FILM

Abstract

A dissoluble film comprising a slip agent wherein said film has biased distribution of the slip agent towards one surface of the film.

Claims

1. A unit dose product, wherein the unit dose product is contained in a water-dissoluble film, the film comprises 2.0 to 25% wt. of a slip agent and the film has biased distribution of the slip agent towards one surface of the film.

2. The unit dose product of claim 1 wherein the film comprises polyvinyl alcohol.

3. The unit dose product of claim 2 wherein the polyvinyl alcohol is present at from 50% to 98% wt. of the film.

4. The unit dose product of claim 1 wherein the slip agent is selected from C10 to C30 fatty acid amides.

5. The unit dose product of claim 4 wherein the C10 to C30 fatty acid amide is unsaturated.

6. The unit dose product of claim 1 wherein the slip agent is selected from erucamide, oleamide and stearamide and mixtures thereof.

7. The unit dose product of claim 1 wherein the film comprises 0.1 to 25% plasticiser.

8. The unit dose product of claim 1 wherein the film comprises a gustative deterrent.

9. The unit dose product of claim 1 wherein the product is a laundry treatment product.

10. The unit dose product of claim 1 wherein the product is a liquid detergent product.

11. The unit dose product of claim 1 wherein the product is a dishwash product.

12. A method for forming a unit dose product for laundering, the method comprising: taking a film, wherein the film comprises 2.0 to 25% wt. of a slip agent and the film has biased distribution of the slip agent towards one surface of the film; forming a pouch with the film; filling the pouch with a laundry detergent; and sealing the pouch by heating.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the film comprises polyvinyl alcohol.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the polyvinyl alcohol is present at from 50% to 98% wt. of the film.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the slip agent is selected from C10 to C30 fatty acid amides.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the C10 to C30 fatty acid amide is unsaturated.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein the slip agent is selected from erucamide, oleamide and stearamide and mixtures thereof.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein the film comprises a gustative deterrent.

19. The method of claim 12 wherein the product is a laundry treatment product.

20. The method of claim 12 wherein the product is a liquid detergent product.

Description

EXAMPLES

[0066] The film formulation details are as follows:

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Ingredient Formulation Polyvinyl alcohol (% w/w) 85.7  Plasticizer (% w/w) 8.6 Erucamide (% w/w) 5.7

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Film A Film 1 Distribution Symmetric Biased of slip agent distribution distribution

[0067] Film 1 is the film according to invention and film A is a comparative. Symmetric distribution refers to a distribution where the slip agent is evenly migrated towards both surfaces of the film.

[0068] The following process may be followed to make a dissolvable film:

[0069] The hydrolysed content and molecular weight of polyvinyl alcohol affect solubility of it. The compositions were prepared by using a polyvinyl alcohol mixture containing 98% hydrolysed polyvinyl alcohol of molecular weight 31-50K and 88% hydrolysed polyvinyl alcohol of molecular weight 85-124K in 4:1 ratio (by weight).

[0070] At first, 1.5 g poly vinyl alcohol mixture was added to 37.5 millilitre water to make an aqueous solution. The mixture was heated to 80° C., with stirring at 300 rpm until homogeneous solution is achieved. To the above mixture, 0.15 g plasticizer (PEG-Mw 200) was added, mixed for 5 minutes, and cooled down to room temperature.

[0071] In parallel, 1.5 g erucamide was dissolved in 15 ml isopropyl alcohol (IPA) (or ethanol or any organic solvent) and heated to 50° C. The solution remains homogenous even after cooling. One ml of the 10% erucamide solution (equivalent to 0.1 g of erucamide) was added to the polymer resin after cooling, and mixing is continued. This yields 5.7% wt. of erucamide in the composition.

[0072] For biased distribution, pour the solution to a clean-dry petri dish and keep it in oven under 60° C. for 8 hrs for drying.

[0073] Alternatively, erucamide also can be added without IPA, by direct addition of powder, however we need to homogenize the solution at 60° C. rather than room temperature.

[0074] The following process was followed for heat sealing the films:

[0075] The film was heat sealed using commercial heat-sealing machine (Plastic film sealer). The observations are summarized in below table.

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Effect Film A Film 1 Heat sealable No Yes

[0076] From the examples it is evident that that a film comprising slip agent and having biased distribution of the slip agent can be heat sealed and so be used for enclosing unit dose products. Where the slip agent is distributed evenly to both opposing surfaces of the film, the product cannot be heat sealed and so cannot be used to form unit dosed products.