Absorbent article having an ideal core distribution and method of preparing same
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An absorbent article comprising:
- a core comprised of pulp, a polymer or a combination thereof;
wherein the core has a maximum Distribution Index (DImax) of at least about 6,000 g/m3.
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Abstract
An absorbent article and a method for preparing an absorbent article is disclosed. The absorbent article has a core comprised of pulp, a polymer or a combination thereof. The absorbent article conforms to a certain Distribution Index (DI) or a certain Distribution Index (DI) profile that confers one or more superior properties to the core and in turn to the absorbent article, such as superior absorbency efficiency and superior cost efficiency. The method for preparing the absorbent article uses DI values (e.g., DImax, DImin, DImale and DIfemale) or a DI profile as design parameters for providing absorbent articles having one or more superior characteristics.
88 Citations
76 Claims
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1. An absorbent article comprising:
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a core comprised of pulp, a polymer or a combination thereof;
wherein the core has a maximum Distribution Index (DImax) of at least about 6,000 g/m3. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An absorbent article comprising:
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a core comprised of pulp, a polymer or a combination thereof;
wherein the core has a Distribution Indexi,j (DIi,j) at −
5,0 of at least about 5,750 g/m3 or a Distribution Indexi,j (DIi,j) at 10,0 of at least about 4,250 g/m3. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. An absorbent article comprising:
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a core comprised of pulp, a polymer or a combination thereof;
wherein the core has a Distribution Indexi,j (DIi,j) at −
5,0 of at least about 5,750 g/m3;
wherein the core has a Distribution Indexi,j (DIi,j) at 0,0 of at least about 6,000 g/m3;
wherein the core has a Distribution Indexi,j (DIi,j) at 5,0 of at least about 5750 g/m3;
wherein the core has a Distribution Indexi,j (DIi,j) at 10,0 of at least about 4,250 g/m3; and
wherein the core has a Distribution Index (DI) at i,j=15,0 of at least about 3,250 g/m3.
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24. An absorbent article comprising:
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a core comprised of pulp, a polymer or a combination thereof;
said core having a first Distribution Index (DImale) measured at a male insult point and a second Distribution Index (DIfemale) measured at a female insult point;
wherein the difference between the DImale and the DIfemale is at most about 1,000 g/m3. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. An absorbent article comprising:
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a core comprised of pulp, a polymer or a combination thereof;
said core being said core being designed to provide a predetermined characteristic using general formula I;
wherein N is the total number of core cells of the core, each core cell of the core corresponding to each of a plurality of 0.75 inch squares on a predetermined grid;
wherein T is each positive integer from 1 to N, each positive integer corresponding to each core cell of the core in numerical order;
wherein DISTT is a distance in centimeters (cm) between the center of the core cell corresponding to T and point i,j;
wherein BWT is the basis weight of each core cell, each core cell corresponding to each value for T; and
wherein i,j is a coordinate representing a point on the core. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. An absorbent article prepared by a process comprising
forming a core according to a predetermined maximum Distribution Index (DImax); - and
placing or forming the core into an absorbent article;
wherein the core is comprised of pulp, a polymer or a combination thereof. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57)
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58. An absorbent article prepared by a process comprising:
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forming a core having a Distribution Index (DI) at i,j=0,0 of at least about 4750 g/m3 or a Distribution Index (DI) at i,j=12.0 of at least about 5750 g/m3; and
placing or forming the core into an absorbent article;
wherein the core is comprised of pulp, a polymer or a combination thereof.
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59. An absorbent article prepared by a process comprising:
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forming a core having a Distribution Indexi,j (DIi,j) at −
5,0 of at least about 5,750 g/m3, a Distribution Indexi,j (DIi,j) at 0,0 of at least about 6,000 g/m3, a Distribution Indexi,j (DIi,j) at 5,0 of at least about 5,750 g/m3, a Distribution Indexi,j (DIi,j) at 10,0 of at least about 4,250 g/m3; and
a Distribution Indexi,j (DIi,j) at 15,0 of at least about 3,250 g/m3;
wherein the core is comprised of pulp, a polymer or a combination thereof.
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60. An absorbent article prepared by a process comprising:
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forming a core comprised of pulp, a polymer or a combination thereof;
the core having a first Distribution Index (DImax) measured at a male insult point and a second Distribution Index (DIfemale) measured at a female insult point;
wherein the difference between the DImale and the DIfemale is at most about 1,000 g/m3. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
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68. An absorbent article prepared by a process comprising:
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selecting a Distribution Index (DI) or Distribution Index (DI) profile;
forming a core wherein the DI or DI profile is characterized by the general formula (I);
wherein N is the total number of core cells of the core, each core cell of the core corresponding to each of a plurality of 0.75 inch squares on a predetermined grid;
wherein T is each positive integer from 1 to N, each positive integer corresponding to each core cell of the core in numerical order;
wherein DISTT is a distance in centimeters (cm) between the center of the core cell corresponding to T and point i,j;
wherein BWT is the basis weight of each core cell, each core cell corresponding to each value for T; and
wherein i,j is a coordinate representing a point on the core.
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69. An absorbent article comprising:
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a core comprised of pulp, a polymer or a combination thereof;
wherein the core has a Distribution Indexi,j (DIi,j) that is substantially the same at a first insult point and a second insult point, the first insult point being the insult point at commencement of use of the absorbent article and the second insult point being the insult point after use of the absorbent article. - View Dependent Claims (70, 71, 72, 73, 74)
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75. A method for preparing an absorbent article comprising:
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selecting a Distribution Index at a point on a core or selecting a Distribution Index profile for a core;
forming the core according to the selected Distribution Index or Distribution Index profile; and
.placing or forming the core into the absorbent article;
wherein the core is comprised of pulp, a polymer or a combination thereof.
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76. A method for determining the Distribution Index (DI) of an absorbent article comprising:
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obtaining a core;
removing a plurality of samples from the core each sample corresponding to a core cell;
determining the basis weight of each core cell;
determining the distance from the center of each core cell (T) to an insult point; and
calculating the DI Index for the insult point according to general formula (I);
wherein N is the total number of core cells of the core, each core cell of the core corresponding to each of a plurality of 0.75 inch squares on a predetermined grid;
wherein T is each positive integer from 1 to N, each positive integer corresponding to each core cell of the core in numerical order;
wherein DISTT is a distance in centimeters (cm) between the center of the core cell corresponding to T and point i,j;
wherein BWT is the basis weight of each core cell, each said core cell corresponding to each value for T; and
wherein i,j is a coordinate representing a point on the core.
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Specification