JP7733430B2 - Tube container - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a tube container.

Tube containers that can be filled and packaged with pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food, etc. are known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a tube container consisting of a spout, a shoulder, and a body. In the tube container disclosed in Patent Document 1, the highly rigid body is formed using a resin film material with a thickness of approximately 200 μm to 400 μm and a relatively high elastic modulus (strong stiffness). This causes a phenomenon known as an "air bag," in which air flows into the body as the body returns to its original shape after the contents are squeezed out. For this reason, tube containers actively use film materials with strong stiffness, with an emphasis on airbag properties.

JP 2016-199280 A

With this type of tube container, due to the stiffness of the film material, there was an issue where a small amount of content remained in gaps at both ends of the width of the body when the contents were squeezed out. Figure 2 shows a cross-section of the body when the contents are being squeezed out, cut along a plane perpendicular to the length. As shown in Figure 2, due to the stiffness of the film material, even when the body is crushed when squeezing the contents out, gaps that cannot be crushed remain at both ends of the width, i.e., around the bends in the film material, and this small amount of content remains in these gaps, resulting in the issue of not being able to use up all the contents.

The present invention was made in consideration of these issues, and aims to provide a tube container that can prevent contents from remaining at the widthwise ends of the body.

One aspect of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is a tube container including a cylindrical body portion formed of a film material containing a resin material, one end of which is closed and capable of containing contents, and a spout portion attached to the other end of the body and capable of closing the other end of the body, wherein the film material comprises a polyethylene terephthalate film, a nylon film, and a sealant layer, and has a thickness of 77 μm or more and 146 μm or less, and a loop stiffness value (loop length 60 mm) in the width direction of the body portion is 52 mN or more and 331 mN or less.

The present invention provides a tube container that prevents contents from remaining at the widthwise ends of the body.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a tube container according to an embodiment of the present invention; Cross-sectional view of a tube container according to the prior art

A tube container according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The tube container 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a body portion 10 with one end closed and a spout portion 20 attached to the other end of the body portion 10. Figure 1 is a front view of the tube container 100.

The outlet 20 is attached to the other end of the body 10 and is a component that allows the other end of the body 10 to be closed. As an example, the outlet 20 includes a hollow shoulder 21 whose outer diameter decreases with increasing distance from the other end of the body 10, and a tubular portion 22 that extends from the shoulder 21 on the opposite side from the body 10. The other end of the body 10 can be closed by attaching a cap or the like (not shown) to the tubular portion 22.

The body 10 is a cylindrical member with one closed end that can contain contents, and is formed using a film material containing a resin material. The body 10 has a bottom 11 at one end that is closed by bonding across an area across the width of the body 10. Additionally, as an example, the body 10 has a bonding portion 13 in the center of the width direction, formed by bonding together the ends of the body 10 in the width direction. The film material at the bonding portion 13 can be bonded using well-known methods, such as butt-to-butt bonding, in which the inner surfaces of the film material are bonded together, or envelope bonding, in which the inner and outer surfaces of the film material are bonded together.

The film material used for the body portion 10 has a thickness of 30 μm to 200 μm, and a loop stiffness value of 600 mN or less at a loop length of 60 mm in the width direction of the body portion 10. By making the film material thinner than the thickness of film materials used in conventional tube containers (approximately 200 μm to 400 μm) and setting the loop stiffness value to 600 mN or less, the rigidity of the body portion 10 can be reduced. This allows the radius of curvature of the widthwise ends of the body portion 10, i.e., the bent parts of the film material, to be reduced when squeezing out the contents, enabling the body portion 10 to be crushed evenly all the way to the ends. As a result, it is possible to prevent gaps from being created at both widthwise ends of the body portion 10 that cannot be crushed, and to prevent contents from remaining in these gaps.

In addition, by making the film material relatively thin, between 30 μm and 200 μm, and keeping the loop stiffness value to 600 mN or less, less material is used to form the film material, and the layer structure of the film material is simple, thereby reducing manufacturing costs.

Furthermore, because the film material has low elasticity, the tube container 100 can be manufactured using a bag-making machine that can produce bag-shaped packaging containers without using a relatively expensive tubing machine, thereby reducing manufacturing costs.

The film material used to form the body portion 10 may be a single-layer film or a multi-layer film formed by lamination or extrusion, as long as it has the thickness and loop stiffness values described above. The resin material contained in the film material is not particularly limited, but examples include polyethylene terephthalate (PET), nylon (NY), and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE). Depending on the functionality required of the body portion 10, the film member may also include well-known functional films. For example, a film containing aluminum foil or EVOH resin may be laminated to impart gas barrier properties.

Using the tube containers of Examples 1 to 5 and Comparative Examples 1 to 5, the size of the gaps that occurred at the widthwise ends when the body portion 10 was crushed was evaluated.

Example 1
As Example 1, a tube container shown in Fig. 1 was produced. The film material for the body was a multilayer film in which PET (25 µm)/PET (12 µm)/LLDPE (150 µm) were laminated in this order from the outer layer of the body.

Example 2
The difference between Example 2 and Example 1 is the layer structure of the film material. For the film material, a multilayer film was used in which PET (12 μm)/aluminum (9 μm)/NY (25 μm)/LLDPE (100 μm) were laminated in this order from the outer layer of the body.

Example 3
The difference between Example 3 and Example 1 is the layer structure of the film material. For the film material, a multilayer film was used in which PET (12 μm)/NY (25 μm)/LLDPE (100 μm) were laminated in this order from the outer layer of the body.

Example 4
The difference between Example 4 and Example 1 is the layer structure of the film material. For the film material, a multilayer film was used in which PET (12 μm)/NY (15 μm)/LLDPE (100 μm) were laminated in this order from the outer layer of the body.

Example 5
The difference between Example 5 and Example 1 is the layer structure of the film material. The film material used was a multilayer film in which PET (12 μm)/NY (15 μm)/LLDPE (50 μm) were laminated in this order from the outer layer of the body.

(Comparative Examples 1 to 5)
A commercially available tube container using a laminated multilayer film as the film material was used as Comparative Examples 1 to 4. Also, a commercially available tube container using a blow-molded single-layer film as the film material was used as Comparative Example 5.

Nine tube containers each for Examples 1 to 5 and Comparative Examples 1 to 5 were prepared without any contents, and pressure-sensitive paper was inserted into the body from the bottom. Three adult males then pinched and crushed the body of three tube containers of each level using their thumbs and index fingers. The area where the pressure-sensitive paper did not develop color was measured and recorded as the gap width W that occurred at the widthwise end of the body. As shown in Figure 2, the gap width W is the length in the width direction of the gap that occurred at the widthwise end of the body. Table 1 shows the thickness of the film material used for each tube container, the loop stiffness value (LS value) at a loop length of 60 mm, and the measured gap width W. The gap width W value is the average of the gap width W values obtained from the nine tube containers.

As shown in Table 1, in the tube containers of Examples 1 to 5, in which the film material had a thickness of 30 μm or more and 200 μm or less and a loop stiffness value of 600 mN or less, the gap width W was a small value of 2.00 mm or less. On the other hand, in the tube containers of Comparative Examples 1 to 5, in which the film material had a thickness of more than 200 μm and a loop stiffness value of more than 600 mN, the gap width W was a large value of 2.10 mm or more. These results confirm that by using a film material with a thickness of 30 μm or more and 200 μm or less and a loop stiffness value of 600 mN or less, it is possible to reduce the gap at the widthwise end of the body and prevent contents from remaining in the body.

The present invention can be used for packaging containers that can be filled with pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food, etc.

10 Body 11 Bottom 13 Joint 20 Spout 30 Shoulder 100 Tube container

Claims (1)

a cylindrical body portion having one end closed and capable of accommodating contents, the body portion being formed of a film material containing a resin material;
a spout portion attached to the other end of the body portion and capable of closing the other end of the body portion,
The film material is
A polyethylene terephthalate film, a nylon film, and a sealant layer,
The thickness is 77 μm or more and 146 μm or less, and the loop stiffness value (loop length 60 mm) in the width direction of the body portion is 52 mN or more and 331 mN or less.
Tube container.