Systems and methods of forming and analyzing dissolvable articles
Systems and methods of forming and analyzing a dissolvable article are provided herein. In an embodiment, a method of forming a dissolvable article with excellent dissolution performance includes heating a dissolvable composition that includes a water-soluble block copolymer at heating conditions that are sufficient to render the copolymer flowable and to form a hot melt composition. The water-soluble block copolymer is solid at ambient conditions. The method further includes solidifying the dissolvable composition to form the dissolvable article. A surface of the dissolvable article is analyzed for surface texture using a three-dimensional imaging device to produce a data set that is representative of the surface texture. If the data set fails to at least equal a predetermined threshold value, the method further includes reformulating the dissolvable composition to form a reformulated dissolvable composition.
1. A method for formulating a dissolvable article, wherein the method comprises:
(a) establishing a threshold value that correlates to an acceptable dissolution performance for a dissolvable article; by conducting testing runs by which surface texture of dissolvable articles is analyzed with a three-dimensional imaging device in conjunction with actual dissolution of the dissolvable articles in a solvent.
(b) heating a dissolvable composition comprising a water-soluble block copolymer at heating conditions sufficient to render the copolymer flowable and to form a hot melt composition, wherein the water-soluble block copolymer is solid at ambient conditions;
(c) solidifying the hot melt composition to form the dissolvable article; obtained in step (c)
(d) analyzing a surface of the dissolvable article for surface texture comprising capturing a plurality of images of the surface of the dissolvable article using the three-dimensional imaging device to produce an observed data set representative of the surface texture including a measurement of pore density, surface roughness, and optionally, elevation density, and depression density;
wherein if the observed data set fails to at least equal the threshold value, the method further comprises reformulating the dissolvable composition and repeating the above steps (b) to (d) until the reformulated dissolvable composition has an observed data set at least equal the threshold value.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein heating the dissolvable composition comprises heating the dissolvable composition further comprising a glycol fatty acid ester and, optionally, a filler.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein if the data set fails to at least equal the threshold value, the reformulating comprises adjusting an amount of the water-soluble block copolymer, glycol fatty acid ester, and/or the filler in the dissolvable composition to form the reformulated dissolvable composition.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the surface using the three-dimensional imaging device comprises suppressing specular reflection from the surface of the dissolvable article during analysis.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein suppressing specular reflection comprises one or more of polarization filtering or selective elimination of data from the data set that is attributable to specular reflection.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein analyzing the surface of the dissolvable article comprises processing the at least one image using a contrast function to produce the data set representative of the surface texture.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein heating the dissolvable composition comprises heating the dissolvable composition comprising the block copolymer and a fragrance, and wherein solidifying the hot melt composition forms the dissolvable article as a laundry pastille.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein solidifying the hot melt composition comprises solidifying the hot melt composition to form the dissolvable article having a flat surface of sufficient area to allow effective analysis using the three-dimensional imaging device.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein solidifying the hot melt composition comprises solidifying the hot melt composition to form the dissolvable article having a flat surface with a surface area of at least 4 cm 2 .
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the surface of the dissolvable article for surface texture comprises using the three-dimensional imaging device to produce the observed data set representative of the surface texture further including a measurement of elevation density.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the surface of the dissolvable article for surface texture comprises using the three-dimensional imaging device to produce the observed data set representative of the surface texture further including a measurement of depression density.