EP0033134A1 - Means for the after-treatment of washed linen in a clothes dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

1. Compositions for the aftertreatment of washed laundry in a dryer, consisting of a flexible sheet-form textile in the form of a fabric-, nonwoven- or foam-like struture of polyester, polyamide, polyolefin, polyacrylonitrile, polyurethane or viscose and mixtures thereof which is charged with laundry-treament preparations and which is provided with a coating of a softening and antistatic agent, or mixture, of quaternary ammonium compounds which are derived from ammonia or imidazoline and of which up to 80 % by weight may be replaced by condensates of a fatty acid triglyceride and hydroxyalkyl polyamine, characterized in that the flexible sheet-form textile has an adsorption capacity of 1.0 to 4.5.

Description

Due to the increasing use of automatic tumble dryers in commercial laundries and private households in recent times, there is the possibility of carrying out a laundry aftertreatment at the same time as drying in the tumble dryer. A number of proposals have therefore been made as to how different types of active ingredients, especially those for softening and antistatic and for perfuming laundry, can be applied to the laundry.

In the 1960s, a process for post-washing treatment was described in the USA, in which flexible substrates impregnated with conventional active substances, for example absorbent paper webs loaded with quaternary ammonium compounds, as were customary as paper towels, were put into the drum together with the still wet laundry an automatic dryer and then let the drying process run; the active ingredients are transferred to the laundry. According to the teaching of DE-OS 19 65 470, not every flexible carrier material loaded with textile-softening active ingredients leads to good results; rather, suitable substrates must have a certain adsorption capacity which is in a limited number range. Substrates whose adsorption capacity is below this According to the teaching of this DE-OS, the usual active substances are released too quickly, so that the active substances are transferred unevenly to the laundry and the treated laundry becomes stained. On the other hand, if the adsorption capacity is above the required range, too little active ingredient should be released from the substrate into the laundry. In this patent application, suitable absorbent papers, sponges and woven cloths or nonwovens are designated as suitable substrates. Special plasticizers and plasticizer combinations are also known, which can be combined with flexible substrates, to which the adsorption capacity does not impose any requirements that are just as limited as in DE-OS 19 65 470. For example, DE-OS 27 00 512 describes a mixture of a conventional cationic fabric softener and a fatty acid ester of a polyhydric alcohol in a certain mixing ratio. From DE-OS 27 00 560 an agent is known which contains a fatty alkyl polyglycerol ester as a fabric softener. Further references on laundry aftertreatment agents, which essentially consist of substrates with a practically unlimited adsorption capacity and special plasticizers, are German Offenlegungsschriften No. 25 46 505, 26 25 774, 25 16 104, 26 36 787, 25 56 248, 25 37 402 and U.S. Patent Nos. 4,073,996, 4,049,858, 4,096,071, 4,142,978, 4.1 ₁ 0.498.

The person skilled in the art had to infer from this state of the art that the use of conventional textile softeners, for example the excellently softening and antistatic and easily accessible cationic quaternary ammonium compounds on substrates which have a ge less than the minimum adsorption capacity required by the teaching of DE-OS 19 65 470, is not possible, or that an uneven transfer of plasticizer and therefore staining on the treated textiles is thereby achieved.

It has now been found that despite this view, which is widespread in the specialist world, it is possible to use the plasticizing quaternary ammonium compounds on certain substrates with a very low adsorption capacity in the known manner, which is insufficient according to the teaching of the prior art, than that in a tumble dryer textile softener to be used without disadvantages. The new agent according to the invention is an article made of a flexible textile fabric having an adsorption capacity of about 1.0 to 4.5 and having a fabric, fleece or foam-like structure made of polyester, polyolefin, polyacrylonitrile, polyurethane, polyamide or Viscose and their mixtures with each other, and a coating of a softening and antistatic agent or mixture of agents, optionally together with auxiliaries and fragrances. The values for the adsorption capacity are after a modified test (US Federal Specifications UU-T-595 b) with changes as described in DE-OS 19 65 470, new page 14, and in the example part of the present application is explained.

The active compounds with which the substrate is coated or impregnated are the compounds known as textile softeners and textile antistatic agents of the quaternary ammonium compound type derived from ammonia or imidazoline, which contain up to 80% by weight of condensation products from a fatty acid triglyceride and hydroxyalkyl polyamine can be replaced in question. Above all, non-ionic agents are used Dispersants into consideration. In addition, antimicrobials, soil release substances, ironing aids and impregnating agents can also be present.

The nonwoven structured sheets are produced in a manner known per se by air, water separation or mechanically, by laying thermoplastic or non-thermoplastic fibers cut to a desired length, preferably in a tangled manner, for the nonwoven formation and by a binder or by the action of temperature (in the case of use) thermoplastic fibers) glued together. A distinction is made between binder-bound and melt fiber-bonded nonwovens. The type of manufacture as well as the type, quantity and position of the fibers and their connection with one another determine the properties of the suitable nonwovens; however, these are not critical for their suitability as flexible substrates in the agents according to the invention insofar as they have an adsorption capacity of 1.0 to 4.5. Suitable nonwovens have a size of 0.01 to 0, ₂ m ² and a basis weight between about 10 and 100 g per m ^2. A commercially available fleece which is excellently suitable for the agents according to the invention consists, for example, of polyester fibers. It has a basis weight of approximately 25 to 50 g per m ² and an adsorption capacity of 2 to 4.

Another example of a suitable nonwoven is a nonwoven made from viscose fibers. It has a basis weight of approximately 55 g per m ² and an adsorption capacity of approximately 3.5. Suitable nonwovens made from a fiber mixture are made, for example, from 40% polyester and 60% viscose; they have a basis weight of approximately 25 to approximately 35 g per m ² and an adsorption capacity of approximately 3.5. Another suitable nonwoven consists of polypropylene fibers. It has a weight per unit area of approximately 50 g per m ² and an adsorption capacity of approximately 2.0. Another nonwoven made of polypropylene fibers has a weight per unit area of approximately 35 g per m ² and an adsorption capacity of 2.8. Results similar to those obtained with nonwovens are also obtained with a polyacrylonitrile fiber fabric that has an adsorption capacity of 1.7. Other suitable substrates are polyurethane foams with an adsorption capacity of 3.7 to 4.2. Foam sheets made of polyethylene and polypropylene are also suitable substrates.

Suitable quaternary ammonium compounds are especially those with two long-chain, preferably saturated aliphatic radicals each having 14 to 26, in particular essentially 16 to 20, carbon atoms and at least one quaternary nitrogen atom in the molecule. The long-chain aliphatic radicals can be straight-chain or branched and can accordingly derive from fatty acids or from fatty amines, Guerbetamines or from the alkylamines obtainable by reduction of nitroparaffins. These quaternary ammonium compounds are, in particular, derivatives of ammonia, that is to say those by alkylation of long-chain secondary amines obtainable quaternary salts, such as the compounds distearyldimethylammonium chloride or ditallow alkyldimethylammonium chloride or methosulfate. Other suitable quaternary ammonium compounds are the imidazoline compounds obtainable by reacting 1 mol of an aminoalkylethylenediamine or hydroxyalkylethylenediamine with 2 mol of a long-chain C ₁₂ -C ₂₆ fatty acid or its ester, which are subsequently converted into the quaternary imidazolinium compounds by alkylation. In all of these quaternary ammonium compounds, the anion generally consists of the acid residue which has arisen from the alkylating agent used in the quaternization. For example, chloride, bromide, methyl sulfate, ethyl sulfate, methane, ethane or toluenesulfonate are suitable as anions. The quaternary ammonium compounds are also good antistatic agents. Some of the quaternary ammonium compounds can be replaced by other compounds, for example by the condensation products of 1 to 3 moles of fatty acid or fatty acid alkyl ester or 1/3 to 1 mole of fatty acid triglyceride also known as textile softeners with one mole of a hydroxyalkyl polyamine, for example hydroxyethyl ethylene diamine, hydroxyethyl diethylene triamine. The product obtained by reacting 1 mol of a fatty acid triglyceride, in particular hardened tallow, with 1 mol of hydroxyethylethylenediamine at 90 to 150 ° C. is particularly suitable. A quaternary ammonium compound of the ammonia type with two essentially C ₁₆ -C ₂₀ alkyl or alkenyl groups and two methyl groups in the molecule and with the chloride, bromide or methyl sulfate anion, in particular ditallow alkyldimethylammonium chloride, alone or in combination, is preferred as the fabric softener nation with the fatty acid condensation product of 1 mol hardened tallow and 1 mol hydroxyethylethylenediamine in a ratio of 4: 1 to 1: 4. These combinations lead to a uniform, striking improvement in the treated textiles without staining.

Suitable nonionic dispersants are primarily addition products of 4 to 40, preferably 4 to 20, moles of ethylene oxide with 1 mole of an aliphatic C ₁₀ -C ₂₀ alcohol or an alkylphenol in which the alkyl radical has 8 to 18 carbon atoms, as well as fatty acids and Alkylamines with 10 to 20 carbon atoms. The ethoxylation products of the fatty alcohols, in particular the coconut and tallow fatty alcohols and the oleyl alcohol, and the ethoxylation products of the oxo alcohols and secondary alcohols of the corresponding chain lengths are particularly preferred. Further suitable nonionic surfactants are the water-soluble addition products containing 20 to 250 ethylene glycol ether groups and 10 to 100 propylene glycol ether groups. of ethylene oxide on polypropylene glycol or on alkylenediamine polypropylene glycol or on alkylpolypropylene glycols with 1 to 10 carbon atoms in which the polypropylene glycol chain functions as a hydrophobic radical.

All of these compounds, in proportions of about 5 to about 60% by weight of the coating, bring about an even distribution of the active ingredients and fragrances in the preparation and use of the agents according to the invention.

As antimicrobial agents, i.e. bactericidal or bacteriostatic or fungicidal or fungistatic, compounds can also be quaternary ammonium compounds, in particular those which, in addition to a long-chain aliphatic and two short-chain aliphatic hydrocarbon radicals, have an aromatic double bonded via an aliphatic hydrocarbon atom to the nitrogen atom or an aliphatic double bond containing organic radical contained in the molecule. Typical representatives for such antimicrobial agents are the compounds dimethylbenzylhexyl-allyldodecylammonium chloride. Antimicrobial agents which can also be used are the bromo-nitro alcohols, such as the compounds 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol, 1-bromo-1-nitro-3,3-trichloro-2-propanol, 2-bromo-2- nitrobutanol.

Also suitable as antimicrobial active substances are halogenated and / or trifluoromethyl-substituted phenolic compounds, in particular the halogenated salicylanilides, for example the compounds dibromo and tribomosalicicanilide and derivatives of phenoxyphenol such as the compound 2-hydroxy-2,4,4'-trichlorodiphenyl ether .

Compounds which improve the dirt-removing ability during washing are suitable as active ingredients for soil release finishing for textiles. These include compounds of the polyacrylic polyvinyl alcohol type, modified fluorocarbons and hydrophilic polymers. Polyvinyl acetates, paraffins, but also borax are suitable additives that make ironing the laundry easier.

The agents according to the invention are produced by impregnating a piece of the substrate with the fabric softening active ingredient, to which auxiliary substances and fragrances have optionally been added, in such an amount that the substrate has the active ingredient impregnation sufficient for the treatment of a laundry item in an automatic tumble dryer . In the case of a household clothes dryer with a capacity of 4 to 5 kg (dry weight), this is approximately 0.5 to approximately 10 g, an amount of 1 to 5 g which is generally present on the substrate when such an agent is used for the first time is sufficient. Such an amount of active ingredient is absorbed by the substrate suitable for the agents according to the invention with a size of approximately 0.01 to 0.2 m ² ; a size which is advantageous for practical use is between 0.02 and 0.07 m ² . For use in commercial companies, larger pieces are taken according to the larger capacity of the devices used there. Of these, the user can put one or, if a stronger effect is required, two or more pieces together with the laundry in the tumble dryer. Instead of a piece of the substrate of this size, a large piece or a coherent web of the substrate is expediently impregnated to produce the agents according to the invention and this is later divided into pieces of the desired size.

The substrate can be impregnated in various ways. Suitable methods are, for example, double-sided printing, rolling on, knife coating, spraying or, preferably, immersing the substrate in a solution, dispersion or, preferably, in a melt of the active ingredients, fragrances and, if appropriate, auxiliaries and subsequent drying and / or cooling, for example by means of air or indirectly by Contact systems. To avoid Losses in volatile substances, for example fragrances, must be ensured that the temperature of a melt is not set unnecessarily high for an unnecessarily long time. A temperature not exceeding 90 ° C is usually sufficient, generally to a temperature of commercially available quaternary ammonium compounds has not been found to be low as about 60 ⁰ C during melting. The application quantity can be carried out either by metered coating or by soaking the substrate and then squeezing off the excess through a nip.

Suitable solvents for solutions and dispersions of the usual active ingredients are, for example, the lower aliphatic alcohols methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol or isopropyl alcohol, which are optionally mixed with water. Like the dispersions and melts, the solutions can contain auxiliaries, in particular dispersants.

The shape of the pieces is arbitrary, you can use circular, oval, angular, geometric or non-geometric shapes. In general, square shapes and a web roll, for example having a perforation between the pieces required for a tumble dryer filling, are preferred.

If damp laundry is treated in the tumble dryer with an agent according to the invention by allowing the agent to act on the laundry during the drying process, the laundry after the treatment has a pleasantly soft feel and the desired fragrance note; the laundry also has no stains due to uneven transfer of active ingredient.

Examples

The examples describe the production and mode of action of some agents according to the invention intended for a household clothes dryer.

example 1

A 20.5 cm x 32 cm polypropylene fiber fleece with a weight per unit area of 42 g per m2 and an adsorption capacity of 2.6 was placed in a melt of commercially available, paste-like ditallow alkyl dimethyl ammonium chloride, which contains small amounts of fragrances with the fragrance note "floral / fresh" were clogged. After cooling and drying, the fleece had absorbed 9.9 g of active ingredient and fragrance. The finished product weighed 12.7 g.

This impregnated fleece was added to a lot of damp laundry, which had previously been washed with a commercially available heavy-duty detergent in an automatic washing machine (main wash cycle, 60 ° C. washing temperature), in a commercially available moisture-controlled tumble dryer and dried using the "extra dry" program and then the Fragrance, softness and possible stains checked. The test was carried out using sensors. This showed a marked improvement in the handle and a pleasant, fresh scent of the laundry that showed no staining.

Determination of the adsorption capacity:

• Ein quadratisches Stück des Substrats mit einer Kantenlänge von 10 cm wurde auf eine flache Glasschale gelegt und zusammen mit dieser Glassehale gewogen. Das so ermittelte Gewicht des Substrats ist das Trockengewicht. Dieses Substratstück wurde 30 Sekunden lang in Wasser von 25 °C getaucht und anschließend mit einer Pinzette an einer Ecke aus dem Wasser gezogen, woraufhin man das Substratstück 15 Sekunden lang abtropfen ließ. Unmittelbar nach Ablauf der 15 Sekunden wurde das,Substratstück wieder auf die flache Glasschale gelegt und mit dieser zusammen gewogen. Das Gewicht des mit Wasser benetzten Substrats ist das Nassgewicht. Die Adsorptionskapazität des Substrats wurde aus dem Nassgewicht und dem Trockengewicht nach folgender Formel berechnet:
  

The adsorption capacity of the substrate of this example and the other examples was determined by the following method:

• A square piece of the substrate with an edge length of 10 cm was placed on a flat glass dish and weighed together with this glass dish. The weight of the substrate determined in this way is the dry weight. This piece of substrate was immersed in water at 25 ° C for 30 seconds and then pulled out of the water with tweezers at one corner, after which the piece of substrate was allowed to drain for 15 seconds. Immediately after the 15 seconds had elapsed, the piece of substrate was placed back on the flat glass dish and weighed together with it. The weight of the substrate wetted with water is the wet weight. The adsorption capacity of the substrate was calculated from the wet weight and the dry weight using the following formula:
  

The dry weight of a 10 cm x 10 cm piece of polypropylene fiber fleece was 0.42 g, the wet weight was 1.512 g. From this one is calculated

Example 2

In the same way as described in Example 1, a 14 cm x 25 cm large fleece made of polyester fibers with a basis weight of 50 g per m ² and an adsorption capacity of 3.7 was mixed with a mixture of equal parts of commercial textile softening pastes of ditallow alkyl dimethyl ammonium chloride and 1-methyl-1-stearyl-amidoethyl-2-stearyl-imidazolinium methosulfate, to which fragrance was added. The fleece piece had taken up 7.3 g of active ingredients and fragrances. When used as in Example 1, fragrance, softness and freedom from stains were assessed as in Example 1.

Example 3

In the same way as before, a fleece made of polyester and viscose fibers with a basis weight of 35 g per m ² and an adsorption capacity of about 3.7 with a melt of ditallow alkyldimethylammonium chloride powder and an adduct of 9.5 mol ethylene oxide with nonylphenol impregnated in a ratio of 2.7: 1 and fragrance. The fleece had absorbed 4.5 g of active ingredients and fragrances and weighed 6.8 g. Laundry treated with this had the advantageous properties already described above.

Example 4

The polyester fiber fleece of Example 2 was impregnated from the melt on a laboratory pad with a 1: 1 mixture of ditallow alkyldimethylammonium chloride paste and a paste of a polyalkylamide imidazolinium compound to which the fragrance had been mixed. The fleece took up 6.7 g of active ingredients and fragrances and weighed 10.1 g.

Good results were also achieved with this.

Example 5

A viscose fiber fleece with a basis weight of 55 g per m ² and an adsorption capacity of approximately 3.5 was made on a laboratory foulard with a melt of a 1: 1 mixture of ditallow alkyl dimethyl ammonium methosulfate paste and a polyglycol ether with a molecular weight of approximately 400 impregnated with the fragrance. The fleece weighed 3.3 g and had absorbed approximately 5 g of active ingredient and fragrance. Laundry treated with this had properties similar to those described in the previous examples.

Example 6

A viscose fiber fleece with a basis weight of approximately 50 g per m ² and an adsorption capacity of approximately 3.5 was coated from the melt with a 1: 1 mixture of ditallow alkyldimethylammonium chloride paste and a condensation product from 1 mol of hardened tallow with 1 mol of hydroxyethylethylenediamine . The fleece with a size of approximately 20.5 cm x 31.5 cm weighed 3.3 g and absorbed 6.2 g of active substances. After drying, laundry treated with this had a plump, soft feel and good anti-electrostatic properties. Staining was not observed.

Example 7

A polyester fiber fleece as in Example 2, size 20 cm × 16 cm, was made with a fragrance-containing melt from a commercial paste of 1-methyl-1-stearyl-amidoethyl-2-stearyl-imidazolinium methosulfate and an adduct of 9.5 Mol coated ethylene oxide of nonylphenol in a ratio of 12: 1. The textile cover plasticizer, dispersant and fragrances weighed 3.0 g. This agent also imparted softness and a pleasant fragrance when used in the tumble dryer of the laundry.

Example 8

The same polyester fiber fleece as in Example 2 with a size of 25 cm x 14 cm was impregnated with 4.4 g of a fragrance-containing melt of commercially available ditallow alkyldimethylammonium chloride powder and an adduct of 9.5 mol of ethylene oxide with nonylphenol. The fleece had taken up 3.7 g of active ingredients and fragrances; it gave results similar to those described in the previous examples.

Example 9

A 20 cm x 32 cm polyester fiber fleece was coated with a melted mixture of 12 parts of a ditallow alkyldimethylammonium chloride paste and 1 part of cetyl alcohol + 12 moles of ethylene oxide and small amounts of fragrance. The fleece had absorbed 6.2 g of active ingredient and fragrance and imparted excellent softness and a distinctive fragrance to the laundry treated with it.

Claims (13)

1. Means for post-treating washed laundry in a tumble dryer, consisting of a flexible textile fabric loaded with active ingredients for laundry treatment, characterized in that the flexible textile fabric has an adsorption capacity of 1.0 to 4.5, determined according to the test given in the description , and a fabric, fleece or foam-like structure made of polyester, polyamide, polyolefin, polyacrylonitrile, polyurethane or viscose and their mixtures with each other, and with a coating of a softening and antistatic agent or mixture of agents and optionally auxiliaries and fragrances is provided. 2. Composition according to claim 1, characterized in that the softening or antistatic active ingredients or active ingredient mixtures are quaternary ammonium compounds derived from ammonia or imidazoline, which can be replaced by up to 80% by weight of condensation products from a fatty acid triglyceride and hydroxyalkyl polyamine. 3. Composition according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the textile fabrics have a basis weight of 10 to 100 g per m ² and an area of 0.01 to 0.2 m ² . 4. Composition according to claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the textile fabric consists of a nonwoven fabric, the fibers of which are bound with a binder and / or by melt fibers. 5. Composition according to claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the nonwoven made of binder and / or melt fiber-bonded thermoplastic fibers from the group of polyolefin, polyester. There is polyamide and polyacrylonitrile fibers. 6. Agent according to claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the nonwoven fabric consists of binder-bound thermoplastic fibers. 7. Composition according to claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the nonwoven fabric consists of binder-bound polyester fibers. 8. Composition according to claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the nonwoven fabric consists of binder and / or melt fiber-bonded viscose fibers and / or thermoplastic fibers. 9. Composition according to claim 8, characterized in that the nonwoven fabric consists of binder-bound thermoplastic fibers and viscose fibers. 10. Composition according to claim 8, characterized in that the nonwoven fabric consists of binder-bound viscose fibers. 11. Agent according to claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the softening and antistatic agent coating of quaternary ammonium compounds derived from ammonia, preferably from a ditallow alkyl dimethyl ammonium salt, in particular the methosulfate or the chloride. 12. Composition according to claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the active ingredient coating consists of a quaternary ammonium compound and a condensation product of 1 mol of fatty acid triglyceride, in particular hardened tallow, with 1 mol of a hydroxyalkyl polyamine, especially hydroxyethyl ethylene diamine, the weight ratio of quaternary ammonium Connections to the fatty acid condensation products is between 4: 1 and 1: 4. 13. Composition according to claims 1 to 12, characterized in that nonionic dispersants of the type of ethoxylated long-chain alcohols and / or alkylphenols are present in an amount of about 5 to about 60 wt .-% in the active ingredient coating.