COMPOSITION AND PROCESS FOR OIL REMOVAL FROM FABRICS HAVING A WITH WATER REPELLANT COATING

Abstract

A cleaning composition for removing oil stains from fabrics is an oil-in-water emulsion containing a silicone oil having at least 5 silicon atoms and a vapor pressure of at most 0.05 kPa at 25° C., at least one poly(dimethyl siloxane) having up to 2 to 4 silicon atoms and a vapor pressure of at least 0.25 kPa at 25° C., and an emulsifier. The cleaning composition is useful for removing oil stains from fabrics that have an applied hydrophobic coating. The cleaning composition effectively removes the oil stains with little adverse affect, and sometimes even a beneficial effect, on the water-repellency of the fabric.

Claims

1. A fabric cleaning composition in the form of an oil-in-water emulsion, comprising a) water; b) a silicone oil having at least 5 silicon atoms and a vapor pressure of at most 0.05 kPa at 25° C.; c) at least one poly(dimethyl siloxane) having up to 2 to 4 silicon atoms and a vapor pressure of at least 0.25 kPa at 25° C.; d) an emulsifier.

2. The fabric cleaning composition of claim 1 wherein the silicone oil has a kinematic viscosity of at least 1 and up to 300 centistokes at 25° C. (as measured according to ASTM D4283-98 (2015).

3. The fabric cleaning composition of claim 2 wherein the silicone oil a linear or poly(dimethyl siloxane) having a kinematic viscosity of 2 to 25 centistokes at 25° C. (as measured according to ASTM D4283-98 (2015).

4. The fabric cleaning composition of claim 1 wherein the poly(dimethyl siloxane)s having up to 2 to 4 silicon atoms and a vapor pressure of at least 0.25 kPa at 25° C. include one or more of hexamethyl disiloxane; octahexyl trisiloxane, and pentamethyl tetrasiloxane.

5. The fabric cleaning composition of claim 1 wherein the poly(dimethyl siloxane)s having up to 2 to 4 silicon atoms and a vapor pressure of at least 0.25 kPa at 25° C. include a mixture of hexamethyldisiloxane and octamethyltrisiloxane.

6. The fabric cleaning composition of claim 1 wherein the emulsifier includes at least one nonionic surfactant and at least one nonionic surfactant.

7. The fabric cleaning composition of claim 6 wherein the emulsifier includes at least one sulfate or sulfonate surfactant and at least one alcohol ethoxylate surfactant.

8. The fabric cleaning composition of claim 1 further comprising a thickener.

9. The fabric cleaning composition of claim 8 wherein the thickener agent includes at least one of xanthan gum, locust bean gum or guar gum.

10. The fabric cleaning composition of claim 1 which contains 50 to 95 volume-% water, 1 to 15 volume-% of the silicone oil, 1 to 7.5 volume-% of the poly(dimethyl siloxane) having up to 2 to 4 silicon atoms and a vapor pressure of at least 0.25 kPa at 25° C. and 0.005 to 2% volume % of the emulsifier.

11. A method for removing oil stains from a fabric having a water-repellant coating, comprising a) providing an oil-stained fabric, the fabric having a water-repellant coating, the water-repellent coating comprising i) a crosslinked polymer of at least one free-radical-curable monomer having at least one hydrocarbyl group that has at least eight carbon atoms, wherein the hydrocarbyl group may be nonfluorinated, partially fluorinated or perfluorinated, and ii) a silicone oil having at least 5 silicon atoms and a vapor pressure of at most 0.05 kPa at 25° C.; b) applying to the oil stain a fabric cleaning composition of claim 1; c) removing at least a portion of the applied fabric cleaning composition from the fabric, together with at least a portion of the oil stain.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the hydrocarbyl group is nonfluorinated.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the water-repellant coating does not contain fluorine.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the water-repellent coating is a polymer of a coating composition comprising (i) at least one fatty acid acrylate having 10 to 16 carbon atoms in the fatty acid group, (ii) one or more of an alkane diol diacrylate, a pentaerythritol or dipentaerythritol polyacrylate and a drying oil such as linseed, safflower or tung oil, and optionally (iii) at least one fatty acid acrylate having at least 18 carbon atoms in the fatty acid group.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the coating composition further contains a silicone oil having at least 5 silicon atoms and a vapor pressure of at most 0.05 kPa at 25° C., and optionally a wax.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein the fabric has an equilibrium moisture content of no greater than 15% by weight (especially no greater than 10% or no greater than 5%) after exposure to 65±2% relative humidity air at 20±2° C. until a constant moisture content is obtained.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the fabric is a polyester or polyamide fabric, or a polyester/polyamide blend or a blend one or more of a polyester and a polyamide with an elastomer fiber.

18. The method of claim 11 further comprising d), after step c), drying the fabric by heat, evaporation or spinning.

Description

Examples 1 and 2 and Comparative Samples A-C

[0036] A Marmot blue JYRNP0002 woven polyester fabric is treated with a water-repellent coating in the general manner described in WO 2017/020018 Example 1. A free-radical polymerization reaction is used to produce the water-repellent, hydrocarbon-based coating from a mixture containing octadecyl acrylate, 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate, dipentaerythritol penta-/hexaacrylate, lauroyl peroxide and a 10 centistoke polydimethylsiloxane. The mixture and the resultant polymer coating does not contain fluorine.

[0037] Five identical swatches of the treated fabric are stained with a weighed quantity of Singer sewing machine oil and air-dried. A sixth swatch is unstained and used as a control.

[0038] To produce Example 1, a stained swatch is cleaned using a fabric cleaning composition of the invention, containing 900 mL water, 50 mL of a mixture of hexamethyldisiloxane and octamethyltrisiloxane (OS-2, from The Dow Chemical Company), 25 mL of a 5 centistoke poly(dimethylsiloxane) oil, 25 mL of a 10 centistoke poly(dimethylsiloxane) oil and 0.5 mL of Tide® liquid laundry detergent. The laundry detergent includes an alcohol ethoxylate surfactant, an alkyl ethoxy sulfate surfactant, an alkyl sulfate surfactant and an amine oxide surfactant. The fabric cleaning composition is rubbed onto the stained swatch, then rinsed with water and air-dried. The stain is entirely removed.

[0039] Example 2 is cleaned in the same manner as Example 1, and then steam-ironed by hand using a hot iron at an appropriate setting for a polyester fabric.

[0040] Comparative Sample A is the unstained swatch.

[0041] Comparative Sample B is prepared rubbing methyl ethyl ketone onto a stained swatch, then rinsing and air-drying. The stain is entirely removed.

[0042] Comparative Sample C is prepared by rubbing Tide® detergent onto a stained swatch, then rinsing and air-drying. The stain is entirely removed.

[0043] Examples 1 and 2 and Comparative Samples A-C are then evaluated according to the 30-second AATCC 22 spray test and for water repellency according to ISO 9865, for 10 minutes in a Bundesmann water repellency tester. Results are as indicated in the following Table. Higher ratings on the AATCC 22 spray test and the ISO 9865 test each indicate better results. The AATCC spray test scale ranges from 0 to 100 (best) and the ISO 9865 water repellency test ranges from 1 to 5 according to a visual scale with 5 being the best.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE AATCC 22 ISO9865, Desig- Descrip- Appear- Spray Test ISO9865 % water nation tion ance Rating rating pickup A* Unstained Clean 100 4.7 2.4 Control (not stained) B* Stained, not Badly 95 2.6 9.9 cleaned stained C* Cleaned with Stain 80 1 23.9 MEK removed D* Cleaned with Stain 80 1 31.2 Detergent removed 1 Cleaned per Stain 95 3.5 17.6 the invention removed 2 Cleaned per Stain ND 4.4 16.0 the invention removed and then ironed.

[0044] As the data in the foregoing table shows, the mineral oil badly stains the swatch, even with the water-repellent coating. Some deterioration in performance in the AATCC 22 and ISO9865 tests is seen, but performance remains fair to good on these tests due to the water-repellent nature of the sewing machine oil used to stain the swatch.

[0045] Cleaning with methyl ethyl ketone or Tide detergent leads to a large loss in performance on both the AATCC 22 and ISO9865 tests. Despite being effective cleaners, these cleaning agents have a serious adverse effect on water-repellency.

[0046] Example 1 is not only cleaned of the stain, but exhibits AATCC 22 and ISO9865 ratings much better than the stained sample and the samples cleaned with methyl ethyl ketone or the detergent. Results on the AATCC 22 and ISO9865 tests are nearly as good as those of the unstained sample. After ironing, the ISO0865 rating improves even more. Similarly, Example 2 is cleaned of the stain and nearly attains the ISO 9865 rating of the unstained control.