Non-ionic plasticizer additives for wood pulps and absorbent cores
AssigneeRayonier Products and Financial Services Company
InventorsKrishnakumar Rangachari, Kays Chinai
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Soft wood pulp sheets, soft absorbent cores, and methods for making the soft wood pulp sheets or soft absorbent cores by addition of non-ionic plasticizers before, during or after the pulp or core manufacturing process are disclosed. Preferred non-ionic plasticizers are ethers or esters such as triacetin, citrates or glycol derivatives.
Claims34
A wood pulp sheet comprising:
- from about 90 weight percent to about 99.9 weight percent of cellulosic fibers;
- and,
- from about 0.1 weight percent to about 10 weight percent of at least one citrate
- wherein said sheet has a defiberization energy of from about 35 to about 60 Wh/kg.
An absorbent core comprising from 0.1% to 10% of at least one non-ionic plasticizer.
An absorbent core comprising:
- from about 90 weight percent to about 99.9 weight percent of cellulosic fibers;
- and,
- from about 0.1 weight percent to about 10 weight percent of at least one citrate
- wherein said core has a suppleness of greater than about 0.7 g−1;
- a density of from about 0.25 g/cc to about 0.5 g/cc and a basis weight of from about 200 g/m2 to about 550 g/m2.
An absorbent core comprising:
- from about 30 weight percent to about 90 weight percent of cellulosic fibers;
- from about 9.99 weight percent to about 60 weight percent of superabsorbent polymer;
- from about 0.1 weight percent to about 10 weight percent of at least one non-ionic plasticizer;
- wherein said core has a suppleness of greater than about 0.7 g−1;
- a density of from about 0.25 g/cc to about 0.5 g/cc and a basis weight of from about 200 g/m2 to about 550 g/m2.
A method for manufacturing a softened absorbent material from cellulosic fibers comprising the steps of:
- a) defiberizing cellulosic fibers to form defiberized cellulosic fibers;
- b) blending said defiberized cellulosic fibers with superabsorbent material to form a blended material;
- c) depositing said blended material onto a carrier layer under vacuum to form a layered absorbent web;
- and
- d) compressing said web to form an absorbent material,
- wherein an effective softening amount of at least one non-ionic plasticizer is added to at least one of said cellulosic fibers, said defiberized cellulosic fibers, said blended material, said web and said absorbent material.
A method for softening wood pulp sheets comprising the step of adding to said sheets an effective wood pulp sheet softening amount of at least one citrate of the formula
- wherein R1, R2 and R3 are each independently alkyl groups, and
- R4 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl groups and —C(O)R5,
- wherein R5 is an alkyl group.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.