Absorbent articles having soft, strong nonwoven component
First Claim
1. A disposable absorbent article comprising a liquid pervious topsheet, a liquid impervious backsheet, and an absorbent core disposed between said topsheet and said backsheet, wherein said topsheet comprises:
- a apertured nonwoven comprising fibers comprising polyethylene, at least a portion of said fibers being consolidated, said nonwoven being permanently mechanically stretched in the cross-machine direction and having a cross-machine direction tensile strength of at least about 300 g/in and a cross-machine direction elongation at break of at least about 40%.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A nonwoven that is exceptionally soft yet sufficiently strong for use in absorbent articles is disclosed. The soft, strong nonwoven includes fibers comprising polyethylene, at least a portion of which are consolidated. The soft, strong nonwoven has a cross-machine direction tensile strength of at least about 300 g/in and a cross-machine direction elongation at break of at least about 40%.
The soft, strong nonwoven is preferably formed by permanently stretching an inelastic base nonwoven in the cross-machine direction. The preferred base nonwoven has certain properties which allow it to have sufficient strength after stretching, while being exceptionally soft, such that the resultant permanently stretched, soft, strong nonwoven is particularly suitable for use as a topsheet or a back sheet component in disposable absorbent articles. More specifically, the preferred base nonwoven has a cross-machine direction elongation at break of at least about 175% and a cross-machine direction tensile strength of at least about 400 g/in. A particularly preferred base nonwoven also has a filament denier of from 1.5 to 10, a basis weight of from 15 to 30 gsy, and, for thermal point bonded nonwovens, a consolidation area of from 4 to 40%.
318 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A disposable absorbent article comprising a liquid pervious topsheet, a liquid impervious backsheet, and an absorbent core disposed between said topsheet and said backsheet, wherein said topsheet comprises:
- a apertured nonwoven comprising fibers comprising polyethylene, at least a portion of said fibers being consolidated, said nonwoven being permanently mechanically stretched in the cross-machine direction and having a cross-machine direction tensile strength of at least about 300 g/in and a cross-machine direction elongation at break of at least about 40%.
- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A disposable absorbent article comprising:
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a liquid impervious backsheet having a garment surface and a body surface, said backsheet comprising a layer of liquid impervious polymer material and a nonwoven, said nonwoven comprising fibers comprising polyethylene, at least a portion of said fibers being consolidated, said nonwoven being permanently mechanically stretched in the cross-machine direction and having a cross-machine direction tensile strength of at least about 300 g/in and a cross-machine direction elongation at break of at least about 40%, said nonwoven having a garment surface and a body surface; and an absorbent core disposed adjacent said body surface of said backsheet. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification