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Formulation for clear gel toothpaste.
Hi everyone.
I am trying to formulate a transparent (maybe translucent) toothpaste. I used Sorbosil TC15 (Hydrated silica) for binder/thickener but percentage up to 8% still dont build desired viscosity. So i tried Carbopol 980 with 0.5%, then i got problem with disperse Carbopol because my formula is too little water (8%), rest of solvent is sorbitol and glycerine (72%).
Can anyone give me some advice for disperse Carbopol? May i disperse Carbopol in ethanol before hydrating? My formula dont have any oil phase for disperse carbopol. And i use Sodium CMC for thicker already.
Thank for your help.
P/s: When change from Sorbosil to Carbopol, i substitute Benzyl alcohol for Sodium Benzoate. Is toothpaste formula okay with benzyl alcohol? -
8 Replies
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I’m working on this at the moment, including the Sorbosil TC15, though I am swapping (owing to work wanting me to reduce all our single ingredient suppliers) to Evonik Zeodent 168 as the viscosity forming part and Zeodent 115 as the abrasive.
On their own, the TC145 or Zeodent 168 isn’t enough to form a gel. I have used Sodium CMC (Cekol 2000) at 0.5% to further increase the gel.I’ve not tried with carbopol - you need to neutralise this to get the full gelling effect, and not sure how this would do at more alkali pH. I have tried dispersing this in glycerol previously, when you add the water it thickens up nicely.
Translucency is the bit I am struggling with. You need to match the refractive index of the liquid (Sorbitol, glycerol, water) with the refractive index of the various silicon dioxides - and you need to mix in a vacuum to de-aerate otherwise it is just as white as if you has used calcium carbonate.
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@MapX There’s a very useful article about how to formulate toothpastes using Carbopol: https://www.lubrizol.com/-/media/Lubrizol/Life-Sciences/Documents/Literature/Bulletin-24—Formulating-Toothpaste-Using-Carbopol.pdf
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@Herbnerd Thank you for your advice. I will try add Carbopol and Sodium CMC in glycerol.@ketchito Thank you. I read this article and another about dispersion Carbopol, but my lab dont have enough equipment. I just have magnetic stirrers, this very hard to homogenize when combine 2 polymers. So I need disperse Carbopol in solvent before swelling. When scale up, with vacuum homogenizer, all things will be easier.
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For work, I have a kitchenaid mixer to do all my development work. I do have access vintage vacuum mixer to do the de-aeration, and I fill the toothpaste tubes with a chef’s piping bag and cream nozzle; and seal the tubes with a hair straightener!
A company with $10 billion of sales can’t stump up $15K on some basic lab equipment!
It can be done on a budget if you need to!
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@Herbnerd. A kitchenaid mixer is exactly what i need !!!. I never think about this before. Thank you so much.
I work in a small company main focus on health supplement, so a Silverson mixer or somthing like that for cosmetic R&D only in my dream. :smiley: -
Hi. I might have a simple solution for all of you who struggle with lack of deaerating equipment. Buy a used old vacuum mixer used in the dental/prostethics industry to mix plasters. We have just bought a used Wasserman Wamix 2M with 4 beakers. 400$
) and works perfectly. Remember to buy a version with a built-in vacuum pump and you will be more than fine for all formulations of toothpastes, hand soaps etc. I hope to have been of help. -
All the memory hit back, this is my first cosmetic product <3. I still got problem with “air entrapment” when scale up to commercial product, our vaccum homogenizer not so much suitable for manufacturing toothpaste. Special thank for your help @Herbnerd.
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@MapX
What is your formulation?Whilst I can get a nice clear gel in the lab, production seems to be a hit and miss - though it seems that the vacuum pump wasn’t drawing enough vacuum and not de-aerating properly. It also seems we can’t manufacture multiple batches without a thorough clean-down between.
We went from 1 kg lab trials straight to 800 kg trial batches (no equipment to do scale-up trials) so lots of trouble-shooting during production at the moment.
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