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EP0130764A1 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Highly absorbent substrate article

Assignee: Unilever NV
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Filing: 1984-06-25
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2004-06-25
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Abstract

Abstract A reusable highly absorbent article, for example a cloth or towel for mopping up household spillages, comprises a substrate carrying a pressure-sensitive polymeric material capable of absorbing, retaining, releasing and reabsorbing large volumes of of water or electrolyte. The polymer is preferably the sulphonation product of a high-void-volume styrene polymer prepared by polymerisation of a high-internal-phase emulsion.

Inventors

  • 👤 Zia Haq
  • 👤 Richard Shaw Johnson

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-01 22:07
CPC Classifications
A; A47; A47L; A47L13/00; A47L13/10; A47L13/16; Y; Y10; Y10T; Y10T428/00; Y10T428/23; Y10T428/239; Y10T428/24; Y10T428/24479; Y10T428/24562; Y10T428/24628; Y10T428/24661; Y10T428/249921; Y10T428/249953; Y10T428/249981; Y10T428/31

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 23
Claim 1
Independent Claim 119 words
An article suitable for absorbing hydrophilic liquids, the article comprising a substrate carrying a porous polymeric material, characterised in that the porous polymeric material is capable of absorbing and retaining a hydrophilic liquid to a total capacity of at least 3 g/g, releasing at least some of said liquid on the application of hand pressure, and of absorbing further liquid on the release of said hand pressure, and further characterised in that the article has an effective drying capacity of at least 2.5 g/g, the effective drying capacity being defined as the maximum weight of water per gram of dry article that the article can hold yet still be capable of wiping a surface to dryness within 15 seconds.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 119 words
An article suitable for absorbing hydrophilic liquids, the article comprising a substrate carrying a porous polymeric material, characterised in that the porous polymeric material is capable of absorbing and retaining a hydrophilic liquid to a total capacity of at least 3 g/g, releasing at least some of said liquid on the application of hand pressure, and of absorbing further liquid on the release of said hand pressure, and further characterised in that the article has an effective drying capacity of at least 2.5 g/g, the effective drying capacity being defined as the maximum weight of water per gram of dry article that the article can hold yet still be capable of wiping a surface to dryness within 15 seconds.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 22 words
An article as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the total capacity of the polymeric material is at least 10 g/g.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 22 words
An article as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the total capacity of the polymeric material is at least 20 g/g.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 22 words
An article as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the total capacity of the polymeric material is at least 30 g/g.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 25 words
An article as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the polymeric material is a sulphonation product of a crosslinked polymer containing sulphonatable aromatic residues.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 34 words
An article as claimed in claim 5, characterised in that the polymeric material is a sulphonation product of crosslinked porous polymer having a pore volume within the range of from 3.0 to 99.5 cc/g.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 24 words
An article as claimed in claim 5, characterised in that the degree of sulphonation of the polymeric material is at least 15% styrene equivalent.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 17 words
An article as claimed in claim 5, characterised in that the sulphonatable aromatic residues are styrene residues.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 51 words
An article as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the polymeric material is a sulphonation product of a crosslinked polymerisation product of a high internal phase emulsion wherein the internal phase comprises water and the continuous phase comprises one or more monomers containing sulphonatable aromatic residues, and a crosslinking agent.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 21 words
An article as claimed in claim 9, characterised in that said polymerisation product has a void volume of at least 80%.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 21 words
An article as claimed in claim 9, characterised in that said polymerisation product has a void volume of at least 95%.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 19 words
An article as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the polymeric material is in powder or granule form.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 24 words
An article as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that it has an effective drying capacity of at least 3 g / g .
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 24 words
An article as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that it has an effective drying capacity of at least 5 g / g .
Claim 16
Dependent Claim 20 words
An article as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that it contains at least 2 g of the polymeric material.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim 18 words
An article as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that it has the form of a flexible sheet.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim 21 words
An article as claimed in claim 16, characterised in that it contains from 2 to 15 g of the polymeric material.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim 20 words
An article as claimed in claim 16, characterised in that the polymeric material is sandwiched between two liquid-permeable sheet substrates.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim 38 words
An article as claimed in claim 16, characterised in that the polymeric material is sandwiched between two liquid-permeable sheet substrates sealed together in a grid pattern whereby a plurality of separate compartments each containing polymeric material is obtained.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim 20 words
An article as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the substrate has an outer (wiping) surface of hydrophobic material.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim 40 words
An article as claimed in claim 20, characterised in that the hydrophobic outer (wiping) surface is provided by a layer of hydrophobic fibrous sheet or slitted film material having a base weight of from 8 to 35 g/m 2 .
Claim 23
Dependent Claim 32 words
An article as claimed in claim 20, characterised in that the outer layer is sufficiently hydrophobic to increase the effective drying capacity of the article by a factor of at least 1.25.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

US3900378A Cited
FR2372912A2 Cited
EP0068189A1 Cited
EP0068830A1 Cited

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