Aminofunctional Silicone Emulsions

1. An aqueous silicone emulsion comprising:

A) an aminofunctional organopolysiloxane;

B) a quaternary ammonium surfactant having a formula:

R 1 R 2 R 3 R 4 N + X − ,

where R 1 is an organofunctional group containing at least 10 carbon atoms,

R 2 is R 1 or a hydrocarbyl containing 1 to 12 carbon atoms,

R 3 is R 1 , R 2 , or an alcohol group containing 2 to 10 carbon atoms,

R 4 is R 1 , R 2 , or R 3 , and

X − is a halide, sulfate, sulfonate, methosulfate, ethosulfate or phosphate; and

C) a nonionic surfactant;

wherein the aqueous silicone emulsion contains octamethylcyclotetrasiloxanes (D4) and decamethylcyclopentasiloxanes (D5), the content of D4 and D5 is less than 0.2 weight % (wt. %), and upon ageing the emulsion for one month at 50° C., the content of D4, D5, or both D4 and D5 is lower than one of the following:

0. 11 wt. % of D4 or 0.12 wt. % of D5 for the emulsion;

0. 1 for D4 or 0.07 for D5, when the content of D4 or D5 is expressed as a ratio of the wt. % of D4 or D5 to the non-water content of the quaternary ammonium surfactant B); or

1. 3 for D4 when the content of D4 is expressed as

((D4 AGED −D4 (t=0)) /% CS)*100, where D4 AGED is wt. % of D4 in the aged emulsion, D4 (t=0) is wt. % of D4 in the starting emulsion, and % CS is the mass fraction of the non-water content of the quaternary ammonium surfactant B) in the emulsion;

wherein the aminofunctional organopolysiloxane A) is present in an amount of from 15 to 80 wt. %, the quaternary ammonium surfactant B) is present in an amount of from 0.5 to 10 wt. %, and the nonionic surfactant C) is present in an amount of from 2 to 8 wt. %, each based on 100 wt. % of the emulsion.

2. The silicone emulsion of claim 1 , wherein R 1 and R 4 have the formula:

R 5 C(O)OR 6 —,

where R 5 C(O) is derived from a fatty acid or is derived from oleic acid, and R 6 is a divalent hydrocarbon group containing 1 to 4 carbon atoms, or R 6 is —CH 2 CH 2 —.

3. The silicone emulsion of claim 1 , wherein R 1 has the formula:

R 5 C(O)NHR 6 —,

where R 5 C(O) is derived from a fatty acid, R 6 is a divalent hydrocarbon group containing 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and R 4 is methyl.

4. The silicone emulsion of claim 1 , where R 2 is methyl and/or where R 3 is —CH 2 CH 2 OH.

5. The silicone emulsion of claim 1 , wherein the aminofunctional organopolysiloxane A) is a diorganopolysiloxane containing siloxy units of average formula:

[R 2 SiO 2/2 ] a [RR N SiO 2/2 ] b ,

where a is 1-1000,

b is 1-100,

R is independently a hydrocarbon containing 1-30 carbon atoms, and

R N is an aminofunctional group.

6. The silicone emulsion of claim 5 , wherein the aminofunctional organopolysiloxane A) is silanol, alkoxy, or trialkysiloxy endcapped.

7. The silicone emulsion of claim 6 , wherein the aminofunctional group has the formula:

—CH 2 CH(CH 3 )CH 2 NHCH 2 CH 2 NH 2 ,—CH 2 CH 2 CH 2 NH2, or —CH 2 CH 2 CH 2 NHCH 2 CH 2 NH 2 .

8. The silicone emulsion of claim 1 , wherein the nonionic surfactant C) is an ethoxylated alcohol.

9. The silicone emulsion of claim 1 , wherein the nonionic surfactant C) is an alkyl polyglucoside.

10. The silicone emulsion of claim 2 , where R 2 is methyl and/or where R 3 is —CH 2 CH 2 OH.

11. The silicone emulsion of claim 3 , where R 2 is methyl.

12. The silicone emulsion of claim 3 , where R 3 is —CH 2 CH 2 OH.

13. The silicone emulsion of claim 2 , wherein the aminofunctional organopolysiloxane A) is a diorganopolysiloxane containing siloxy units of average formula:

[R 2 SiO 2/2 ] a [RR N SiO 2/2 ] b ,

where a is 1-1000,

b is 1-100,

R is independently a hydrocarbon containing 1-30 carbon atoms, and

R N is an aminofunctional group.

14. The silicone emulsion of claim 1 , wherein:

the aminofunctional organopolysiloxane A) is present in an amount of from 47 to 71 wt. %;

the quaternary ammonium surfactant B) is present in an amount of from 1.3 to 6.7 wt. %; and

the nonionic surfactant C) is present in an amount of from 3.5 to 5.2 wt. %;

each based on 100 wt. % of the emulsion.

15. The silicone emulsion of claim 1 , wherein the emulsion is an oil/water emulsion and wherein the average volume particle size of dispersed siloxane particles in the oil/water emulsion is between 0.1 μm and 150 μm.

16. The silicone emulsion of claim 3 , wherein R 5 C(O) is derived from mink oil, and R 6 is —CH 2 CH 2 CH 2 —.

17. A process for preparing the emulsion of claim 1 , said process comprising:

I) forming a mixture comprising;

A) 100 parts by weight of an aminofunctional organopolysiloxane,

B) 0.1 to 50 parts by weight of a quaternary ammonium surfactant having a formula:

R 1 R 2 R 3 R 4 N + X − ,

where R 1 is an organofunctional group containing at least 10 carbon atoms,

R 2 is R 1 or a hydrocarbyl containing 1 to 12 carbon atoms,

R 3 is R 1 , R 2 , or an alcohol group containing 2 to 10 carbon atoms,

R 4 is R 1 , R 2 , or R 3 , and

X − is a halide, sulfate, sulfonate, methosulfate, ethosulfate or phosphate, and

C) 0.1 to 50 parts by weight of a nonionic surfactant;

II) admixing a sufficient amount of water to the mixture from step I) to form an emulsion;

and

III) optionally, further shear mixing the emulsion.

18. A composition comprising the emulsion according to claim 1 , wherein the composition is suitable for treating textiles or fabrics, alternatively wherein the composition is a hair care composition.