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 having a length, a width, a thickness and opposite major faces, the absorbent structure comprising absorbent fibers and binder fibers, the binder fibers being multi-component fibers in which at least one binder fiber component has a melt temperature which is lower than a melt temperature of at least one other binder fiber component, the binder fibers having a substantially random orientation at said major faces.

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 thickness, the absorbent structure comprising absorbent fibers and binder fibers activatable 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 which is lower than a melt temperature of at least one other binder fiber component, the width of the absorbent structure being non-uniform along the length of said absorbent structure prior to 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 thickness, the absorbent structure comprising absorbent fibers, superabsorbent material and binder fibers activatable to form inter-fiber bonds within the absorbent structure, the superabsorbent material being distributed within the absorbent structure substantially across the full width of the absorbent structure, the width of the absorbent structure being non-uniform along the length of said absorbent structure prior to 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, a thickness and opposite major faces, the absorbent structure comprising absorbent fibers and binder fibers activated to form inter-fiber bonds within the absorbent structure, the thickness of the absorbent structure being non-uniform along at least one of the length and the width of the absorbent structure, the binder fibers having a substantially random orientation at said major faces.

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, the absorbent body comprising a non-woven absorbent structure of unitary construction and comprising absorbent fibers and binder fibers activated to form inter-fiber bonds within the absorbent structure, the absorbent structure having a length, a width and a thickness, the binder fibers comprising greater than zero percent and less than about five percent of the weight of the absorbent structure.