Spontaneously formed clear silicone microemulsions
AssigneeDow Corning Corporation
InventorRandal Myron Hill
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of spontaneously forming a highly stable clear microemulsion by combining (i) water; (ii) a volatile cyclic methyl siloxane or volatile linear methyl siloxane; and (iii) a silicone polyether surfactant. The amounts of each component are such that the composition is in the form of a microemulsion. The volatile methyl siloxane is present in the microemulsion in the form of particles having an average diameter of less than about 100 nanometers. The microemulsion is useful in personal care products.
Claims6
A method comprising spontaneously forming a microemulsion without mixing, stirring, shearing, or input of mechanical energy for agitating ingredients used to make a microemulsion, by simply combining (i) water;
- (ii) a cyclic methyl siloxane having the formula {(CH.sub.3).sub.2 SiO}.sub.p or a linear methyl siloxane having the formula (CH.sub.3).sub.3 SiO{(CH.sub.3).sub.2 SiO}.sub.q Si(CH.sub.3).sub.3 in which p is 3-6 and q is 0-5;
- and (iii) a silicone polyether having a formula selected from the group consisting of ##STR8## where R1 represents an alkyl group containing 1-6 carbon atoms;
- R2 represents the radical --(CH.sub.2).sub.a O(C.sub.2 H.sub.4 O).sub.b (C.sub.3 H.sub.6 O).sub.c R3;
- x has a value of 0-3;
- y has a value of 1-3;
- z has a value of 0-2;
- m has a value of 3-5;
- n is one;
- a has a value of 3-6;
- b has a value of 4-20;
- c has a value of 0-5;
- and R3 is hydrogen, a methyl radical, or an acyl radical.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.