Absorbent article with stabilized absorbent structure

An absorbent article comprising:

• a liner adapted for contiguous relationship with the wearer's body;
• an outer cover in generally opposed relationship with the liner;
• and
• an absorbent body disposed between the liner and the outer cover and comprising a non-woven absorbent structure comprising absorbent fibers and binder fibers activated to form inter-fiber bonds within the absorbent structure, the binder fibers being multi-component fibers in which at least one binder fiber component has a melt temperature that is lower than a melt temperature of at least one other binder fiber component, the absorbent structure having a length, a thickness, a width and opposite side edges generally defining the width of the structure, the width of the absorbent structure being non-uniform along the length of the absorbent structure, the opposite side edges of the absorbent structure being substantially uncut along the length of the absorbent structure.

An absorbent article comprising:

• a liner adapted for contiguous relationship with the wearer's body;
• an outer cover in generally opposed relationship with the liner;
• and
• an absorbent body disposed between the liner and the outer cover and comprising a non-woven absorbent structure having a length, a thickness, and a width, the thickness of the absorbent structure being non-uniform along at least one of the length and the width of the absorbent structure, said absorbent structure being of unitary construction and comprising absorbent fibers and binder fibers activated to form inter-fiber bonds within the absorbent structure, said absorbent structure being unmolded during and after activation of the binder fibers.

An absorbent article comprising:

• a liner adapted for contiguous relationship with the wearer's body;
• an outer cover in generally opposed relationship with the liner;
• and
• an absorbent body disposed between the liner and the outer cover and comprising a non-woven absorbent structure having a length, a width, and a basis weight, the width of the absorbent structure being non-uniform along the length of the non-woven structure, the basis weight of the absorbent structure being non-uniform along at least one of the length and the width of the absorbent structure, said absorbent structure being of unitary construction and comprising absorbent fibers and binder fibers activated to form inter-fiber bonds within the absorbent structure, the absorbent structure having opposite major faces which are substantially unmolded during and after activation of the binder fibers.

An absorbent article comprising:

• a liner adapted for contiguous relationship with the wearer's body;
• an outer cover in generally opposed relationship with the liner;
• and
• an absorbent body disposed between the liner and the outer cover and comprising a non-woven absorbent structure comprising absorbent fibers and binder fibers activated to form inter-fiber bonds within the absorbent structure, the binder fibers being multi-component fibers in which at least one binder fiber component has a melt temperature that is lower than a melt temperature of at least one other binder fiber component, the absorbent structure having a length, a thickness, a width and opposite side edges generally defining the width of the structure, the width of the absorbent structure being non-uniform along the length of the absorbent structure, the side edges each having a surface contour no portion of which is concave.

An absorbent article comprising:

• a liner adapted for contiguous relationship with the wearer's body;
• an outer cover in generally opposed relationship with the liner;
• and
• an absorbent body disposed between the liner and the outer cover and comprising a non-woven absorbent structure having a length, a thickness, a width, opposite side edges generally defining the width of the structure, and opposite major surfaces, the thickness of the absorbent structure being non-uniform across the width of the structure along at least a portion of the length of said structure, said absorbent structure having a brightness gradient across its width at said portion in the range of about 0.5 to about 3.0 gray units/mm as determined by an absorbent structure brightness test.

An absorbent article comprising:

• a liner adapted for contiguous relationship with the wearer's body;
• an outer cover in generally opposed relationship with the liner;
• and
• an absorbent body disposed between the liner and the outer cover and comprising a non-woven absorbent structure having a length, a thickness, a width and opposite side edges generally defining the width of the structure, the width of the absorbent structure being non-uniform along the length of the absorbent structure, the side edges of the absorbent structure having an edge brightness profile defined by a second order polynomial function as determined by an edge brightness test, said function having a coefficient “a” of the X2 term in the range of about −15 to about 20 and a coefficient “b” of the X term in the range of about 10 to about 40.