WO2009000561A1

WO2009000561A1 - Bottle made of pla with improved water vapour barrier rating

Info

Publication number: WO2009000561A1
Application number: PCT/EP2008/052680
Authority: WO
Inventors: Wolfgang Barthel; Ulf Arno Timmann
Original assignee: Henkel Ag & Co. Kgaa
Priority date: 2007-06-22
Filing date: 2008-03-05
Publication date: 2008-12-31
Also published as: DE102007029296A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a bottle made of PLA plastic, in particular for a free-flowing or pourable surfactant-containing and/or bleach-containing material, for example detergent or cleaning-agent powder, comprising a base, a head and a lateral surface, wherein at least the lateral surface of the bottle is enclosed, at least in part, by a sheet-like presentation and identification means which butts against the outer surface of the bottle and has a water vapour barrier rating < 15 g/(m2*d).

Description

PLA bottle with improved water vapor barrier

The invention relates to a bottle, in particular a bottle of a PLA-Ku nststoff whose outer surface is enclosed by a fitting to the bottle outer surface foil-like equipment and identification means with a water vapor barrier <15 g / (m ^{2 *} d).

State of the art

Plastic containers are used in manifold form and design as a bottle for the transport and storage of a variety of different packaging goods.

In the case of a large number of packaged goods, it is necessary for the plastic packaging material to provide a sufficient water vapor barrier in order to prevent moisture from penetrating through the packaging material walls toward the packaged goods or out of the interior of the packaging material into the environment.

In the former case, clumping may occur, for example, in the case of scatterable packaged goods, so that a convenient removal of such damaged packaged goods from the packaging material is no longer guaranteed. Furthermore, the packaging material can also be chemically changed by the penetrating water vapor. For example, penetrating water vapor causes a deactivation or degradation of bleach and / or enzymes in detergent and cleaning agent powders. Also unwanted biological effects such as the growth of bacteria or mold in the packaged goods are possible by an increased occurrence of water vapor.

In particular, in the case of aqueous packaged goods, on the other hand, an insufficient water vapor barrier can lead to a thickening of the packaged goods if water vapor can escape into the environment through the packaging wall. For such packaged goods, this is particularly relevant in warm temperatures or direct sunlight. This then leads to a changed flow behavior and concentrations in the liquid packaged goods, whereby a precise dosage for the user is difficult. As a result of the escaping water vapor, the associated loss of volume can lead to buckling of the corresponding container, which is undesirable for esthetic reasons. Furthermore, due to the loss of liquid, soluble components of the liquid product may also precipitate and settle to the bottom of the packaging. Finally, with the escape Creeping level reduction in the bottle, which is accompanied by water, is undesirable, especially if the bottle is transparent and a low level can be perceived by the consumer.

For the sake of resource conservation and the associated cost reduction usually far material savings in the formation of plastic-containing bottles are required. This usually leads to lower wall thicknesses of the bottle, which regularly leads to a reduction of the water vapor barrier of such a bottle.

This is particularly critical for plastics of non-fossil origin such as plastics from polylactic acid, which generally have a relatively low water vapor barrier, so that they sogg. Bio-plastics are not suitable today for many packaged goods.

Usually, renewable, ie renewable resources are used for the production of such bio-plastics. In addition to the possible use of each regionally available agricultural raw materials for the production of bio-plastics, another advantage is that they are biodegradable according to the intended use in a relatively simple and rapid manner, for example by composting according to DIN EN 13432, so that a more extensive Use and widespread use of bio-plastics is desirable.

To improve the steam barrier, it has been proposed in many places in the prior art to steam such bio-plastics for example with SiO _x or aluminum, so that consequently the entire surface of a bottle formed therefrom has a corresponding coating. In particular, the evaporation with aluminum, however, has a number of disadvantages. On the one hand, a metal vapor-deposited plastic film loses its transparency and, on the other hand, they are usually unsuitable for use in a household microwave, so that an application for packaging and preparation of hot food regularly eliminates. In addition, the vapor-deposited layer does not contribute to an increase in the structural stability of the molded container.

Furthermore, bio-plastics vapor-deposited with metals or SiO _x with increasing metal or SiO _x concentrations significantly lose their inherently good biodegradability. Especially in the case of metal-coated bio-plastics it has to be critically questioned whether the introduction of metals like aluminum into the environment, which are usually not naturally degraded but only accumulated, makes sense from an ecological point of view, especially against the background of the latest research results a direct connection of Diseases such as Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's disease may indicate increased exposure to bioabsorbable aluminum.

Task:

The object of the invention is therefore to improve the steam barrier of a bottle made of PLA plastic on resource-conserving, cost-effective and easy to produce way.

The object is achieved by a bottle with the features of claim 1.

The advantages of the invention are on the one hand a significant improvement in the water vapor barrier properties without modification of the original PLA bottle. Furthermore, a pure separation of biodegradable plastic materials and plastic materials that are not biodegradable or difficult to biodegrade after use of the bottle is ensured by the inventive PLA-Ku nststofff lasche.

Due to the exclusive use of technologically established methods of production, the bottle according to the invention can be manufactured inexpensively.

The bottle according to the invention is particularly suitable for filling, storage, transport and dispensing of flowable or spreadable products, especially for fillers from the group of laundry, cleaning and care agents, dishwashing detergents, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, agricultural auxiliaries, building materials, dyes, adhesives or food.

bottle

The invention is particularly suitable for substantially dimensionally stable PLA plastic bottles. The bottle can take any shape. Round or rounded cross-sectional shapes are advantageous, as "sharp edges" formed on a bottle lead to undesirable stress peaks in the enveloping film-like equipment and marking means and thus can cause unintentional tearing of the film-like equipment and marking means.

Thus, the equipment and identification means easily rests against the surface of the bottle, the contour of the bottle should be as flat as possible. However, it is possible for the equipment and marking means to be designed in such a way that it closely follows the contour of the bottle.

Particularly advantageous are rotationally symmetrical bottle shapes. - A -

For example, a bottle may be an aerosol bottle, a look-through bottle, beverage bottle, ale bottle, goitre bag, goitre bottle, flail bottle, stony bottle, stubby bottle, vichy bottle, wide neck bottle, and mega plate bottle, squeeze bottle, dropper bottle, packaging bottle like something a bottle.

The wall thickness of the bottle is chosen so that the bottle is substantially dimensionally stable. In one embodiment of the bottle, the walls or shell surface may be elastically deformable to exert pressure on the products in the bottle and thereby assist in the dispensing of product from the container.

The bottle may be formed in a further advantageous embodiment of the invention as a two or multi-chamber container. Advantageously, the chambers then each contain different products from each other. For example, it is possible to store a liquid product in one chamber and a granular product in another chamber. Other conceivable combinations are listed in the following table:

In a further embodiment of the invention, the closure of the bottle is covered by the equipment and identification means at least partially or in sections. As a result, for example, a tamper-evident seal or closure can be realized in a simple manner.

Packaging material of the bottle

The bottle according to the invention is formed from a PLA plastic. Typically, a bottle formed from such a plastic has a water vapor barrier of less than 15 g / (m ^{2 *} d). It is particularly advantageous to shape the bottle from a PLA plastic. On the one hand, PLA has a high degree of transparency, which makes the bottle made of PLA visually attractive and attractive, on the other hand PLA has a sufficiently high rigidity and it can be processed on standard forming machines.

In a further embodiment of the invention, proportions of plastic recyclates are added to the PLA blends used.

For ecological reasons, it is advantageous that the packaging material can biodegrade in a simple and as complete as possible manner.

In order to further reduce the weight of the bottle and thus the primary material requirement, it may be advantageous to make the bottle from foamed PLA plastics.

Equipment and labeling

An equipment and identification means in the sense of this application is a film-like

Packaging aid, which is adapted to surround the bottle at least partially in such a way that it rests against the outer surface of the bottle. The equipment and

Identification means forms a hose, which encloses the lateral surface of the bottle tight fitting.

Attachment in this context means that the equipment and identification means, with its surface directed towards the bottle, touches the outwardly oriented surface of the bottle, whereby also the interposition of an adhesive layer between the bottle surface and the equipment and marking surface is recorded.

The equipment and identification means is formed from a film which has a water vapor barrier <15 g / (m ^{2 *} d).

The equipment and identification means as well as the bottle are configured in such a way that a good physical contact between equipment and identification means and the bottle is permanently ensured and the equipment and identification means is not easily damaged during handling of the bottle.

The connection between the equipment and identification means and the bottle can be formed non-positively, cohesively and / or positively. A non-positive connection, for example, by shrinkage or elongation of equipment and Identification means to the bottle be realized. A cohesive connection can be effected by an adhesive bond.

The film-like equipment and marking agent preferably has a thickness of between 5 μm and 100 μm, more preferably between 7.5 μm and 75 μm, particularly preferably between 10 μm and 60 μm.

The ratio of the bottle jacket thickness to the thickness of the equipment and identification means is preferably> 1. Particularly preferably, the ratio of the bottle jacket thickness to the strength of the equipment and marking agent is between 1 and 100.

The film can be, for example, a coextruded film, an expansion film, an extrusion film, a flat film, a stretched film, a cast film, a calender film, a foam film, a tubular film or a blown film or a film Shrink film act.

It is preferable to arrange the equipment and identification means in single-layer around the bottle.

In a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the equipment and identification means is detachably arranged on the bottle. As a result, the equipment and labeling center can be solved in a simple manner from the bottle and disposed of separately, so that, for example, consisting of a readily biodegradable bio-plastic bottle of a composting, while the equipment and labeling of a plastic film of fossil origin of a thermal Recycling is supplied.

The equipment and identification means may be fixed by one or more cohesive connections to the bottle. The cohesive connection can be configured such that upon release of the equipment and identification means of the bottle, the cohesive connection is destroyed and can not be restored, so that the equipment and identification means after its removal from the bottle no longer by the original cohesive connection adheres to the bottle. However, the cohesive connection can also be designed such that a repeated release and adhesion of the equipment and labeling means is made possible on the bottle.

The cohesive connection can be selected, for example, from the group of adhesive bonds, welded joints or sealing compounds. It is particularly advantageous if the adhesive layer used provides a water vapor barrier. Thus, it is also conceivable that the water vapor barrier of the adhesive layer is greater than the water vapor barrier of the overlying the adhesive layer equipment and marking agent. In this case, it is advantageous to form the adhesive layer closed area between equipment and identification means and bottle.

In order to facilitate the detachment of the equipment and marking means, an opening aid may be provided on the equipment and identification means, which allow the removal of the equipment and marking means without the aid of opening means, such as a pair of scissors or a knife.

Such opening aids can be designed, for example, as a perforation, tear-off tab, tear tape, tear-open thread, tear-open tab, tear-open seam, scribe tear-open line or trunk tear strip.

The equipment and identification means may completely enclose the bottle.

It is particularly advantageous that the equipment and identification means substantially completely surrounds the lateral surface of the bottle, wherein the bottom of the bottle remains substantially unenclosed by the equipment and identification means.

In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, between 50-95% of the bottle surface is covered by the equipment and labeling means. It is particularly preferred to cover between 65-90% of the bottle surface with the equipment and labeling means. As a result, sufficient for a wide variety of possible applications water vapor barrier is realized.

Advantageously, the ratio of lateral surface of the PLA bottle to the surface of the head and the bottom is greater than 2 chosen, so that when wrapping the lateral surface with an equipment and identification means with a high water vapor barrier, the water vapor permeable area of the lid and bottom surface in Ratio is small. It should be noted that surprisingly, a water vapor exchange over the bottom surface, if at all, then takes place only to a very limited extent, since the weight of the filled PLA bottle causes a sealing of the bottom surface relative to the ground.

The equipment and identification means may further reduce the escape of malodors, such as may occur in the use of PLA blends with a recycled portion, from the PLA material into the environment. Shrink label (shrink sleeve)

The shrink label is understood to be a stretch-pretreated thermoplastic film which shrinks or contracts due to the action of heat.

The shrink label and the bottle are configured in such a way that a good physical contact between the shrink label and the bottle is permanently ensured.

Preferably, the shrink label should within the temperature range of about 50 ⁰ C to

90 ⁰ C to an extent of at least 5% in the direction of orientation and with sufficient

Force shrink to give a tight, tight-fitting skin around the bottle enclosed within the wrapper.

Stretch film or stretch label

A stretch label is understood to mean a film with a tendency to stick, which can be stretched by hand or by machine, placed tightly around the bottle.

The stretch label and the bottle are configured in such a way that a good physical contact between the stretch label and the bottle is permanently ensured. Preferably, the stretch label should be of preferably stretchable materials and contract with sufficient force to provide a tight, tight-fitting skin around the bottle enclosed within the wrapper.

Packaging material Equipment and labeling

The equipment and identification means is formed from a packaging material, which is a

Water vapor barrier is less than 15 g / (m ^{2 *} d).

The packaging material of the equipment and marking agent should have good printability. The packaging material can be substantially printed over the entire surface and thus formed substantially opaque, whereby it forms a correspondingly good UV barrier, which protects the contents of the bottle from UV radiation from the environment. This is particularly advantageous for packaged goods with UV-sensitive ingredients, such as enzymes, vitamins, dyes or fragrances etc.

The packaging material may also contain special UV barrier substances and / or UV stabilizers. This can be advantageous, in particular when using too large a proportion of transparent equipment and marking agent, in order to protect a UV-sensitive packaged product. The use of UV barrier substances in the equipment and marking agent also has the advantage that in the equipment and labeling comparatively less UV barrier substances must be introduced for a defined UV barrier effect than in the bottle material, so that the corresponding UV barrier is less expensive to produce , However, it is also conceivable that the surface of the bottle is printed and enclosed by a transparent equipment and identification means.

Suitable packaging materials for the equipment and marking agent may, for example, be selected from the group of polyolefins, polyethylene terephthalates, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymers, cellulose acetates, ionomers, polyacrylonitriles, polyamides, polycarbonates, polyesters, polystyrenes, polyterephthalic acid esters, polyurethanes, polyvinyl alcohols, polyvinyl chlorides. In particular, the packaging material for the equipment and marking agent may be a polyethylene or polypropylene.

In order to realize a particularly good water vapor barrier, it is also possible to use multilayered and / or composite films as equipment and identification means. Particularly preferred in this case are multilayer films or composites consisting of PET-AI-PE, PET-PE or BOPP-PE.

Packqut

When using the bottle according to the invention flowable and free-flowing packaged goods are particularly preferred.

In particular, it is advantageous that the ratio of filling level of the flowable or pourable packaged goods to the height of the lateral surface of the bottle is greater than 0.5, preferably greater than 0.75. This ensures that the packaged goods exert sufficient, outwardly directed pressure on the lateral surface of the bottle, so that the lateral surface is not pressed inwards by the force of the bottle enclosing equipment and marking means.

The pourable packaged goods may in particular be detergent powder, detergent granules, detergent powder, detergent granules, salt or the like.

The flowable packaged goods are preferably liquid or gel detergents and / or cleaners, personal care products, adhesives, building materials or the like.

In the following the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to exemplary embodiments illustrative drawings. In this case, particularly preferred embodiments and particularly preferred combinations of features are further described in detail. It shows: Fig. 1: Plastic bottle with a bottle contour adapted sleeve in one

sideview

FIG. 2: Plastic bottle with a sleeve covering the closure in the side view FIG. 3: Diagram with a weight profile of the filled PLA bottles

As can be seen from the table and FIG. 3, the PLA bottles encased in a sleeve show a significantly lower loss of water than a bottle without a corresponding jacket.

reference numeral

1 bottle

2 head

3 floor

4 hull

5 Equipment and labeling

6 opening aid

7 closure

1 shows a bottle 1 formed as a bottle with a bottom 3 and a head 2 on which the closure 7 is located and a hull 4 which extends between the bottom 3 and the head 2. The bottle 1 has a waist approximately in the middle height of the bottle 1. The hull 4 is enclosed by a foil-like equipment and identification means 5, which is adapted to the contour of the hull. As can be seen from FIG. 1, areas at the bottom 3 and head 2 are not covered by the equipment and identification means 5. In order to realize a user-friendly detachment of the equipment and identification means 5, a vertically extending to the bottle bottom 3 opening aid 6 is provided on the equipment and identification means 5, which may be formed for example as a perforation.

Another embodiment of the known from Fig. 1 bottle 1 is shown in Fig. 2. In this case, the equipment and identification means 5 completely spans the entire hull surface 4 of the bottle 1, as well as the lower part of the closure 7, so that the closure 7 can not be detached from the bottle 1 without destroying the equipment and identification means 5. Thus, a tamper-evident closure is formed by the equipment and identification means 5. In order to facilitate detachment of the closure 7, the equipment and identification means 5 with an opening aid 6, such as a perforation, is provided in the lower region of the closure 7.

Another exemplary embodiment, not shown in the figures, of a PLA bottle with a stretch or shrink label is described below.

The PLA bottle described and used below is a 500 ml bottle from BELU for "Natural Mineral Water UK" Production code: 25061819. The bottle has a cylindrical shape and a height of 220mm.

One group of BELU PLA bottles was wrapped in a PET sleeve from Klöckner called Pentaplast Thermodurr SF-E 649/15. The bottom of the bottle was essentially uncovered from the sleeve, the coat was completely sleeved up to the closure (200mm).

Another group of BELU PLA bottles has been provided with a Flexaround ^® -strech PE shrink label from Bischof + Klein GmbH with a thickness of 65μm. The PE shrink label was sleeved up to a height of 150 mm onto the PLA bottle, whereby the bottom of the bottle remained essentially uncovered by the sleeve.

A control group of BELU PLA bottles remained unenclosed. The bottles were filled with a commercially available liquid universal detergent brand Persil and stored at 40 ⁰ C in a climatic chamber. The weight loss of the bottles has been recorded over time and is shown in the following table and graph. The measurement was carried out according to the specifications of DIN 53122.

PET-Sleeve PE-shrink label without label

1 week -1 38g -1 36g -3.43g

2 weeks -4 99g -2 47g -8.63g

4 weeks -6 21g -5 63g -13.87g

Table 1: Weight curve of the filled PLA bottles

Claims

claims

1. bottle of PLA-Ku nststoff, in particular for a flowable or pourable, surfactant and / or bleach-containing packaged goods such as detergents or cleaning products comprising

• a floor,

A head, wherein an opening for removal of product from the bottle is arranged on or in the head and the opening can be closed with a closing means,

• a lateral surface,

characterized in that at least the lateral surface of the bottle is at least partially enclosed by a fitting on the bottle outer surface foil-like equipment and marking means with a water vapor barrier <15 g / (m ^{2 *} d).

2. Bottle according to claim 1, characterized in that the bottle of PLA plastic has a water vapor barrier> 15 g / (m ^{2 *} d).

3. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the film-like equipment and identification means completely surrounds the bottle.

4. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the film-like equipment and identification means between 50% and 95%, preferably covers between 65% and 90% of the bottle surface.

5. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the film-like equipment and marking means between 50% and 100%, preferably covers between 65% and 100%, more preferably between 85% and 100% of the lateral surface.

6. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the film-like equipment and identification means completely encloses the lateral surface and leaves the soil uncovered, at least in sections.

7. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the film-like equipment and marking means covers the bottom and / or the head of the bottle at least in sections.

8. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the film-like equipment and marking means covers the closing means at least in sections.

9. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the film-like equipment and identification means is fixed non-positively to the bottle.

10. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the film-like equipment and identification means is fixed by shrinkage or elongation on the bottle.

11. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the film-like equipment and identification means is a shrink film or a stretch film.

12. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the film-like equipment and identification means is firmly bonded, in particular by gluing, fixed to the bottle.

13. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the adhesive layer has a water vapor permeability, which is lower than the water vapor permeability of the bottle.

14. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the adhesive layer has a water vapor permeability, which is lower than the water vapor permeability of the film-like equipment and marking means.

15. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the adhesive layer is applied substantially over the entire surface between the film-like equipment and identification means and the bottle.

16. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the film-like equipment and identification means has a thickness between 5 microns and 100 microns, more preferably between 7.5 microns and 75 microns, more preferably between 10 microns and 60 microns.

17. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the ratio of the bottle casing thickness to the thickness of the film-like equipment and marking means is preferably> 1, more preferably> 1 and <100.

18. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the film-like equipment and identification means is arranged in a single layer around the bottle.

19. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the film-like equipment and marking means is printed.

20. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the film-like equipment and identification means is printed over the entire surface.

21. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the film-like equipment and identification means is detachably arranged on the bottle.

22. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that an opening aid is provided on or in the equipment and identification means.

23. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the film-like equipment and identification means is fixed by means of a releasable adhesive bond to the bottle.

24. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the ratio of lateral surface to the surface of the head and the bottom is greater than 2, preferably greater than 2.5, more preferably greater than 3

25. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the bottle is unprinted.

26. Bottle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the ratio of filling level of the flowable or pourable packaged goods to the height of the lateral surface of the bottle is greater than 0.5, preferably greater than 0.75.