JPH06116864A - Soft-finishing agent for clothes - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a finishing agent produced by adding a specific alkylene oxide adduct to a softener, effective in imparting various fibers with excellent softness and suitable for the use in an automatic softener-charging system of a washer owing to its high redispersibility. CONSTITUTION:A soft-finishing agent for clothes capable of imparting various fibers with excellent softness and antistaticity is produced by compounding, as essential components, (A) one or more kinds of quaternary ammonium salts with (B) an adduct produced by adding 5-100mol (on an average) of ethylene oxide and/or propylene oxide to 1mol of an oil and fat (e.g. hardened tallow and coconut oil) or 1mol (in total) of an oil and fat and a polyhydric alcohol (e.g. glycerol and sorbitol). Since the softener has excellent redispersibility, it is suitable for the use in an automatic softener-charging system of a washer and gives cleaned clothes free from stains caused by the solidified softener.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a softening agent, and more specifically, it can impart excellent flexibility and antistatic property to various fibers. A softening agent for clothing suitable for use.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the case of softening clothes by a washing machine, a softening agent is generally added after the detergent in the rinsing water in the rinsing step after the washing is completely removed. In the case of, the rinsing is usually performed twice, and the softening finishing agent is automatically put into the washing tub during the second rinsing step (softening agent automatic feeding system).
Many are marked with.

Currently, most of the commercially available household softening agents have two long-chain alkyl groups in one molecule as represented by di (hardened tallow alkyl) dimethylammonium salt. It is a composition containing a cationic active agent as a main component. These soft bases containing a quaternary ammonium salt as a main component are poorly soluble in water, and are usually manufactured in the form of 3 to 30% by weight of an aqueous dispersion or emulsion.

In such a commercially available softening finish, when the dispersion medium, water, evaporates, the dispersed composition solidifies, and the solidified product is newly added with water or liquid. Even if a softening agent is added, it is difficult to re-disperse it in water or obtain fluidity unless heat or the like is applied. For this reason, when the softening agent is used in the automatic softening agent loading system of a fully automatic washing machine, the softening agent remaining in the loading port, inside, and even the outlet of the loading system solidifies, impairing the appearance of the washing machine. Furthermore, the accumulation of such solidified substances causes clogging of the inside of the automatic softening agent feeding system and the outlet, making it difficult to feed the softening agent into the washing tub.

Under these circumstances, there is a strong demand for a softening agent which, once solidified, can be redispersed by newly adding water or a liquid softening agent. However, a softening agent for clothing satisfying such redispersibility has not been obtained yet.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Under the circumstances, the inventors of the present invention tried to solve the above-mentioned problems, and as a result of earnest research on a softening agent for clothing, as a result, a quaternary ammonium salt was dispersed in water, When preparing a liquid softening agent, by blending an alkylene oxide adduct of a fat or oil or a mixture of a fat and a polyhydric alcohol, redispersibility of the solidified product of the liquid softening agent in water or a liquid softening agent is remarkably high. Based on this finding, the inventors have completed the present invention relating to a liquid softening finish for clothing that exhibits excellent effects when used in a softening agent automatic feeding system of a washing machine.

That is, the present invention provides a softening agent for clothing which contains the following components (a) and (b) as essential components. Component (a): one or more quaternary ammonium salts. Component (b): one or more selected from alkylene oxide adducts of fats and oils and alkylene oxide adducts of mixtures of fats and oils and polyhydric alcohols.

In the present invention, examples of the quaternary ammonium salt of the component (a) used as a flexible base material for clothing include those represented by the following general formulas (I) to (VI), You may use it in mixture of 2 or more types.

[0009]

[Chemical 1]

[0010]

[Chemical 2]

[Wherein R ₁ is a hydrocarbon group having 8 to 22 carbon atoms or a hydrocarbon group having a hydroxyl group, which may be saturated or unsaturated, and may be linear or branched. R ₂ ; a hydrocarbon group having 8 to 24 carbon atoms or a hydrocarbon group having a hydroxyl group, which may be saturated or unsaturated, and may be linear or branched. R ₃ , R ₄ , R ₆ ; an alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms or a hydroxyalkyl group, or

[0012]

[Chemical 3]

R ₅ is a hydrocarbon group having 24 to 35 carbon atoms or a hydrocarbon group having a hydroxyl group, which may be saturated or unsaturated, and may be linear or branched. R _7, R _8; a hydrocarbon group having a hydrocarbon group or a hydroxyl group of 7 to 21 carbon atoms, may be saturated or unsaturated, may be linear or branched.

[0014]

[Chemical 4]

X; CH ₃ SO ₄ , C ₂ H ₅ SO ₄ , C _n H _{2n + 1} COO (n =
0-17), C _m H _{2m + 1} OPO (m = 8-18), HOCH ₂ COO,

[0016]

[Chemical 5]

Means The component (b) of the present invention is obtained by adding an alkylene oxide to a fat or oil or a mixture of a fat or oil and a polyhydric alcohol. Examples of the oils and fats include beef tallow, lard, palm oil, palm kernel oil, coconut oil, castor oil, and one or more selected from hydrides thereof. The polyhydric alcohol preferably has 3 to 8 hydroxyl groups from the viewpoint of redispersibility, and specific examples thereof include glycerin, sorbitol, glucose, pentaerythritol, fructose, maltose and sucrose. When the oil / fat and the polyhydric alcohol are mixed, the mixing ratio of the two is oil / polyhydric alcohol = 99/1 to 40/60 (molar ratio), and more preferably 99/1 to 50/50.

The alkylene oxide (hereinafter abbreviated as AO) added to the fat or oil or the mixture of the fat and polyhydric alcohol is preferably one having 2 to 4 carbon atoms, specifically, ethylene oxide (hereinafter abbreviated as EO), Examples thereof include propylene oxide (hereinafter abbreviated as PO) and the like, and it is particularly preferable to use EO and PO alone or in combination. The average number of moles of AO added to a fat or oil or a mixture of a fat and a polyhydric alcohol is
1 mol of oil / fat or 1 of the total number of moles of oil / fat and polyhydric alcohol
It is preferably 5 to 100 mol, more preferably 5 per mol.
~ 20 moles. When the average number of moles of AO added is less than 5, redispersibility deteriorates, and when it exceeds 100 moles, flexibility is adversely affected.

It is not always clear why the softening agent of the present invention provides excellent redispersibility, but
The component (b) according to the present invention has a relatively large molecular weight and prevents quaternary ammonium salts from agglomerating by sterically protecting the quaternary ammonium salt when the softening agent for clothing solidifies. It is considered that the redispersibility is improved because the ammonium salt solidifies while maintaining the particle form.

Ingredient (a) in the softening agent for clothing of the present invention
The content of the component (b) is 3 to 40% by weight, preferably 5 to 20% by weight, and the component (b) is 0.5 to 20% by weight, preferably 1 to 10% by weight. . The balance other than the components (a) and (b) and the optional components is water.

The liquid softening agent of the present invention includes perfumes and dyes used in ordinary liquid softening agents, nonionic activators other than the component (b) of the present invention, silicone compounds, antibacterial agents,
A solvent such as isopropyl alcohol, ethylene glycol or propylene glycol, or a water-soluble salt such as salt, ammonium chloride or calcium chloride may be added.

The mixing procedure of the component (a) and the component (b) is not particularly limited, but generally, in a predetermined amount of the aqueous solution or dispersion of the component (b), the softening point of the component (a) is According to the above, the component (a) is charged at room temperature to 70 ° C. and stirred. Optional components such as nonionic activators and salts may be added together with component (b), or (a)
You may add after mixing a component and a component (b). In these cases, the mixer can be used with a blade mixer, a line mixer, or a high-pressure sprayer. However, after mixing with a kneader or a blade mixer in advance, if a mixer having a large shearing force is used, the dispersion performance is improved. It will be good.

[0023]

EFFECT OF THE INVENTION The softening agent for clothing of the present invention is superior in redispersibility of the solidified product to water or a liquid softening agent as compared with the conventional softening agents. Therefore, the softening agent for clothes of the present invention does not spoil the aesthetics of the washing machine due to stains of the solidified material of the softening agent when used in the softening agent automatic feeding system of the washing machine, and also has the effect of clogging of the softening agent. It is a very good softening finish that does not cause deterioration.

[0024]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The components (a) and (b) used in Examples and Comparative Examples are shown in Tables 1 and 2 below. The average number of moles of AO added in Table 2 is the number of moles of added oil per mole of the oil or fat or the total number of moles of the oil and polyhydric alcohol.

[0025]

[Table 1]

[0026]

[Table 2]

Examples 1 to 15 and Comparative Examples 1 to 2 Using the components (a) and (b) shown in Tables 1 and 2 above, softening agents having various compounding compositions shown in Table 3 were prepared. did. Using these softening agents, the redispersibility of the solidified softening agent in water was evaluated by the following method. <Evaluation of redispersibility of solidified product in water> 2 ml of the softening agent shown in Table 3 was placed in a polypropylene vial, dried under reduced pressure (17 mmHg, 2.5 hours), and then 5 ml of water was added to the solidified product. Was added and left for 3 days. This was rotated by a rotator (34 rpm, 10 minutes), and the dispersed state was observed. The evaluation by this observation is expressed as follows. ◯: Completely dispersed Δ: Partially dispersed and partially swelled ×: Swelled without being dispersed Further, the vial bottle was left upside down for 5 minutes to discharge the redispersed softener solidified product. After that, this was dried under reduced pressure (17 mmHg, 2.5 hours), and the residual rate of the non-redispersed softener solidified product in the vial was measured. The results are shown in Table 3.

[0028]

[Table 3]

Further, the flexibility and elasticity were evaluated by the following methods. <Evaluation of flexibility and elasticity> (1) Cloth treatment method Commercial cotton towel 2 kg, acrylic jersey 1 kg 3.5 °
After washing with a commercially available detergent attack (registered trademark, manufactured by Kao Corporation) 5 times with DH hard water (30 liter washing machine) to remove the fiber treatment agent attached to each fiber, Table 3
0.1% by weight aqueous solution of softening agent (effective content conversion, 3.5 °
DH hard water) at 25 ° C. and a bath ratio of 1/30 for 1 minute under stirring. (2) Evaluation method After air-drying the cloth treated by the above method in the room, 25 ℃, 65% RH
It was left in a constant temperature and humidity room for 24 hours. Similarly, when the softness and elasticity of the cloth treated with 10 ml of the softening agent containing 15% by weight of dihydrogenated beef tallow alkyldimethylammonium chloride were compared, the softening agents of the present invention showed sufficient flexibility and elasticity. It was something that had.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical display location // (C11D 1/835 1:62 1:72)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A softening finish for clothing, which comprises the following components (a) and (b) as essential components. Component (a): one or more quaternary ammonium salts. Component (b): one or more selected from alkylene oxide adducts of fats and oils and alkylene oxide adducts of mixtures of fats and oils and polyhydric alcohols. 2. The component (b) is obtained by adding 5 to 100 moles of ethylene oxide and / or propylene oxide on average to 1 mole of the fat or oil or 1 mole of the total number of moles of the fat or oil and the polyhydric alcohol. Softening agent for clothing as described. 3. The softening agent for clothing according to claim 1, wherein the polyhydric alcohol is selected from glycerin, sorbitol, glucose, pentaerythritol, fructose, maltose and sucrose. 4. The component (a) is 3 to 40% by weight, and the component (b) is 0.
The softening agent for clothing according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which comprises 5 to 20% by weight.