TWI736680B - Polyketone bristles and toothbrush having the bristles - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a toothbrush bristles made of polyketone material and a toothbrush including the toothbrush bristles. It provides toothbrush bristles made of polyketone material with high rigidity, high elasticity and high abrasion resistance, thereby providing a toothbrush with reduced hair extension and increased service life toothbrush. The toothbrush bristles made of polyketone of the present invention have excellent elasticity and are suitable for removing dental plaque on the surface of teeth with many curved surfaces. Especially, when made into fine bristles, they can effectively remove teeth that cannot be removed by existing toothbrushes. Interdental plaque.

Description

Toothbrush bristles made of polyketone material and toothbrush including the toothbrush bristles

The present invention relates to toothbrush bristles made of polyketone and a toothbrush (Polyketone Bristles and Toothbrush Having the Bristles) comprising the toothbrush bristles.

More specifically, the present invention relates to a toothbrush bristles made of a polyketone material with high rigidity, high elasticity and high abrasion resistance so as to have reduced bristles expandability and increased service life, and a toothbrush including the toothbrush bristles.

In addition, since the unit price of polyketone material is lower than that of nylon or polyester polymers mainly used as toothbrush bristles, especially polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), the unit price of toothbrush bristles can be provided at a lower cost. .

A toothbrush is a tool for cleaning the oral cavity including teeth and gums. It consists of a handle and toothbrush bristles. The toothbrush bristles are usually made of elastic synthetic resin.

Ordinary toothbrush bristles are mainly made of nylon or polyester polymers (such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT)) And so on.

Nylon has the advantage of appropriate flexibility, but due to its strong water absorption, it has a short life and low strength, and needs to have a certain degree of thickness, while polyester toothbrush bristles have poor flexibility. In the past, when using this kind of toothbrush bristles, hair extension occurred in as short as one month or as long as three months, so it needed to be replaced.

Especially for the fine bristles made of polyester polymers such as PBT, since the tip of the toothbrush bristles gradually becomes thinner, the bristles will expand and wear out earlier, and the toothbrush needs to be replaced frequently. .

In the full text of this specification, multiple references are cited and their citations are shown. The disclosures of the cited documents are incorporated into this specification as a whole for reference, so as to better illustrate the level of the field to which the present invention belongs and the content of the present invention.

The inventor of the present invention solves the problem of the expansion of conventional nylon and polyester (PBT, etc.) toothbrush bristles, especially in order to solve the problem of the bristles having a tapered end of the toothbrush bristles. The problem of hair extension and wear occurs more quickly on the thin end. As a result of research efforts, the present invention is completed by using polyketone material to produce toothbrush bristles with high rigidity, high elasticity and high wear resistance.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a toothbrush bristles including polyketone.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a toothbrush, which includes the above-mentioned toothbrush bristles.

Through the following detailed description of the invention, the scope of the patent application and the drawings, the other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become more clear.

In one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a toothbrush bristles containing polyketone.

The ultimate goal of brushing is to minimize the damage to the gums while maximizing the cleaning power of the teeth. Generally, the smaller the damage to the gums, the lower the cleaning power on the teeth. When a high-rigidity material is used to improve the cleaning power, there is a problem associated with gum damage. In the process of research and efforts in this application to solve the above problems, it was surprisingly found that when polyketone resin is used for toothbrush bristles, due to its high strength and high elasticity, it can excellently remove plaque. , And almost no gum irritation.

Polyketone resin is a new type of resin developed in recent years. It is synthesized from carbon monoxide and olefin, and its mechanical and physical properties belong to the category of high-performance plastics. U.S. Patent No. 4,843,144 discloses linear alternating polymers synthesized from olefins such as ethylene and propylene and carbon monoxide. The polyketone resin used in the patent has excellent impact resistance, high resilience at room temperature and low temperature, and has excellent creep characteristics.

In the bristles of the present invention, as the polyketone, a polyketone having a basic structure including carbon monoxide and an olefin can be used.

The above-mentioned polyketone may be a copolymer of carbon monoxide and ethylene or a terpolymer of carbon monoxide, ethylene and propylene.

化學式中，上述x:y是1:10～10:1。In addition, the above-mentioned polyketone component can be represented by the following chemical formula:

In the chemical formula, the above-mentioned x:y is 1:10-10:1.

In the present invention, the polyketone polymer used for toothbrush bristles may have a linear alternating structure, and each unsaturated hydrocarbon molecule may substantially contain carbon monoxide. The ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon compound that can be used as a precursor of the polyketone polymer may have 1 to 20 carbon atoms, preferably 1 to 10 carbon atoms. More preferably, the above-mentioned ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon compound may be ethylene or α-olefin (for example, propene, 1-butene, iso-butene, 1-hexene, 1 -Octene).

In addition, as the above-mentioned polyketone resin, a polyketone resin prepared by a method of liquid-phase polymerization of carbon monoxide and olefin using an alcohol solvent in the presence of a catalyst composition containing a palladium compound can be used. In this case, the polymer is recovered by filtration and refining after polymerization, and the remaining catalyst composition is removed with a solvent such as alcohol or acetone.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the toothbrush bristles may be made of polyketone material.

In another embodiment, the above-mentioned toothbrush bristles may also include polypropylene, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, polytrimethylene terephthalate, polyurethane, and nylon. One or more water-insoluble polymer substances selected from the group consisting of.

For example, the toothbrush bristles of the present invention may include: a polyketone mixture prepared by mixing a linear alternating polymer composed of carbon monoxide and at least one ethylene unsaturated hydrocarbon and one or more of the above-listed water-insoluble polymer substances (Blend).

The above-mentioned water-insoluble polymer materials are used to produce conventional toothbrush bristles. Among them, nylon has excellent heat resistance, elasticity and strength, but its water absorption is high, so it has the disadvantage of changes in physical properties and dimensions. In particular, there is the disadvantage of the change in impact resistance during moisture absorption. As a method to improve this disadvantage, polyketone and nylon can be mixed and used as the toothbrush bristle material of the present invention.

The above-mentioned polyketone mixture may contain 60 to 80% by weight of the linear alternating polyketone polymer and 20 to 40% by weight of the above-mentioned one or more water-insoluble polymer substances.

In the above-mentioned polyketone mixture, the mixing ratio of the polyketone and one or more water-insoluble polymer substances may be 9:1-7:3 by weight.

The polyketone mixture can be prepared by melting the individual components at a high temperature and then mixing them. In this case, antioxidants, UV stabilizers and other additional components can also be mixed.

In another embodiment, the toothbrush bristles may also include anti-inflammatory and antibacterial agents, whitening agents, tooth acid soothing agents, anti-calculus deposits, correctives, bad breath removers, gum health agents, anti-caries agents, oral cleansers , Xylitol, bamboo salt, sea salt, preparation salt, refined salt, pine salt, boiled salt, molten salt, processed salt and phosphate are selected as effective ingredients that are beneficial to dental health.

In this way, if the toothbrush bristles also contain ingredients that are beneficial to tooth health, the pressure and moisture will release the ingredients that are beneficial to tooth health when brushing teeth, and these ingredients will act on the teeth or gums to help antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-inflammatory. Anti-inflammatory, prevent dental calculus, prevent dental acid and other oral diseases.

In addition, the toothbrush bristles of the present invention can also be made into the form of fine bristles.

In the case of fine bristles, because of their softness, the toothbrush bristles can easily reach every corner of the oral cavity. Therefore, it has the advantage that it is easy to clean the corners that are difficult to brush, especially between the teeth and the gums. On the contrary, for general fine bristles, toothbrush bristles are easy to wear, or the end is easy to bend, so it has the disadvantage that it needs to be replaced every 1 to 2 months. Therefore, it is necessary to simultaneously conduct research to improve the durability of toothbrush bristles, particularly fine bristles.

The polyketone fine toothbrush bristles of the present invention have the advantages of high rigidity, high elasticity and high abrasion resistance, and therefore have the advantage of being able to maintain the initial state during use.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the toothbrush bristles may be in the form of ordinary bristles with the same diameter and tip diameter and the tip is processed into an arc shape, or in the form of needle-like fine bristles with a tapered tip width.

In the case of toothbrush bristles in the form of ordinary bristle, the diameter may be 0.1 mm to 0.13 mm, and in the case of toothbrush bristles in the form of fine bristle, they may be super fine bristle with a tip diameter of 0.02 mm or less or 0.01 mm or less.

Compared with the ordinary toothbrush bristles with a diameter of 0.16～0.20mm, the toothbrush bristles with a diameter of 0.1mm～0.13mm can be densely embedded with more than three times the toothbrush bristles, so they have good elasticity and touch. It has a soft feeling, not only has a good cleaning effect on teeth and gums, but also has a good massage effect. It can simultaneously perform two functions of tooth cleaning and gum massage that cannot be achieved by ordinary toothbrushes. When the toothbrush bristles have fine bristles with a tip diameter of 0.02mm or less, since they are thinner than the general gap between teeth and gums, it is easier to clean the plaque between teeth and gums, and can effectively prevent Gingivitis.

The toothbrush bristles of the present invention can be manufactured by pre-fabricating fine bristles with fine ends and then implanting the toothbrush head in a "V" shape.

For the implanted toothbrush bristles, the length of the implanted part, that is, the distance from the upper end surface of the toothbrush head to the tip of the toothbrush bristles after implantation, can be 5mm-25mm, but is not limited to this.

The total length of the implanted fine hairs can be 10~30mm or 15~25mm, the thickness can be 0.01~0.1mm, and the length of the implanted part can be 1~15mm. After implantation, the fine hairs are implanted from the top of the toothbrush. The height can be 5mm~20mm, but it is not limited to this.

The toothbrush bristles made of polyketone of the present invention have excellent elasticity, are suitable for removing plaque on tooth surfaces with many curved surfaces, and can effectively remove plaque on tooth surfaces and between teeth that cannot be removed well by existing toothbrushes .

In addition, in the process of brushing the teeth many times a day, proper gum massage can be performed without gum irritation or bleeding. It is possible to obtain a massage effect that is beneficial to the health of the teeth and gums without additional time and effort, so that it can be sustained Manage dental health.

Another embodiment of the present invention is to provide a toothbrush including the above-mentioned polyketone toothbrush bristles.

In one embodiment, the toothbrush of the present invention is manufactured by manufacturing a toothbrush head from polyketone bristles and elastic members such as rubber and silicone, so as to be manufactured into a product that can give physical cleaning and gum massage effects when brushing teeth.

In another embodiment, the toothbrush of the present invention can be manufactured to include: a handle portion having a prescribed thickness and width; a brush head portion connected to the handle portion; polyketone toothbrush bristles formed on the upper surface of the brush head portion ; And the tip, set in the head of the brush.

The toothbrush of the present invention can be manufactured to have two or more toothbrush bristles made of different materials.

For example, the toothbrush of the present invention may include: a handle portion having a predetermined thickness and width; a brush head portion connected to the handle portion; a first toothbrush bristles fixed to a part of the brush head portion; and a second toothbrush bristles fixed to Another part of the brush head, wherein the first toothbrush bristles are made of polyketone, and the second toothbrush bristles are made of polypropylene, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, It is made of one or more water-insoluble polymer materials selected from the combination of polytrimethylene terephthalate, polyurethane and nylon components.

In the toothbrush of the present invention, except that polyketone is used instead of the existing materials such as nylon and PBT, the manufacturing method, composition, etc. of toothbrush bristles that are well known in the field of the present invention can be used in the same manner.

Compared with conventional toothbrush bristles, the toothbrush bristles of the new material of the present invention have high rigidity and excellent elasticity, are more helpful for cleaning teeth, and have excellent wear resistance, so they can be used for a long time. In addition, the degree of hair extension is reduced, so it can be used in the initial state.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to Examples. Those skilled in the art should understand that these examples are only used to describe the present invention in more detail, and the scope of the present invention is not limited by these examples.

1. Polyketone, nylon and PBT Comparison of physical properties

The resin material powder used as the material of toothbrush bristles is similar to nylon 612 (DuPont Dopont Tynex), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) (KOLON Co., Ltd.) or polyketone (Hyosung, M310U and M310U) Grade) is heated, molded and extruded in the nozzle of the extrusion device, cooled, and dried with hot air, so that toothbrush bristles with a diameter of 0.18 mm are made from each material.

(1) Tensile strength

After the toothbrush bristles are manufactured, the tensile strength can be measured to evaluate the rigidity of a bristle and the breaking strength of the toothbrush bristles, and compare it with the existing toothbrush bristle materials nylon 612 and PBT.

Specifically, according to the ASTM D638 standard test method, the two ends of a toothbrush bristles are fixed by a fixing device, and then stretched along the axial direction of the test piece, and the force required for failure, namely the tensile strength, is measured.

(2) Elastic loss rate

In addition, in order to confirm the durability of polyketone, polyketone toothbrush bristles were implanted into the toothbrush handle to make a toothbrush, and the elastic loss rate was compared with a toothbrush using nylon 612 and PBT bristles.

The elastic loss rate is used to evaluate the durability (bristle expansion) when using a toothbrush. After 5,000 and 10,000 reciprocating brushing operations are performed with a Brush Machine, the method shown in the following formula 1 is used to measure the extension of the toothbrush bristles. degree. The smaller the value of the elastic loss rate, the smaller the difference in hair width before and after brushing, and the smaller the degree of hair extension.

Formula 1. Elastic loss rate (%)=(B-A)/A × 100 A: The width of hair before brushing B: The width of hair after brushing

(3) Experimental results

The results of the tensile strength and elastic loss rate of the toothbrush bristles measured according to the hair material are shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1

The results of the experiment confirmed that the tensile strength of polyketone toothbrush bristles is 2.0 times higher than that of nylon and 1.13 times higher than that of PBT (Table 1), and the bristles can maintain high rigidity. characteristic.

In addition, the elastic loss rate of toothbrushes using polyketone toothbrush bristles decreased by 34% and 27% compared with toothbrushes using nylon 612 and PBT when 5,000 reciprocations. The data shows that compared with nylon 612 and PBT, toothbrush bristles The degree of expansion is 34% and 27% less, respectively. Similarly, after 10,000 reciprocations, polyketone showed that the extension of the toothbrush bristles was 31% and 12% less than that of nylon 612 and PBT, respectively.

2 . Polyketone, PBT and PES Determination of gum irritation

As a polymer with high rigidity and excellent abrasion resistance characteristics like polyketone, there are fluororesin (PTFE, PVDF), polyoxymethylene (POM), PBT, polyether agglomerate (PES), etc. However, it is different from fluororesin. In other words, because of its high melting point, it is difficult to manufacture toothbrush bristles. For POM, due to its fragile characteristics, it is not suitable for manufacturing toothbrush bristles. PBT and PES are materials with high strength and excellent abrasion resistance similar to polyketones. In the same way as in the above manufacturing example, the toothbrush bristles with a diameter of 0.18 mm are manufactured using the corresponding materials, and the ends of the bristles are not passed through another The fine bristles are processed and implanted to manufacture a toothbrush. After that, the expert team conducted a questionnaire survey on the degree of gum irritation on the toothbrushes made of the three materials to make an assessment.

The questionnaire survey was based on 20 females and 20 males aged 20-40. They were compared after using the experimental toothbrush for 7 days. Before using the new toothbrush, a 3-day rest period was provided. During the rest period, the teeth were managed according to usual habits. The survey results are shown in Table 2 (you can repeat the selection).

Table 2

Experimental results show that polyketone is less irritating to the gums, so it is suitable for toothbrush bristles, while PBT and PES are not suitable for toothbrush bristles due to their high gingival irritation.

3 . Sensory evaluation of polyketone and nylon based on material

The same toothbrush handle with 32 holes with a diameter of 1.6 mm was implanted with nylon bristles and polyketone bristles with a diameter of 5M (0.127 mm), respectively, to fabricate experimental toothbrushes. Twenty women and 20 men aged 20-40 were selected as subjects and compared after 7 days of use. Before using the new toothbrush, a 3-day rest period was provided. During the rest period, the teeth were managed according to usual habits.

The questionnaire consists of questions that can evaluate the elasticity and cleaning power of the toothbrush, and is evaluated on a 5-point scale (the higher the degree of satisfaction, the higher the score).

table 3

The experimental results show that, due to the excellent elasticity of the polyketone toothbrush bristles, the cleaning power of the tooth surface and between the teeth is significantly better than that of nylon toothbrush bristles.

4 . Determination of the plaque removal effect based on the diameter of the toothbrush bristles

When a toothbrush with a small diameter toothbrush bristles is used, the cleaning power between teeth will be better. However, in the case of small diameter toothbrush bristles, especially in the case of nylon bristles, which are most commonly used in the prior art, the toothbrush bristles are easily broken, inelastic, and The disadvantage of easy expansion.

In order to overcome the shortcomings of nylon bristles, this embodiment provides a technology that uses high-strength polyketone to design toothbrush bristles that are thin but flexible and not easy to separate. The diameters are 10mils (0.254mm) and 8mils (0.203mm). , 7mils (0.178mm) and 6mils (0.152mm) toothbrush bristles, and the plaque removal effect was measured according to the diameter of the toothbrush bristles.

The coating of plaque on the surface of the artificial tooth is carried out as follows. Put the tooth part of the gnathostaic model into the colored polymer for 10 seconds and then take it out, and in order to meet the specified thickness conditions, dry it in a constant temperature and humidity room (25°C, 55%) that maintains a specified temperature and humidity for 60 Minutes to dry completely before use. Here, a toothbrush implanted with bristles of 10mils, 8mils, 7mils and 6mils in diameter is used to keep the bristles section of the toothbrush and the buccal surface of the coated jaw model at a level to maximize coverage when brushing the teeth. . Apply 300g of pressure to all toothbrushes, and each product will alternately perform 8 times of 30-second vertical brushing and 30-second horizontal brushing. Then, the plaque area of the artificial tooth surface before and after the removal was measured by a microscope, and the plaque removal rate was evaluated as a percentage (%). The result is shown in Figure 1.

The test results confirmed that as the diameter of the toothbrush bristles was reduced from 10 mils (0.254 mm) to 6 mils (0.152 mm), the plaque removal rate between teeth increased by about 4.5 times.

5 . Polyketone vs. Comparison of Nylon Physical Properties

(1) Tensile strength

In order to evaluate the breaking strength of a single toothbrush bristles, the upper and lower ends of a toothbrush were fixed in a universal material testing machine (UTM) at an interval of 1 cm, and the upper end was pulled at a speed of 200 mm/min to measure the breaking force.

(2) Elastic loss rate

In order to evaluate the degree of extension of the toothbrush bristles after brushing, the width of the extension was measured after 5000 times of reciprocating brushing on the toothbrush brushing tester, and the shape of the polyketone and nylon bristles was photographed immediately after brushing, as shown in Figure 2.

(3) Flexibility

In order to evaluate the elasticity (or softness) of the toothbrush bristles, 1/3 of the toothbrush bristles are hung on a steel wire that can measure the applied force to measure the force.

(4) Experimental results

The results of measuring the tensile strength, elastic loss rate, and elasticity as described above are shown in Table 4 below.

Table 4

From Table 4 above, it can be confirmed that based on the results of the tensile strength of polyketone with a wool diameter of 0.102mm (4mils) and nylon 612, polyketone (0.56kgf) shows a tensile strength 40% higher than nylon (0.40kgf) .

According to the results of the elastic loss rate of polyketone and nylon 612 with a hair diameter of 0.127mm (5mils), it is confirmed that compared with nylon, it has increased by 42% just after brushing and 48.7% after being completely dried (* The smaller the value, the degree of expansion The smaller).

In addition, based on the results of the elasticity of polyketone with a hair diameter of 0.127 mm (5 mils) and nylon 612, it was confirmed that the elasticity of polyketone (224.9 cN) was 28.8% higher than that of nylon (174.6 cN).

without

Fig. 1 is a graph showing the measurement result of the removal rate of interdental plaque per unit diameter of toothbrush bristles. [Figure 2] is a photograph showing the state of polyketone and nylon bristles immediately after brushing.

Claims (7)

A toothbrush bristles comprising polyketone, wherein the polyketone is represented by the following chemical formula:

Among them, x:y is 1:10~10:1. The toothbrush bristles according to item 1 of the scope of patent application, wherein the toothbrush bristles are made of polyketone material. The toothbrush bristles according to item 1 of the scope of patent application, wherein the toothbrush bristles also include polypropylene, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, and polyethylene terephthalate. One or more water-insoluble polymer materials selected from the combination of propylene formate, polyurethane and nylon components. The toothbrush bristles according to item 1 of the scope of patent application, wherein the toothbrush bristles further include anti-inflammatory and antibacterial agents, whiteners, tooth acid soothing agents, anti-calculus agents, correctives, bad breath removers, gum health One or more selected from the group consisting of chemical agent, anti-caries agent, oral cleanser, xylitol, bamboo salt, sea salt, preparation salt, refined salt, pine salt, boiled salt, molten salt, processed salt, and phosphate. The toothbrush bristles according to item 1 of the scope of patent application, wherein the toothbrush bristles are fine bristles with needle-shaped ends. The toothbrush bristles according to item 1 of the scope of patent application, wherein the diameter of the toothbrush bristles is 0.1mm~0.13mm. A toothbrush includes the toothbrush bristles described in any one of items 1 to 6 in the scope of patent application.

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