothing fabric softeners of the present invention were good with almost no change over time.

2) Softness: Commercially available cotton towels, knitted underwear, acrylic fibers, polyester fibers, and blended fibers were washed repeatedly recently using commercially available detergent Zabu (manufactured by Kao Corporation, registered trademark) to remove detergent from the fabrics. After that, a 0.1% by weight aqueous solution of the concentrated clothing softener of the present invention (effective content equivalent, 3.5
After treating with stirring for 1 minute at 25° C. and a bath ratio of 1/30 (1/30 ° C.), the mixture was air-dried indoors and then left in a constant temperature and humidity room at 25° C. and 65% RH for 24 hours. When comparing the flexibility of the garments with those of clothing treated with a fabric softener at a normal concentration, both had sufficient flexibility.

Table 1 (a) Ingredients

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1 (a) A quaternary ammonium salt; (b) an alkylene oxide containing ethylene oxide as an essential component is added to a compound having five or more active hydrogens, and the sum of the polyoxyethylene chain portions is The weight is 60% or more of the total weight, and the molecular weight is more than 200,000 and 2,000
. ,000 or less, or one or more of its derivatives as an active ingredient. 2 7 to 30% by weight of component (a), 0.2% of component (b)
The concentrated clothing softener according to claim 1, which contains up to 10% by weight.