Fluid management layer for an absorbent article
AssigneeThe Procter & Gamble Company
InventorsGerard Alain VIENS, Carlos Domingo NARANJO MARTIN, Paul Dominic MELLOR, Andreas KNORR
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Abstract
A fluid management layer having an integrated, carded nonwoven is described. The fluid management layer has a basis weight of between about 40 grams per square meter (gsm) and about 75 gsm, and a plurality of absorbent fibers, a plurality of stiffening fibers and a plurality of resilient fibers. The fluid management layer may have a compression distance of at least 0.60 mm.
Claims20
A fluid management layer comprising an integrated, carded nonwoven having a basis weight of between about 40 grams per square meter (gsm) and about 75 gsm, and comprising:
- absorbent fibers selected from a group consisting of cotton fibers, pulp fibers, regenerated cellulose fibers and combinations thereof;
- stiffening fibers comprising bicomponent fibers having a sheath-core configuration in which the core component comprises PET and the sheath component comprises polyethylene;
- and resilient fibers comprising PET, wherein the stiffening fibers are heat treated to form a support matrix of fiber-to-fiber bonds between the sheath component of the stiffening fibers, wherein the fluid management layer has a caliper factor of greater than 0.22 to about 0.3, as determined by the Caliper Factor test method;
- wherein the absorbent fibers are present in an amount by weight that is less than an amount by weight that the stiffening fibers are present and is less than an amount by weight that the resilient fibers are present by weight.
A fluid management layer comprising an integrated, carded nonwoven comprising:
- absorbent fibers selected from a group consisting of cotton fibers, pulp fibers, regenerated cellulose fibers and combinations thereof;
- stiffening fibers comprising bicomponent fibers having a sheath-core configuration in which the core component comprises PET and the sheath component comprises polyethylene;
- and resilient fibers comprising PET, wherein the stiffening fibers are heat treated to form a support matrix of fiber-to-fiber bonds between the sheath component of the stiffening fibers, wherein the fluid management layer has a caliper of greater than 0.9 mm at 0.2 kPa in step 1 of a Dynamic Mechanical Analysis method;
- wherein the absorbent fibers are present in an amount by weight that is less than an amount by weight that the stiffening fibers are present and is less than an amount by weight that the resilient fibers are present by weight;
- and
- wherein the stiffening fibers comprise a linear density of from between about 2.0 dtex to about 6 dtex, as determined by the Fiber Decitex method.
A fluid management layer comprising an integrated, carded nonwoven having a basis weight of between about 40 grams per square meter (gsm) and about 75 gsm, and comprising:
- absorbent fibers selected from a group consisting of cotton fibers, pulp fibers, regenerated cellulose fibers and combinations thereof;
- stiffening fibers comprising bicomponent fibers having a sheath-core configuration in which the core component comprises PET and the sheath component comprises polyethylene;
- and resilient fibers comprising PET, wherein the stiffening fibers are heat treated to form a support matrix of fiber-to-fiber bonds between the sheath component of the stiffening fibers, wherein the absorbent fibers are present in an amount by weight that is less than an amount by weight that the stiffening fibers are present and is less than an amount by weight that the resilient fibers are present by weight, wherein the resilient fibers comprise a linear density of from about 4 dtex to about 15 dtex, as determined by the Fiber Decitex method, and wherein the stiffening fibers comprise a linear density of from between about 1.0 dtex to about 6 dtex, as determined by the Fiber Decitex method.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.