Domestic treatment of fabrics with film-forming materials...

Details Domestic treatment of fabrics with film-forming materials... Domestic treatment of fabrics with film-forming materials...

2001-10-19

2004-04-20

Green, Anthony J. (Department: 1755)

Compositions

Compositions for enhancing the appearance of consumer...

C252S008610, C038S144000, C427S370000, C427S393200

Reexamination Certificate

active

06723253

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to the treatment of fabrics. The fabrics are treated with a film-forming material and a blowing agent selected from the group consisting of ammonium carbonate, ammonium bicarbonate, group metal 1 bicarbonates, and mixtures thereof.
BACKGROUND
Treatments of fabrics with film-forming materials have been extensively disclosed in the art. A number of film-forming materials can be used to provide a number of benefits to fabrics, such as softness, water-repellency, de-wrinkling, wrinkle-resistance, shape retention for non-wovens textiles, hand and gloss. Such materials can be applied to fabrics in an industrial context. In contrast, this invention is only concerned with the domestic treatment of fabrics.
It is also a constant goal to try to provide fabrics with dry-wrinkle resistance, i.e. the ability to resist to the formation of wrinkles when the fabrics are dry, waiting to be worn and while worn.
It has now been found that the use of specific blowing agents, together with film-forming materials, provides the benefit of dry-wrinkle resistance in addition to the benefit provided by the film-forming material. The film-forming material and the blowing agent are intimately mixed and provided to the fabrics. It is hypothesized that, when the fabrics are ironed, the heat causes the blowing agent to release small amounts of CO
2
in the film deposited on the fabric. The film, hence the fabric, acquires as a result more flexibility and elasticity, and the fabric thus acquires dry-wrinkle resistance.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,495,227 and 3,483,024 describe the industrial treatment of fabrics with industrial blowing agents. The referred blowing agents are typically selected from the groups of azo-compounds such as azobisformamide, azobisisobutyronitrile, diazoaminobenzene; N-nitroso-compunds such as N,N′-dimethyl-N,N′-dinitrosol-terephtalamide, N′N′-dinitrosopentamethylenetetramine; and/or sulfonyl hydrazides such as benzenesulfonylhydrazide, 4-toluenesulfonylhydrazide, diphenylsulfon-3,3′-disulfonyl hydrazide or 4,4′-oxy bis(benzenesulfonyl hydrazide. These blowing agents have four important limitations for domestic fabric treatment compositions/applications: (1) toxicity of blowing agents, and toxicity of some released gases such as CO or NO; (2) high decomposition temperature, commonly above 150° C.; (3) reduced solubility in water and some organic solvents; and/or (4) low stability in water under some pH conditions and/or incompatibility with some other ingredients in the compositions such as co-solvents, perfumes, or preservatives.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In a first embodiment, the invention encompasses a composition for the treatment of fabrics comprising a film-forming material and a blowing agent selected from the group consisting of consisting of ammonium carbonate, ammonium bicarbonate, group metal 1 bicarbonates, and mixtures thereof.
In a second embodiment, the invention encompasses a process which comprises the steps of providing fabrics with a film-forming material and a blowing agent selected from the group consisting ammonium carbonate, ammonium bicarbonate, group metal 1 bicarbonates, and mixtures thereof, then ironing the fabrics.
In a third embodiment, the invention encompasses an article of manufacture comprising a composition for the treatment of fabrics, as above, and usage instructions to use the composition in the process above.
In a fourth embodiment, the present invention encompasses the use of ammonium carbonate, ammonium bicarbonate, group metal 1 bicarbonates, and mixtures thereof, as blowing agents in a fabric treatment composition or process.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The present invention utilizes two main ingredients, namely the film-forming material and the blowing agent.
I)—The Film-forming Material:
Suitable film-forming materials herein include polymers, and mixtures thereof, which are able to form a solid film on a surface. However, non-polymeric materials are also suitable. The film may result from evaporation of solvents or as the result of a curing reaction, i.e., polymerization or cross-linking. Such suitable polymers are described in patent application No 99870223.7.
Preferred film-forming materials for use herein are polymers having a deviation of fabric Wrinkle Recovery Angle (WRA) versus water of at least +15.
The WRA Test method is taken from the AATCC 66-1990. This method is an American National Standard method designed for the determination of the wrinkle recovery of woven fabrics, whereby a test specimen, creased and compressed under controlled conditions of time and load, is suspended in the test instrument for a controlled recovery period, after which the recovery angle is measured. Experimental detail on how to measure this WRA is given in AATCC 66-1990, incorporated herein by reference. The WRA method is tested on 100% cotton, woven Oxford pinpoint fabric, free from wrinkles, cut in twelve specimens of 0.59 inch×1.57 inch, six with their long dimension parallel to the warp, and six with their long dimensional parallel to the filling. The test is carried out on cloth conditioned for 24 hours at 21° C. (70° F.) and 65% RH. Three specimens from each set are creased on one side and three on the other. Tweezers are used to place the test specimen between the leaves of the specimen holder (2 superimposed leaves 0.63 inch wide, but of different lengths and fastened together at one end) with one end directly under the 0.71-inch mark. With the tweezers, the exposed end of the specimen is lifted over and looped back to the 0.71-inch mark on the shorter, thin metal leaf and held with the left thumbnail. The holder with the specimen is inserted into a plastic press (2 superimposed leaves of equal length (3.74 inch) and 0.79 inch wide, fastened together at one end) and a weight of 500 g is applied for 5 minutes so that a crease is formed. The plastic press can then be removed and the specimen holder combination can be inserted in the tester with the exposed end of the specimen holder in the mount on the face of the tester. The crease should line up with a spot at the center of the tester disk, and the dangling specimen leg should be lined up immediately with the vertical guide line. In order to eliminate gravitation effects, keep the dangling specimen leg aligned with the vertical guide line during the 5-min recovery period. Adjust every 15 seconds for the first minute, and once a minute thereafter. Five minutes after the removal of the creasing load, the wrinkle recovery value is read to the nearest degree from the scale. The sum is taken of the average recovery for all warp readings and all filling readings and compared with a cloth treated with water.
Components defined by their WRA are well-known in the art. For example, in JAPS, Vol.15, pp.341-349 (1971) as well as in Textile Research Journal, pp. 199-201, February 1970, are given various examples of components defined by a WRA, all of which are included within the scope of the present invention.
The fabric WRA obtained with the tested component is compared with the fabric WRA obtained with water, thereby giving a deviation &Dgr;. A component which provide a &Dgr; of at least positive(+)15, preferably having a &Dgr; within the range of 15-30 is a component suitable for the invention.
The following represents the WRA deviation versus water of different polymers suitable for use in the present invention and according to the above procedure. In each case, numbers are arithmetic averages of 9 replicates and the results are statistically significantly different at 95% confidence level:
Polymer
&Dgr; WRA
IMO 900
19
Avalure AC 120
21
Luviquat FC 905
15
IMO 900: Isomaltose Oligosaccharide ex. Showa Sangyo Co.
Avalure AC 120: Polyacrylate ex. BF Goodrich
Luviquat FC 905: copolymer Vinylimidazolium methochloride & Vinylpyrrolidone ex. BASF
Preferred components which have a deviation of fabric WRA versus water of at least 15 are selected from a) shape retention polymers, b) polymers comprising at least one unit which provide a

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