CHEWING GUMS HAVING IMPROVED REMOVABILITY BASED ON EXTENSIONAL FLOW PROPERTIES
A chewing gum, when chewed, produces a cud having improved removability from environmental surfaces by virtue of its extensional viscosity strain hardening parameter. Specifically, the cud has a extensional strain hardening parameter of less than zero or greater than 2.0.
1 . A chewing gum which, upon chewing, forms a cud having an extensional strain hardening parameter less than zero.
2 . The chewing gum of claim 1 wherein the cud has an extensional strain hardening parameter of less than −0.5.
3 . The chewing gum of claim 1 wherein the cud has an extensional strain hardening parameter of less than −1.0.
4 . The chewing gum of claim 1 wherein the cud has an extensional strain hardening parameter of less than −1.5.
5 . The chewing gum of claim 1 wherein the cud has an extensional strain hardening parameter of less than −2.0.
6 . The chewing gum of claim 1 wherein the cud has an extensional yield viscosity of greater than 10 6 Pa.
7 . The chewing gum of claim 1 wherein the cud has an extensional yield viscosity of greater than 2×10 6 Pa.
8 . The chewing gum of claim 1 wherein the chewing gum comprises a water insoluble base portion which comprises 45 to 95% by weight of polyethylene having a weight average molecular weight of from 2000 to 23000 daltons.
9 . The chewing gum of claim 8 wherein the water-insoluble base portion comprises 55 to 70% by weight of polyethylene having a weight average molecular weight between 2000 and 23000 daltons.
10 . A chewing gum which, upon chewing, forms a cud having an extensional strain hardening parameter greater than 2.0.
11 . The chewing gum of claim 10 wherein the cud has an extensional strain hardening parameter of greater than 2.1
12 . The chewing gum of claim 10 wherein the cud has an extensional strain hardening parameter of greater than 2.2
13 . The chewing gum of claim 10 wherein the cud has an extensional strain hardening parameter of greater than 2.3
14 . A chewing gum of any of claim 10 wherein the chewing gum comprises a tri-block copolymer in the form A-B-A or A-B-C having a soft mid-block and hard end-blocks wherein the soft mid-block comprises at least 30 wt. % of the tri-block copolymer and wherein the hard end-blocks each have a T g below 70′C.
15 . The chewing gum of claim 14 wherein the chewing gum further comprises a diblock copolymer.
16 . The chewing gum of claim 14 wherein the tri-block copolymer comprises a soft mid-block and hard end-blocks wherein the soft mid-block comprises at least 30 wt. % of the tri-block copolymer and wherein the hard end-blocks each have a T g below 70′C.
17 . The chewing gum of claim 14 wherein the hard end-blocks each have a T g below 60′C.
18 . The chewing gum of claim 14 wherein the hard end-blocks each have a T g between 40° C. and 60′C.
19 . The chewing gum of any claim 10 wherein the chewing gum comprises crosslinked polymeric microparticles.
20 . The chewing gum of claim 19 wherein the crosslinked polymeric microparticles have a glass transition temperature of less than about 30° C.
21 . The chewing gum of claim 19 wherein the crosslinked polymeric microparticles have a glass transition temperature of less than 10° C.
22 . The chewing gum of claim 19 wherein the crosslinked polymeric microparticles have a glass transition temperature of less than 0° C.
23 . The chewing gum of claim 19 wherein the crosslinked polymeric microparticles have a largest dimension of at least 0.1 microns.
24 . The chewing gum of claim 19 wherein the crosslinked polymeric microparticles have a largest dimension of at least 0.5 microns.
25 . The chewing gum of claim 19 wherein the crosslinked polymeric microparticles have a largest dimension of at least 10 microns.
26 . The chewing gum of claim 19 wherein the crosslinked polymeric microparticles have a largest dimension of less than 1000 microns.
27 . The chewing gum of claim 17 wherein the crosslinked polymeric microparticles have a largest dimension of less than 500 microns.
28 . The chewing gum of claim 17 wherein the crosslinked polymeric microparticles have a largest dimension of less than 100 microns.
29 . The chewing gum of claim 14 wherein the polymer is a food grade polymer.
30 . The chewing gum of claim 1 wherein the chewing gum, upon chewing, produces a cud having storage modulus (G′) of from 10 5 Pa to 10 7 Pa at 37° C.
31 . The chewing gum of claim 1 wherein the chewing gum, upon chewing, produces a cud which leaves no more than 20% of the original gum cud surface area as residue after a single pass of a metal scraper.