Nonwoven fabric, method for producing nonwoven fabric, and absorbent article
AssigneeUni-Charm Corporation
InventorsKatsuhiro Uematsu, Hideyuki Ishikawa, Kouichirou Tani
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Abstract
The invention provides a nonwoven fabric having good fluid drawing properties, in which fluid hardly remains, a method for producing a nonwoven fabric, and an absorbent article. The nonwoven fabric has a thickness direction and a planar direction perpendicular to the thickness direction, and includes a high density region having a higher fiber density than an average fiber density. The high density region penetrates from one side to another side in the thickness direction.
Claims16
A nonwoven fabric that has opposite first and second sides, a thickness direction between the first and second sides, and a planar direction perpendicular to the thickness direction, the nonwoven fabric comprising:
- a high density region having a higher fiber density than an average fiber density of the nonwoven fabric and penetrating from the first side to the second side in the thickness direction,
- wherein the fiber density of the high density region in the first side is higher than that in the second side.
A method of producing a nonwoven fabric, said method comprising:
- heating, without pressing, a fibrous web that has a thickness direction and contains a heat-shrinkable fiber having thermal welding properties at a temperature at which the heat-shrinkable fiber melts and undergoes thermal shrinkage, to define the fibrous web that includes, on a side thereof, a convex section and a concave section, wherein fibers are more densely gathered in a region corresponding to the convex section than in a region corresponding to the concave section;
- and
- pressing the fibrous web in the thickness direction such that the convex section that has been formed on the surface of the fibrous web in the heating is crushed,
- wherein the pressing is performed after the heating.
An absorbent article that has a thickness direction and a planar direction perpendicular to the thickness direction and that is adapted to contact with a human body, the absorbent article comprising:
- a top face sheet, at least part of which is fluid-permeable;
- a fluid-impermeable back face sheet;
- a fluid-retaining absorbent body disposed between the top face sheet and the back face sheet;
- and
- a nonwoven fabric disposed between the top face sheet and the absorbent body in the thickness direction,
- wherein
- the nonwoven fabric includes a high density region that has a higher fiber density than an average fiber density of the nonwoven fabric,
- the high density region penetrating from a first side of the nonwoven fabric close to the absorbent body to a second side of the nonwoven fabric close to the top face sheet of the nonwoven fabric in the thickness direction,
- the fiber density of the high density region in the first side is higher than that in the second side.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.