Abstract: Disclosed herein is a liquid absorbent material that is particularly useful as a liner material for personal care absorbent articles such as diapers, training pants, incontinence garments, sanitary napkins, bandages and the like. The material contains a plurality of peaks across its surface at spaced-apart intervals separated by channels. Disposed within the peaks is a liquid absorbing material capable of absorbing body exudates and liquids in general. Due to the materials and the nature of the construction of the present invention, when used as a liner material for personal care absorbent articles such as diapers, it tends to reduce the total surface area in contact with the infant's skin and it also provides a plurality of air channels within the diaper from the front waistband to the back waistband of the diaper thereby providing a path for increased air circulation.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a bulk-stretched pillowed laminate of two or more layers in which at least one of the layers is stretched before other layers are attached to it. In one execution, a thermoplastic film is stretched until it permanently deforms. Then, while still in a stretched state, a nonwoven web is laminated to the film and the resultant composite is allowed to relax slightly causing the nonwoven layer to gather and pucker, which in turn gives the composite a thicker and bulkier feel and appearance. The material of the present invention, while having a wide variety of uses, is particularly well-suited for use as an outercover for personal care absorbent articles, including diapers, training pants and sanitary napkins.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a breathable film and a breathable, cloth-like film/nonwoven composite made from the breathable film which is stretch-thinned and bonded to a fibrous polyolefin nonwoven web. Certain thermoplastic films such as, for example, linear low density polyethylene films are difficult to thermally bond to, for example, polypropylene nonwoven webs due to the incompatibility of the two polymers. The present invention incorporates a bonding agent into one or both of the two layers thereby making it easier to thermally bond the two layers together. Processes for forming the various composite are also disclosed.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a film/nonwoven laminate which incorporates a low gauge machine direction oriented film layer laminated to a nonwoven support layer. The individual layers are designed such that the film layer in the laminated state has an elongation at break value in the cross machine direction that is greater the elongation at peak load value for the nonwoven layer in the same direction. Consequently, if the laminate is subjected to severe stretching forces in the cross machine direction, the nonwoven layer will fail before the film layer. In addition, the laminate has a peak load value of at least 300 grams. As a result, the laminate is particularly useful as, for example, an outercover material for personal care absorbent articles.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a liquid-absorbing article which employs a high absorbency material such as superabsorbent particles. The particles are housed within discrete chambers formed within an absorbent core so as to provide access to incoming liquid and ample area for the particles to expand as they absorb the incoming liquid.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an improved loop portion of a hook and loop fastening system. The loop portion is a two-layer composite including a compressively resilient backing material and a layer of fibrous loop material. The loop material is placed adjacent the bottom surface of the backing material and then a plurality of the loop fibers are needled or stitched through the backing material to form a plurality of loops which project above the top surface of the backing material. Due to the resilient nature of the backing material, when a hook member is brought into engagement with the loop material, the backing material compresses thereby exposing a greater portion of the individual loops for engagement with the hooks. Once the hooks have been engaged, the backing material expands back to make the exposed portion of the loops smaller.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a process and apparatus for aperturing, creping and optionally laminating webs such as, for example, films and fibrous nonwovens. The present invention is also directed to the resultant materials. The process for aperturing and creping webs utilizes a pattern roll and an anvil roll with the anvil roll being rotated faster that the pattern roll. The resultant material is visually much different than conventional materials which are typically run through similar rolls wherein the pattern roll and anvil roll are run at the same speed or wherein the pattern roll is run faster than the anvil roll. The resultant materials have a wide variety of applications not the least of which includes a liner material for personal care absorbent articles such as diapers, training pants, feminine hygiene products, bandages and the like.

Abstract: Disclosed herein a personal care absorbent product which when first insulted, has a high initial surface moisture value which is maintained for several minutes but then, after a short period of time, drops to a lower value. As a result, the product has an initial "wet" feel but quickly changes to a drier feel so as to provide more comfort.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a durable adhesive-based ink-printed polyolefin nonwoven which is suitable for a number of uses the most basic of which is where a printed nonwoven is needed and that nonwoven will possibly be subjected to an amount of abrasion which would prematurely remove the ink from the surface of the nonwoven web. The two main components of the present invention are an adhesive-based ink and a polyolefin-based substrate onto which the adhesive-based ink is applied. The resultant composite must have a crock value of 4 or greater.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a breathable film and a breathable, cloth-like film/nonwoven composite made from the breathable film which is stretch-thinned and bonded to a fibrous polyolefin nonwoven web. Certain thermoplastic films such as, for example, linear low density polyethylene films are difficult to thermally bond to, for example, polypropylene nonwoven webs due to the incompatibility of the two polymers. The present invention incorporates a bonding agent into one or both of the two layers thereby making it easier to thermally bond the two layers together. Processes for forming the various composite are also disclosed.

Abstract: Disclosed herein a personal care absorbent article which when first insulted, has a high initial surface moisture value which is maintained for several minutes but then, after a short period of time, drops to a lower value. As a result, the product has an initial "wet" feel but quickly changes to a "drier" feel so as to provide more comfort long term to the wearer.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a combination apertured film and lofty fibrous nonwoven web separation layer which is particularly well suited for use as, among other things, a body side liner for personal care absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins and the like. When used in such applications, the material of the present invention has excellent liquid penetration rates and it resists rewet of the surface of the material.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a compressively resistant and resilient fibrous nonwoven web which is suitable for a wide variety of uses including, but not limited to, a portion of a personal care absorbent product which is located on the side of the absorbent core of the product which faces the wearer. The nonwoven web can include bicomponent fiber and has a thickness of 2.5 mm or greater at a pressure of 68.9 pascal, a specific volume of 14 cc/g or greater at a pressure of 6,895 pascal, and a Frazier air permeability of 100 cubic meters per square meter per minute or greater.

Abstract: The present invention encompasses flushable compositions and flushable products, such as flushable personal hygiene articles, flushable medical, hospital and surgical supplies, and flushable household wipes and packaging material that have sufficient wet tensile strength for their intended use, particularly prolonged or extended use, in the presence of body waste fluids, but which disintegrate and disperse in the presence of ordinary tap water so as to be flushable in a conventional toilet and disposable in municipal or private sewage systems without obstructing or clogging the toilet or sewage system.

Abstract: Disclosed is an abrasion resistant fibrous nonwoven structure composed of (1) a matrix of meltblown fibers having a first exterior surface, a second exterior surface, and an interior portion; and (2) at least one other fibrous material integrated into the meltblown fiber matrix so that the concentration of meltblown fibers adjacent each exterior surface of the nonwoven structure is at least about 60 percent, by weight, and the concentration of meltblown fibers in the interior portion is less than about 40 percent, by weight. This fibrous nonwoven structure provides useful strength and low-lint characteristics as well as an abrasion resistance that is at least about 25 percent greater than that of homogenous mixture of the same components. The fibrous nonwoven structure of the present invention may be used as a moist wipe.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a multi-color printed nonwoven laminate and a process for producing the laminate. The laminate includes a fibrous nonwoven web facing layer and a substrate layer bonded to the facing layer by a plurality of colored adhesive inks applied in a discrete bond pattern between the facing and substrate layers. The inks must provide a cohesion strength between the layers of at least about 38,000 N/m.sup.2 and the inks must be visible through the surface or the facing layer. The laminate so produced has good delamination characteristics, is aesthetically pleasing and the printed patterns are resistant to abrasion due to the position and nature of the inks. Suitable uses include an outercover for personal care absorbent articles such as diapers, training pants, incontinence garments, sanitary napkins, bandages and the like as well as a material for use as all or a portion of an article of clothing or a surgical drape.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a fibrous nonwoven web which is particularly well-suited for use as a surge layer in personal care absorbent articles including, but not limited to, diapers, training pants, incontinence garments, sanitary napkins, bandages and the like. The fibrous nonwoven web is made from a plurality of fibers heat bonded to one another to form a nonwoven web having a basis weight of at least 20 grams per square meter, a void volume of between about 40 and about 60 centimeters per gram of web while under a pressure of 689 dynes per square centimeter, a permeability of about 5,000 to about 8,000 darcy, a porosity of about 97.2 percent to about 98.8 percent and a surface area per void of about 24 to about 49 square centimeters per cubic centimeter. The fibrous nonwoven web will have a saturation capacity of between about 30 and about 50 grams of 0.9 percent saline solution per gram of web and a compression resilience in both the wet and dry state of at least about 60 percent.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a lofty fibrous nonwoven web which is particularly well-suited for use as a surge layer in personal care absorbent articles including, but not limited to, diapers, training pants, incontinence garments, sanitary napkins, bandages and the like. The fibrous nonwoven web is made from a plurality of fibers heat bonded to one another to form a lofty nonwoven web having a basis weight of at least 20 grams per square meter, a void volume of between about 80 and about 117 centimeters per gram of web while under a pressure of 689 dynes per square centimeter, a permeability of about 8,000 to about 15,000 darcy, a porosity of about 98.6 percent to about 99.4 percent and a surface area per void of about 10 to about 25 square centimeters per cubic centimeter. The fibrous nonwoven web will have a saturation capacity of between about 55 and about 80 grams of 0.9 percent saline solution per gram of web and a compression resilience in both the wet and dry state of at least about 60 percent.

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.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is an eye mask with a soft, comfortable frame assembly which makes it particularly well-suited for use in surgical, dental and healthcare related applications. In a preferred embodiment the eye mask has separated lenses attached to an elastic nonwoven frame to provide an adjustable fit for a wide variety of facial contours and eye spacings. The lenses may be provided with anti-glare and anti-fog treatments to maintain visual clarity during use. The frame may be breathable and treated to have specific areas of hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity so as to absorb perspiration and resist penetration of fluids splashed or sprayed onto the face during surgical procedures.