Thermoplastic fibrous nonwoven webs for use as core wraps in absorbent articles
AssigneeKimberly-Clark Corporation
InventorsFrank P. Abuto, Richard J. Schmidt, Patrick E. O'Brien, Michael W. Veith, Anthony J. Wisneski
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention is directed to an absorbent article with a tissue-wrapped absorbent core wherein the tissue is made from a specifically designed thermoplastic fibrous nonwoven web which is particularly well-suited to trapping and retaining particulate material such as superabsorbent particles. The invention has particular application in conjunction with personal care products such as diapers, training pants, incontinence garments, sanitary napkins, bandages and the like.
Claims16
An absorbent article comprising:
- an absorbent core including particulate superabsorbent and
- a fibrous nonwoven web core wrap for containing said particulate, said core wrap comprising a plurality of thermoplastic fibers, said core wrap having a plurality of pores with a mean flow pore size less than about 30 microns and wherein no more than five percent of said plurality of pores have a pore size greater than 50 microns, said core wrap having a wet to dry strength ratio in the machine direction or the cross-machine direction of 0.5 or greater, said core wrap further having a Frazier air permeability of at least 200 cubic feet per square foot per minute.
A process for forming an absorbent article comprising:
- forming a fibrous nonwoven web core wrap by extruding a molten thermoplastic polymer into a plurality of molten streams,
- attenuating said plurality of molten streams into a plurality of fibers and depositing said plurality of fibers onto a forming surface to form a fibrous nonwoven web core wrap having a plurality of pores with a mean flow pore size of less than about 30 microns with no more than five percent of said plurality of pores having a pore size greater than 50 microns and with said fibrous nonwoven web core wrap having a wet to dry strength ratio in the machine direction or the cross-machine direction of 0.5 or greater and a Frazier air permeability of at least 200 cubic feet per square foot per minute,
- depositing a quantity of particulate superabsorbent onto said core wrap, and
- sealing said core wrap to envelope said particulate superabsorbent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.