Packaging and disposable article disposed therein

Abstract

An article of commerce includes a disposable cleaning article and a package. The package exhibits soft visual and sound characteristics, which convey a desired quality to be associated with the enclosed cleaning article. The package is formed as a multilayer packaging film including at least a co-extruded vapor barrier film layer and a polymeric film layer having a melting point at least about 20° C. less than the co-extruded film layer laminated to the co-extruded film layer. The polymeric film layer is sealable to form the package so as to enclose the disposable cleaning article, thereby to substantially retain the water content of the disposable cleaning article. The polymeric film layer further exhibits a corrected sound level of less than approximately 50 decibels at readily audible frequencies, such as 3-5 kHz. The reduced sound level may be achieved by providing a film with a high loss tangent. In addition, the multilayer packaging film may have an outer surface with a soft or “matte” appearance.

1 . A multilayer packaging film, which exhibits a corrected sound level of less than approximately 50 decibels at a sound level measurement frequencies of approximately 3150 Hz, comprising: 
 a multilayer coextruded vapor barrier film layer; and    a polymeric film layer having a melting point at least about 20° C. less than the coextruded film layer laminated to the coextruded film layer;    wherein the polymeric film layer is sealable to form a package,    wherein the vapor barrier film layer comprises an outer surface which exhibits a matte finish and    wherein at least one of the layers used in the vapor barrier film provides a vapor barrier having a water vapor transmission rate of less than about 5 g/m 2 /day.    
   
   
       2 . The packaging film of  claim 1 , in which the coextruded vapor barrier film layer is formed of polypropylene and the polymeric film layer is formed of polyethylene.  
   
   
       3 . The packaging film of  claim 1 , in which the outer surface has a reflectance of less than about 4 when illuminated at an incidence angle of 20° along directions parallel to each of the length dimension and the width dimension and less than about 30 when illuminated at an incidence angle of 60° along directions parallel to each of the length dimension and the width dimension.  
   
   
       4 . The packaging film of  claim 2 , in which the outer surface has a reflectance of less than about 4 when illuminated at an incidence angle of 20° along directions parallel to each of the length dimension and the width dimension and less than about 30 when illuminated at an incidence angle of 60° along directions parallel to each of the length dimension and the width dimension.  
   
   
       5 . The packaging film of  claim 3 , in which the outer surface is defined by an outer layer of a thermoplastic material having an appearance modification additive to impart a low reflectance.  
   
   
       6 . The packaging film of  claim 4 , in which the outer surface is defined by an outer layer of a thermoplastic material having an appearance modification additive to impart a low reflectance.  
   
   
       7 . The packaging film of  claim 5  wherein the appearance modification additive is CaCO 3 .  
   
   
       8 . The packaging film of  claim 6  wherein the appearance modification additive is CaCO 3 .  
   
   
       9 . The packaging film of  claim 1 , in which the co-extruded vapor barrier film layer comprises an inner ply laminated to the polymeric film later, a central poly and an outer ply which defines the outer surface, wherein the inner ply has a higher stiffness than the central and outer plies.  
   
   
       10 . The packaging film of  claim 2 , in which the co-extruded vapor barrier film layer comprises an inner ply laminated to the polymeric film later, a central poly and an outer ply which defines the outer surface, wherein the inner ply has a higher stiffness than the central and outer plies.  
   
   
       11 . The packaging film of  claim 9 , wherein the coextruded vapor barrier film has an overall thickness of approximately 20 microns.  
   
   
       12 . The packaging film of  claim 10 , wherein the coextruded vapor barrier film has an overall thickness of approximately 20 microns.  
   
   
       13 . The packaging film of  claim 1 , wherein the polymeric film has a thickness of approximately 40 microns.  
   
   
       14 . The packaging film of  claim 2 , wherein the polymeric film has a thickness of approximately 40 microns.