Flexible, porous, dissolvable solid sheet articles having large pores and method of making same

1. A process for making a sheet article, comprising the steps of:

a) preparing a wet pre-mixture comprising a water-soluble polymer and a surfactant and having a viscosity of from 1,000 cps to 25,000 cps measured at 40° C. and 1 s −1 ;

b) aerating said wet pre-mixture to form an aerated wet pre-mixture having a density of from 0.05 to 0.5 g/ml;

c) aging said aerated wet pre-mixture for at least 5 min;

d) forming said aged aerated wet pre-mixture into a sheet having opposing first and second sides; and

e) drying said formed sheet for a drying time of from 1 minute to 60 minutes to make the sheet article.

2. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the step c) is conducted for a duration from 5 min to 300 min.

3. The process according to claim 1 , wherein said sheet of aged aerated wet pre-mixture is dried on a heated surface that has a controlled surface temperature of from 70° C. to 170° C.

4. The process according to claim 3 , wherein said heated surface is the outer surface of a rotary drum dryer.

5. The process according to claim 4 , wherein said heated surface is the outer surface of a heated moving belt.

6. The process according to claim 4 , wherein in the step d), said sheet is formed by using a spinning bar that is rotating at a speed of from 5 to 80 rpm.

7. The process according to claim 6 , wherein the spinning bar is positioned so that the distance between the spinning bar and the outer surface of the rotary drum is from 3 mm to 15 mm.

8. The process according to claim 4 , wherein in step d), said sheet is formed by a feeding die having a feeding speed of from 0.1 m/min to 50 m/min.

9. The process according to claim 8 , wherein the feeding die has a feeding thickness of from 0.5 mm to 10 mm.

10. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the wet pre-mixture is characterized by: (1) a solid content ranging from from 25% to 45% by weight of said wet pre-mixture; and (2) a viscosity ranging from 5,000 cps to 23,000 cps as measured at 40° C. and 1 s −1 .

11. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the wet pre-mixture is preheated to a temperature of from 40° C. to 100° C., before aeration; and/or wherein the wet pre-mixture is maintained at a temperature of from 40° C. to 100° C.

12. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the aerating in the step b) is accomplished by introducing a gas into the wet pre-mixture utilizing: a rotor stator mixer, a planetary mixer, a pressurized mixer, a non-pressurized mixer, a batch mixer, a continuous mixer, a semi-continuous mixer, a high shear mixer, a low shear mixer, a submerged sparger, or any combinations thereof.

13. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the drying in the step e) is conducted at a temperature from 70° C. to 200° C. along a heating direction that forms a temperature gradient decreasing from the first side to the opposing second side of said formed sheet, wherein said heating direction is substantially opposite to the gravitational direction for more than half of the drying time.

14. The process according to claim 13 , wherein the drying time is from 2 to 15 minutes; and/or wherein the drying temperature is from 95° C. to 140° C.; and wherein said heating direction is substantially opposite to the gravitational direction for more than 75% of the drying time.

15. The process of claim 1 , wherein the aerated wet pre-mixture is aged for about 10 to about 150 minutes.

16. The process of claim 1 , wherein said sheet of aged aerated wet pre-mixture is dried on a heated surface and the heated surface is a primary heat source for said sheet during drying.

17. The process of claim 16 , wherein the heated surface is the only heat source for said sheet during drying.

18. The process of claim 4 , wherein the rotary drum dryer is rotated at a speed of from 0.005 rpm to 0.25 rpm, during the drying step.

19. The process of claim 1 , wherein the aerated wet pre-mixture is maintained at a temperature of from 10° C. to 100° C., during aging.

20. The process of claim 1 , wherein the aerated wet premixture is maintained at a temperature of 20° C. to 40° C., during aging.