Absorbent article such as a diaper, an incontinence guard, a san

Details Absorbent article such as a diaper, an incontinence guard, a san Absorbent article such as a diaper, an incontinence guard, a san

1997-03-19

1999-03-23

Clarke, Robert A.

Surgery

Means and methods for collecting body fluids or waste material

Absorbent pad for external or internal application and...

604367, 156325, 156328, 156332, 1563084, A61F 1315, C09J 400

Patent

active

058852662

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is the 35 USC 371 national stage of International application PCT/SE95/01100 filed on Sep. 27, 1995, which designates the United States of America.


FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an absorbent article such as a diaper, an incontinence guard or a sanitary napkin, and also to the use of a hydrophilic glue in the manufacture of an absorbent article.


BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Hydrophilic glues are previously known from EP-A 1,297,769 for instance. This document describes a hydrophilic glue composition which can be used conveniently in products that are to be fastened to the skin, such as bandages.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,030 teaches a latex composition which when the liquid phase is removed, forms a film whose surface is hydrophilic. The latex composition can be used as a glue for fabric-like paper products.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,405 discloses adsorbent articles with a fast liquid transport through the outer layers to an absorbent body. This is achieved by arranging capillary channel fibres between the outer sheet and the absorbent body.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,963 describes hydrophilic hot melt adhesives for use in remoistenable applications. The document briefly mentions that the adhesives can be used in envelopes, bag sealing, bookbinding, diapers etc. without giving any construction details.
A surface sheet of an absorbent article, such as a diaper, an incontinence guard or a sanitary napkin, is normally comprised of nonwoven material, which is usually hydrophobic. In order to enable fluid, such as urine or menstruation fluid, to pass through this outer layer, the nonwoven layer is treated with a surfactant in order to make it hydrophilic. In order for a material to be considered to be hydrophilic, it must have a wetting angle of less than 90.degree.. Repeated wetting of the material will wash out the surfactant and the surface material will then become hydrophobic. This makes it difficult for liquid to pass down through the surface layer.


OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

The outer sheet is usually attached to the absorbent body by means of a hot melt glue. This glue is hydrophobic. One object of the present invention is to solve the problem of surfactants being washed out of the outer sheet and therewith prevent liquid from passing therethrough. It has surprisingly been found that this problem can be solved by joining the outer sheet to the absorbent body with a hydrophilic glue, such as to retain a hydrophilic surface which will continue to allow liquid to pass therethrough, despite being wetted repeatedly.
Another object of the present invention is to avoid the hydrophobic barrier that is formed by hydrophobic hot melt glues in present-day absorbent products.
A typical problem with absorbent articles is that the outer sheet loosens from the absorbent body after being wetted only once. In such cases, the hydrophilic glue is the bridging link which makes continued liquid transport possible.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, there may be used either a hydrophilic glue, for instance a dispersion glue, or a hydrophobic glue, for instance a hot melt, which has been made hydrophilic by modification. One advantage with using a modified hot melt is that it avoids a vapourization stage of the water in the dispersion glue, in the process of manufacturing the absorbent article. The hot melt can be modified by grafting an otherwise hydrophobic polymer, or by adding a surfactant to an otherwise hydrophobic hot melt, or by using starch as the base in the hot melt.
A hot melt glue which is based on a grafted polymer will preferably include 75-85 percent by weight of a graft copolymer and 15-25 percent by weight of an adhesive agent. The graft copolymer consists in 40-80 percent by weight of a vinyl monomer and 20-60 percent by weight of a water-soluble polyalkene oxide. The vinyl monomer is preferably vinyl acetate or an alkyl substituted acrylate, such as methyl acrylate or ethyl acrylate. The polyalkene oxide is p

REFERENCES:
patent: 5356405 (1994-10-01), Thompson et al.
patent: 5356963 (1994-10-01), Kauffman et al.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Absorbent article such as a diaper, an incontinence guard, a san does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Absorbent article such as a diaper, an incontinence guard, a san, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Absorbent article such as a diaper, an incontinence guard, a san will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2120957