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 - 9 . (canceled)
10 . A chewing gum which, upon chewing, forms a cud having an extensional strain hardening parameter greater than 2.0, wherein the chewing gum comprises an elastomer selected from the group consisting of 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 Tg below 70° C.; crosslinked polymeric microparticles; and combinations thereof.
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 . The chewing gum 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 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 . (canceled)
31 . (canceled)