Water-decomposable non-woven fabric

Abstract

A water-decomposable non-woven fabric comprises a water-dispersible fiber layer, each fiber of which is bound with one another using a water-soluble binder comprising an unsaturated carboxylic acid/unsaturated carboxylic acid ester copolymer in which 1 to 60 mole % of the repeating units derived from the unsaturated carboxylic acid is in the form of a salt and which is soluble in tap water but is insoluble in an aqueous solution containing not less than 0.5% by weight of a neutral inorganic salt comprising a monovalent ion; the water-dispersible fiber layer being composed of a mixture of 40 to 90% by weight of fibers having a crimp number of 19/inch or less, 10 to 60% by weight of fibers having a crimp number of 20/inch to 25/inch, and not more than 10% by weight of fibers having a crimp number of 26/inch or more; and a content of the binder in the non-woven fabric being 1 to 30% by weight relative to the total weight of the non-woven fabric. The non-woven fabric has a good feeling (high softness and good touch) and sufficient mechanical strength, and can be easily broken and dispersed by throwing into a large amount of water.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.