Silicone incorporation into an esterquat based fabric softener in presence of guar polymers

Fabric softeners are widely used to make clothes sof t and impart nice smell. Household conditioners are water-based formulations consisting of quaterna r y ammoniu m surfactants assembled in vesicles. On the other hand, formulations used for textiles finishing are typically silicone oi l emulsions. Here, these technologies are com-bined in a novel industrial formulation which contains both surfactant vesicles and silicone oil. In particular, we insert an amino-modified silicone oi l into a recently developed softener comprising vesicles of an esterquat and guar polymers. Two strategies based on the use of esterquat or guar gu m as stabilizers for the silicone incor-poration in the fabric sof tener are proposed. Dynamic light scattering (DLS), cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), optical and fluorescent microscopy are applied to study the stability and the insertion of the silicone oi l into the softener. It is shown that silicone oi l is stabilized by the surfactant and the guar gu m in nano-or micro-metric droplets. The vesicles structure and properties are not affected by the silicone oi l while the formulation?s stability is preserved. These findings suggest that the proposed route for adding silicone oi l into a topical conditioner is a promising route for multi-purpose fabric softener development.