RU2827023C2 - Nonwoven material (embodiments) - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: nonwoven materials.

SUBSTANCE: in one embodiment, a nonwoven material comprising a plurality of fibers may comprise a first surface and a second surface. First surface can be opposite to the second surface. Nonwoven material may contain a plurality of nodes extending from the base plane on the first surface. At least a large portion of the plurality of nodes has an anisotropy value greater than 1.0, as determined by a test method based on analysis of the nodes.

EFFECT: disclosed are three-dimensional nonwoven materials and methods of making such materials.

17 cl, 15 dwg, 2 tbl

Description

Field of technology

The present invention relates to nonwoven materials. More specifically, the present invention relates to three-dimensional nonwoven materials.

Background of the invention

Fibrous nonwoven fabric materials are widely used in a variety of applications, including but not limited to absorbent structures and cleaning products, many of which are disposable. In particular, such materials are commonly used in absorbent personal care products such as diapers, diaper pants, potty training pants, feminine hygiene products, adult incontinence products, bandages, and cleaning products such as baby and adult wet wipes. They are also commonly used in cleaning products such as wet and dry disposable wipes that may be treated with cleaning or other compounds that are intended for use by hand or in conjunction with cleaning devices such as mops. Another application is in cosmetics such as cotton pads and wipes for cleaning and removing makeup.

In many of these applications, three-dimensionality and increased surface area are desirable properties. This is especially true for the materials for the aforementioned absorbent personal care articles and cleaning articles. For example, one of the primary functions of absorbent personal care articles is to absorb and retain body fluids such as blood, menstrual fluid, urine, and fecal matter. Some body fluids, such as solid and semi-solid fecal matter and menstrual fluid, do not penetrate such components of the absorbent article as easily as low-viscosity fluids such as urine and tend to spread over the surface of such materials. The spreading of body fluids over the nonwoven material may result in leakage of the body fluids from the absorbent article in which the material is used. Semi-solid fecal matter, such as low-viscosity fecal matter that may be prevalent in young children, and menstrual fluid may be particularly problematic for the absorption article to retain. These secretions may migrate across the body-facing material of the absorbent article under the influence of gravity, movement and pressure exerted by the wearer of the absorbent article. The movement of secretions is often directed toward the perimeter of the absorbent article, increasing the likelihood of leakage and smearing on the wearer's skin, which may make skin cleansing difficult and may increase the risk of skin irritation to the wearer of the absorbent article.

Although attempts have been made in the past to provide nonwovens designed to reduce the spread of secretions by creating a three-dimensional relief, there is still room for improvement. For example, various types of embossing have been used to create three-dimensionality. However, this approach requires materials with a high basis weight to create a structure with significant relief, and the process can reduce the thickness of the material due to the compression and adhesion inherent in the embossing process. The compacted sections created by embossing can also create “weld spots” that prevent body secretions from passing through, and can result in the material feeling stiff and rough to the touch.

Other approaches to providing three-dimensionality to nonwovens may include forming fibers on a three-dimensional forming surface and creating perforations in the fibrous webs. Using modern technologies that involve forming fibers, it is possible to produce nonwovens that have low elasticity at lower basis weights (assuming that soft fibers with the desired aesthetic properties are used), and the relief is significantly disrupted when wound on a draw cylinder and passed through subsequent transformation processes. Creating perforations can tend to create three-dimensionality by displacing the fiber out of the plane of the original two-dimensional web. Typically, the degree of three-dimensionality is limited and, with sufficient stress, the displaced fiber can be forced back into its original position, causing at least partial closure of the perforation. Perforation processes that attempt to "install" the displaced fiber outside the plane of the original web also tend to degrade the softness of the original web.

As a result, there is still a need for both a material and a process and device that provide three-dimensional characteristics that satisfy the above requirements. There is still a need for a non-woven material that can sufficiently reduce the spread of body secretions in an absorbent article to help reduce the risk of leakage of secretions from the absorbent article. There is still a need for a non-woven material that can minimize the amount of body secretions that come into contact with the skin of the wearer. There is still a need for an absorbent article that can provide physical and emotional comfort to the wearer of the absorbent article.

Brief description of the invention

In one embodiment, a nonwoven material is provided that contains a plurality of fibers. The nonwoven material may contain a first surface and a second surface. The first surface may be opposite the second surface. The nonwoven material may also contain a plurality of nodes extending from a base plane on the first surface. At least a majority of the plurality of nodes may have an anisotropy value greater than 1.0, as determined by a node analysis test method.

In another embodiment, a nonwoven material is provided that contains a plurality of fibers. The nonwoven material may contain a first surface and a second surface. The first surface may be opposite the second surface. The nonwoven material may contain a plurality of nodes extending from a base plane on the first surface. The nonwoven material may have a compression energy of at least about 40 gf*cm in any cycle of the test method for determining the compression energy.

In another embodiment, another nonwoven material is provided that contains a plurality of fibers. The nonwoven material may contain a first surface and a second surface. The first surface may be opposite the second surface. The nonwoven material may contain a plurality of nodes extending from a base plane on the first surface. The nonwoven material may be characterized by a compression linearity greater than approximately 0.50, as determined by a test method for determining compression linearity.

Brief description of graphic materials

A complete and sufficient disclosure of the present invention intended for a person skilled in the art is set forth more particularly in the remainder of the description, which provides references to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a top view of an illustrative embodiment of a three-dimensional nonwoven material according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a scanning electron microscope (SEM) image providing a detailed view of the embodiment of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an SEM image showing a cross-sectional view of the embodiment of Fig. 1 taken along line 3-3;

Fig. 4 is a detailed view of the embodiment of Fig. 1 showing transmitted light used to calculate the open area percentage of the perforated area of the nonwoven material of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5A and 5B are computed microtomography images showing cross-sections of two illustrative embodiments of a nonwoven material taken through a knot;

Fig. 5C shows a micro-CT image showing a cross-section of the GentleAbsorb® liner material of HUGGIES® Little Snugglers® diapers;

Fig. 5D is a bar graph showing the results of a test performed according to the test method for determining the compressive energy;

Fig. 5E is a bar graph showing the results of a test performed according to the test method for determining compression linearity;

Fig. 6A shows a top view of an alternative embodiment of a three-dimensional nonwoven material;

Fig. 6B is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the material of Fig. 6A taken along line 6B-6B;

Fig. 6C shows a detailed view of a fragment of the material of Fig. 6A;

Fig. 6D shows an optical image of a fragment of the material of Fig. 6A;

Fig. 6E is a detailed view of Fig. 6A illustrating transmitted light used to calculate the open area percentage of one illustrative side region of the nonwoven fabric of Fig. 6A;

Fig. 6F and 6G show top views of alternative embodiments of a three-dimensional nonwoven material;

Fig. 7A is a schematic side view of an illustrative apparatus and process for producing a three-dimensional nonwoven fabric according to the present invention;

Fig. 7B is a schematic side view of an alternative illustrative apparatus and process for producing a three-dimensional nonwoven fabric according to the present invention;

Fig. 7C is a schematic side view of yet another alternative illustrative apparatus and process for producing a three-dimensional nonwoven fabric according to the present invention;

Fig. 7D shows a cross-sectional view of the nonwoven material and the carrier material taken along line 7D-7D in Fig. 7C;

Fig. 8A is a perspective view of a portion of a forming surface that may be used in the processes of Figs. 7A-7C;

Fig. 8B is a detailed top view of a portion of an alternative forming surface that may be used in the processes of Figs. 7A-7C;

Fig. 9 is a side perspective view of one embodiment of an absorbent article comprising a three-dimensional nonwoven material according to the present invention;

Fig. 10 shows a plan view of the absorbent article of Fig. 9 with portions cut away for clarity;

Fig. 11A is a cross-sectional view of Fig. 10 taken along line 11-11;

Fig. 11B is a cross-sectional view similar to Fig. 11A but showing an alternative embodiment of the absorbent article;

Fig. 11C is a cross-sectional view similar to Fig. 11A and 11B but showing yet another alternative embodiment of the absorbent article;

Fig. 12 is a top view of one alternative embodiment of the absorbent article of Fig. 9;

Fig. 13 is a plan view of an illustrative nonwoven material from the absorbent article of Fig. 12 with an illustrative bonding configuration shown in relation to the nonwoven material;

Fig. 14 shows a cross-sectional view of Fig. 12 taken along line 14F-14F;

Fig. 15 is a perspective view of an illustrative apparatus and setup for implementing a test method based on analysis of a material sample as described herein.

The repeated use of reference numbers in the present description and in the drawings is intended to represent the same or similar features or elements of the present invention.

Detailed description of the invention

According to one embodiment, the present invention generally relates to a nonwoven material 10, 110, 210, 310, methods 100', 100", 100"' of making the same, and absorbent articles 410, 510, 610, 710 comprising such exemplary nonwoven materials. Each example is provided by way of explanation and is not intended to be limiting. For example, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment or figure may be used with respect to another embodiment or figure to obtain yet another embodiment. It is intended that the present invention include such modifications and variations. It is intended that any discussion given below and referring to a particular exemplary nonwoven material 10, 110, 210, 310 is applicable to any other embodiments of the nonwoven material 10, 110, 210, 310 described herein, unless otherwise indicated. It is further intended that any discussion below that references a particular method 100', 100'', 100''' of making a nonwoven material is applicable to any other embodiments of the methods 100', 100'', 100''' of making a nonwoven material described herein unless otherwise indicated. In addition, it is intended that any discussion below that references a particular absorbent article 410, 510, 610, 710 is applicable to any other embodiments of the absorbent articles 410, 510, 610, 710 described herein unless otherwise indicated.

When presenting elements of the present invention or its preferred embodiment(s), the use of terms in the singular or plural, and when accompanied by the modifier "said", means that there are one or more elements. The terms "comprising", "including" and "having" are intended to have an inclusive meaning and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements. Many modifications and changes can be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the exemplary embodiments described above should not be used to limit the scope of the present invention.

Definitions

The term "absorbent article" as used herein refers to an article that can be placed against or near the body (i.e., in contact with the body) of the wearer to absorb and contain various liquid, solid, and semi-solid exudates eliminated from the body. Absorbent articles such as those described herein are intended to be discarded after a limited period of use and not washed or otherwise reconstituted for reuse. It should be understood that the present disclosure is applicable to various disposable absorbent articles including, but not limited to, diapers, diaper pants, potty training pants, teen pants, swimming trunks, feminine hygiene products including, but not limited to, menstrual pads or panties, incontinence products, medical garments, surgical pads and bandages, other personal hygiene or medical-grade garments, and the like, without departing from the scope of the present invention.

The term "absorbent layer" as used herein refers to a layer capable of receiving and temporarily retaining liquid body exudates to slow down and disperse a stream or flow of liquid body exudates and subsequently releasing the liquid body exudates therefrom into another layer or layers of the absorbent article.

The term "associated" or "connected" as used herein refers to the joining, gluing, joining, fastening, or the like of two elements. Two elements will be considered to be associated or connected with respect to each other if they are joined, glued, connected, fastened, or the like to each other directly or indirectly, such as if each is directly connected to intermediate elements. The joining or connection of one element to another may be by means of continuous or discontinuous connections.

The term "carded web" as used herein refers to a web comprising natural or synthetic staple length fibers, typically having fiber lengths of less than about 100 mm. Bundles of staple fibers may be opened to separate the fibers, which are then carded, in which the fibers are separated and combed to align them in the machine direction, after which the fibers are deposited on a moving wire for further processing. Such webs are typically subjected to some kind of bonding process, such as heat bonding using heat and/or pressure. In addition to or instead of this, the fibers may be subjected to bonding processes to bond the fibers together, such as by using types of powdered adhesive. The carded web may be subjected to jet entangling, such as hydroentangling, to further entangle the fibers and thereby improve the integrity of the carded web. Carded fabrics, due to the alignment of the fibers in the machine direction, will generally have a strength in the machine direction after bonding that is greater than the strength in the cross direction.

The term "film" as used in this document refers to a thermoplastic film made using an extrusion and/or forming process, such as a cast film process or a blown film process. The term includes films with apertures, films with slits, and other porous films that make up fluid transfer films, as well as films that do not transfer fluids, such as, but not limited to, barrier films, filled films, breathable films, and oriented films.

The terms "fluid entangling" and "fluid entangled" as used herein generally refer to a forming process for further enhancing the degree of fiber entanglement within a given fibrous nonwoven web or between fibrous nonwoven webs and other materials so as to make separation of individual fibers and/or layers more difficult as a result of entanglement. This is typically accomplished by securing a fibrous nonwoven web to a forming or supporting surface of some type that has at least some degree of permeability to a pressurized fluid. A stream of pressurized fluid (usually a plurality of streams) is then directed onto a surface of the nonwoven web that is the reverse side to the supporting surface of the web. The pressurized fluid contacts the fibers and presses on portions of the fibers in the direction of the fluid flow, thereby biasing all or a portion of a plurality of fibers toward the supporting surface of the web. The result is additional bonding of the fibers in what may be called the Z-direction of the web (its thickness) relative to a flatter region, its X-Y plane. When two or more individual webs or other layers are placed adjacent to one another on a forming/supporting surface and subjected to a fluid under pressure, the desired result is typically that some of the fibers of at least one of the webs are forced into the adjacent web or layer, thereby causing bonding of the fibers in the interface area of the two surfaces so that the webs/layers are bonded or joined to one another as a result of increased bonding of the fibers. The degree of bonding or entanglement will depend on a number of factors including, but not limited to, the types of fibers used, their fiber lengths, the degree of pre-bonding or bonding of the web or webs prior to the jet entangling process, the type of fluid used (liquids such as water, steam, or gases such as air), the fluid pressure, the number of fluid streams, the process speed, the fluid residence time, and the porosity of the web or webs/other layers and the forming/carrying surface. One of the most common jet entangling processes is called hydroentangling, which is a process well known to those skilled in the art in the field of nonwoven webs. Examples of the fluid entangling process can be found in U.S. Patent No. 4,939,016 to Radwanski et al., U.S. Patent No. 3,485,706 to Evans, and U.S. Patent Nos. 4,970,104 and 4,959,531 to Radwanski, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

The term "gsm" in this document refers to grams per square meter.

The term "hydrophilic" refers herein to fibers or fiber surfaces that are wetted by aqueous liquids in contact with the fibers. The degree of wetting of materials can in turn be described in terms of contact angles and surface tension values of the liquids and materials in question. Equipment and techniques suitable for measuring the wettability of specific fibrous materials or mixtures of fibrous materials can be provided by the Cahn SFA-222 Surface Tension Force Analysis System or a substantially equivalent system. When measured by this system, fibers with contact angles less than 90 degrees are designated as "wettable" or hydrophilic, and fibers with contact angles greater than 90 degrees are designated as "non-wettable" or hydrophobic.

The term "liquid impermeable" as used herein refers to a layer or laminate in which liquid body exudates, such as urine, will not pass through the layer or laminate under normal conditions of use in a direction generally perpendicular to the plane of the layer or laminate at the point of contact with the liquid.

The term "liquid permeable" as used herein refers to any material that is not impermeable to liquid.

The term "meltblown" as used herein refers to fibers produced by extruding molten thermoplastic material through a plurality of small, typically circular, spinneret openings in the form of filaments or threads from the melt into converging high-velocity streams of heated gas (e.g., air) that reduce the thickness of the filaments of molten thermoplastic material to reduce their diameter, which may be the diameter of a microfiber. The meltblown fibers are then carried by the high-velocity gas stream and deposited on a collecting surface to form a web of randomly distributed meltblown fibers. Such a process is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Patent No. 3,849,241 to Butin et al., which is incorporated herein by reference. Meltblown fibers are microfibers that may be continuous or discontinuous, generally have a filament thickness of less than approximately 0.6 denier, and may be adhesive and self-bonding when deposited on a collecting surface.

The term "nonwoven fabric" as used herein refers to fabrics and webs of material that are formed without the use of a weaving or knitting process. The fabrics and webs of material may have a structure of individual fibers, filaments, or threads (collectively referred to as "fibers") that may be interleaved but not in a recognizable manner as in a knitted fabric. Nonwoven fabrics or webs may be formed by many processes, such as, but not limited to, meltblown processes, spunbond processes, carded web processes, etc.

The term "compliant" as used herein refers to materials that are deformable and will readily conform to the overall shape and contours of the wearer's clothing.

The term "spunbond" as used herein refers to small diameter fibers that are produced by extruding a molten thermoplastic material in the form of filaments through a plurality of fine holes in a spinneret die formed into a round or other shape, the diameter of the extruded filaments then being rapidly reduced by a conventional method such as, for example, ejector drawing and the methods described in U.S. Patent No. 4,340,563 to Appel et al., U.S. Patent No. 3,692,618 to Dorschner et al., U.S. Patent No. 3,802,817 to Matsuki et al., U.S. Patent Nos. 3,338,992 and 3,341,394 to Kinney, U.S. Patent No. 3,502,763 to Hartmann, in U.S. Patent No. 3,502,538 to Peterson and in U.S. Patent No. 3,542,615 to Dobo et al., each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Spunbond fibers are typically continuous and often have average denier values greater than about 0.3, and in one embodiment from about 0.6, 5, and 10 to about 15, 20, and 40. Spunbond fibers are typically non-tacky when deposited on a collecting surface.

The term "superabsorbent" as used herein refers to a water-swellable, water-insoluble organic or inorganic material that is capable, under the most favorable conditions, of absorbing at least about 15 times its weight, and in one embodiment at least about 30 times its weight, in an aqueous solution containing 0.9 weight percent sodium chloride. Superabsorbent materials may be natural, synthetic, and modified natural polymers and materials. In addition, superabsorbent materials may be inorganic materials, such as silica gels, or organic compounds, such as cross-linked polymers.

The term "thermoplastic" as used herein refers to a material that softens and can be shaped when exposed to heat and that substantially returns to its unsoftened state when cooled.

The term "user" or "caregiver" as used herein refers to the person who places an absorbent article such as, but not limited to, a diaper, diaper pants, potty training pants, juvenile pants, incontinence product, or other absorbent article on the wearer of one of these absorbent articles. The user and the wearer may be the same person.

3D web with nodes, crossbars and holes

As shown in Fig. 1-3, the three-dimensional nonwoven material 10 may comprise a plurality of nodes 12 and a plurality of connecting webs 14 (in Fig. 1, for the sake of clarity, only one of the nodes 12 and one of the connecting webs 14 are marked). The nodes 12 and the connecting webs 14 may be located within the perforated zone 16 of the material 10. As best shown in the cross-sectional view of Fig. 3, the nodes 12 may extend from a base plane 18 on the first surface 20 of the nonwoven material 10. The base plane 18 may be defined as a generally flat region of the first surface 20 of the nonwoven material 10 that is distinct from the portion of the nonwoven material 10 that forms the nodes 12. In other words, in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1-3, the base plane 18 can be formed by the first surface 20 of the nonwoven material 10, forming the connecting bridges 14. The nonwoven material 10 can also comprise a second surface 22. The first surface 20 can be opposite to the second surface 22, as shown in Fig. 3.

The nodes 12 may have various shapes and sizes, as will be described in more detail below when discussing the production of the nonwoven material 10. In some embodiments, the nodes 12 may have a generally cylindrical shape. In preferred embodiments, the nodes 12 are configured to not contain any openings or perforations. In some embodiments, the nodes 12 may have a height 15 (measured in a direction perpendicular to the base plane 18) of from about 1 mm to about 10 mm, and more preferably from about 3 mm to about 6 mm. The height 15 of the nodes 12 is measured using the analytical techniques described in the node analysis test method described in the Test Methods section of this document. In some embodiments, each of the majority of the nodes 12 may have an area (measured by the area of the node 12 within the base plane 18) of from about 5 mm ² to about 35 mm ² , and more preferably from about 10 mm ² to about 20 mm ² . A plurality of knots 12 may be formed within the perforated zone 16 such that the knots 12 provide a knot density of from about 1.0 knot/ ^cm2 to about 3.0 knot/ ^cm2 . The area of the knots and the knot density within the perforated zone 16 may be measured using analytical techniques described in the test method based on analysis of a material sample, which is described in the Test Methods section of this document.

As shown in Fig. 1 and shown in more detail in Fig. 2, the connecting webs 14 can connect a plurality of nodes 12 to one another. An individual connecting web 14 can be described as extending only between two adjacent nodes 12. In other words, an individual connecting web 14 does not connect three or more nodes 12 to one another. In preferred embodiments, a majority of the plurality of nodes 12 can include at least three connecting webs 14 connected to adjacent nodes 12. In preferred embodiments, a majority of the plurality of nodes 12 can contain ten or fewer connecting webs 14 connected to adjacent nodes 12. In some embodiments, the nonwoven material 10 can be designed such that a majority of the plurality of nodes 12 can contain from three to eight connecting webs 14 connected to adjacent nodes 12. For example, in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 and 2, the majority of the plurality of nodes 12 comprises six connecting jumpers 14 connected to adjacent nodes 12. In other embodiments, it may be preferable if the majority of the plurality of nodes 12 will comprise from three to six connecting jumpers 14 connected to adjacent nodes 12, and in some embodiments will preferably comprise from three to four connecting jumpers 14 connected to adjacent nodes 12.

The nonwoven material 10 may also comprise a plurality of openings 24 in the perforated zone 16. In this document, the openings 24 may also be referred to as "perforations." The openings 24 described herein are regions of the nonwoven material 10 that have a lower fiber density of the nonwoven material 10 compared to the nodes 12 and the connecting webs 14. In some embodiments, the openings 24 may be substantially devoid of fibers. In the context of the present document, the openings 24 should be distinguished from the normal interstices between fibers typically present in fibrous nonwoven materials. For example, in Fig. 2 is an SEM image depicting an exemplary nonwoven fabric 10 in which a single aperture 24 is indicated that has a lower fiber density than adjacent nodes 12 and connecting webs 14. The apertures 24 may be formed between a plurality of connecting webs 14 and a plurality of nodes 12. Individual apertures 24 may be located between adjacent nodes 12. Individual apertures 24 may be formed between at least three connecting webs 14 and at least three nodes 12. In some embodiments, individual apertures 24 may be formed between at least four connecting webs 14 and at least four nodes 12. In some embodiments, a majority of the plurality of apertures 24 may be configured to each have an area (measured by the area of the aperture 24 within the datum plane 18) that is in the range of from about 5 mm ² to about 25 mm ² , preferably from about 7 ^mm2 to about 20 ^mm2 , and even more preferably, from about 7 ^mm2 to about 17 ^mm2 . The area of the openings 24 within the perforated zone 16 can be measured using analytical techniques specified in the test method based on the analysis of a material sample, which is described in the Test Methods section of this document.

In some embodiments, the plurality of apertures 24 for the nonwoven material 10 may form an open area percentage for the perforated zone 16 that is from about 10% to about 60%. In some preferred embodiments, the plurality of apertures 24 for the nonwoven material 10 may form an open area percentage for the perforated zone 16 that is from about 15% to about 45%. In some preferred embodiments, the nonwoven material 10 may form an open area percentage for the perforated zone 16 that is from about 20% to about 40%, or even more preferably from about 20% to about 30%. In the context of the present document, the open area percentage is determined using a test method based on an analysis of a material sample, which is described in the Test Methods section of the present document. Although described in detail in the Test Methods section, a test method based on analysis of a sample of the material includes projecting a light source onto the nonwoven material 10 such that the apertures 24 can be identified by the fact that the apertures 24 allow a greater percentage of light to pass through the nonwoven material 10, as shown in Fig. 4 (with only three apertures 24 labeled for clarity purposes), compared to the nodes 12 and the bridges 14.

The plurality of openings 24 can provide various advantageous properties for the nonwoven material 10. For example, the openings 24 can provide improved fluid transfer and/or increased permeability for the nonwoven material 10. As an example, if the nonwoven material 10 is used in an article that absorbs and distributes a fluid, the openings 24 can help to provide increased absorption and distribution of fluids through and/or on the nonwoven material 10.

In particular, the plurality of apertures 24 can improve the ability of a material, such as a nonwoven material 10, to absorb and distribute BM material (also referred to herein as feces or excrement), resulting in less BM accumulation on the material 10 and, therefore, less BM is in contact with the skin of a wearer of an absorbent article comprising such a nonwoven material 10. To determine the ability of different nonwoven materials to effectively deal with simulated BM, a number of different nonwoven materials 10 (materials A-F), according to aspects of the present invention, were tested using test methods that determine the percentage of BM accumulation. Such a test method, as described in the test method "Determination of Residual Amount of Fecal Simulant" in U.S. Patent No. 9,480,609, entitled "Absorbent Article", which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety to the extent that it does not conflict with this document. All of the different nonwovens tested were formed in a similar manner but with different forming surfaces, resulting in different combinations of knots 12, webs 14 and apertures 24. These different combinations resulted in differences in the percentage open areas within the perforated zone 16, the average aperture areas and the bulk properties of the formed nonwovens. The different nonwovens and their properties and test results are presented below in Table 1.

Table 1

Material code Accumulated BM (%) Open area (%) Volume (mm) Average hole area (mm ² ) A 35.87 21.91 2,301 10.52 B 26.60 27.31 2,876 11.81 C 21.35 28.32 2,935 15.74 D 23.31 30.75 3,746 20.13 E 24.58 22,32 3,961 13.79 F 23.62 28.94 4.02 19.73 GentleAbsorb® 42.57 0 1.5 0

First, it can be seen how effective the materials containing the apertures 24 are in providing such materials with open area percentage values in the perforated zone 16 in reducing the amount of BM accumulation on such materials. For example, as shown in Table 1, Material A, having the lowest open area percentage value, still performed significantly better than the GentleAbsorb® material in terms of the amount of BM accumulation. In fact, all of the tested materials A-F performed well compared to the GentleAbsorb® material, generally maintaining the preferred range of open area percentage values of at least about 20%, or at least about 25%, or at least about 30%, or from about 20% to about 30%.

It is also seen that with such nonwoven materials 10 having the minimum values of open area percentage of the perforated zone 16 described herein or the ranges of values of open area percentage described herein, it may be preferable for the nonwoven materials 10 to have apertures 24 having a comparatively larger average area. For example, in Table 1 it is seen that materials A and E have similar values of open area percentage. However, material E showed significantly better results than material A with respect to accumulated BM. As shown in Table 1, material E has an average aperture area of 13.79 mm ² , while material A has an average aperture area of only 10.52 mm ² . Accordingly, it may be preferable that the nonwoven materials 10 according to the present invention have average aperture areas of at least 10.52 mm ² , or at least about 11 mm ² , or at least about 12 mm ² , or at least about 13 mm ² , or at least 13.79 mm ² . It may be preferable that the nonwoven materials according to the present invention have such average aperture areas 24, while having an open area percentage of the nonwoven material in the perforated zone 16 of at least 21.91%, or at least about 22%, or at least about 23%, or from about 20% to about 30%.

In some particularly preferred embodiments of the nonwoven materials of the present invention, it may be preferable that such materials have an open area percentage value that is greater than about 27% or greater than about 27.31% and less than about 31% or less than about 30.75%. For example, materials B, C and D demonstrate that material C has shown better results than materials B and C, wherein materials B and D have open area percentage values that are less and greater than material C, respectively. Alternatively, it may be preferable that embodiments of the nonwoven materials of the present invention have average aperture areas 24 that are greater than about 11.81 mm ² or greater than about 12 mm ² and less than about 20.13 mm ² or less than about 21 mm ² . For example, materials B, C and D demonstrate that material C showed better results than materials B and D, wherein materials B and D have values of average aperture area 24 that are smaller and larger than material C, respectively. In other embodiments, it may be preferable that the nonwoven materials according to the present invention have a value of open area percentage that is greater than about 27% or greater than about 27.31% and less than about 31% or less than about 30.75%, and also have average aperture areas that are greater than about 11.81 mm ² , or greater than about 12 mm ² , and less than about 20.13 mm ² , or less than about 21 mm ² .

Fig. 5A-5C show examples of another advantageous property of the nonwoven material 10, which is related to the orientation of the fibers. In preferred embodiments of the nonwoven material 10, such as those shown in cross-section in Fig. 5A and 5B, at least a majority of the plurality of nodes 12 can be configured to have an anisotropy value greater than 1.0, as measured by the node analysis test method described in the Test Methods section of this document. The nodes 12 have a higher level of fiber alignment in the direction 32 perpendicular to the base plane 18 on the first surface of the nonwoven material 10. In Fig. 5C shows a comparative example of a nonwoven material currently used and sold on the market as a GentleAbsorb® liner in HUGGIES® Little Snugglers® diapers manufactured and sold by Kimberly-Clark Global Sales, LLC, as described in U.S. Patent No. 9,327,473. The anisotropy values for the nonwoven materials of Figs. 5A-5C are shown below in Table 2. As shown in Table 2, the nonwoven materials 10 shown in Figs. 5A and 5B included an anisotropy value greater than 1.0, more specifically having anisotropy values of 1.07 and 1.25, respectively.

Table 2. Anisotropy values for the samples shown in Fig. 5A-5C

Sample Anisotropy magnitude Standard deviation The nonwoven material shown in Fig. 5A 1.07 0.04 The nonwoven material shown in Fig. 5B 1.25 0.09 GentleAbsorb® Lining Material (Fig. 5C) 0.94 0.03

Without being limited by theory, it is believed that improved anisotropy values in the nodes 12 of the nonwoven material 10 described herein can be created by increasing the ratio of the depth of the forming slits 54 to the diameter of the forming slits 54, as will be described in more detail below.

In addition, it is believed that the increased anisotropy values of the nonwoven materials 10 according to this description provide improved compression resistance for the nonwoven material 10 compared to other nonwoven materials, including compared to the GentleAbsorb® liner. Due to the improved compression resistance, the nonwoven material 10 can maintain its elasticity throughout use and can be used in various environments where it can be subjected to compressive forces. For example, when used in an absorbent article, the nonwoven material 10 can be subjected to compressive forces from its original packaged state, where it is in a compressed package, to use on a wearer, if the wearer is in a sitting or lying position on the absorbent article. By providing improved compression resistance, the nonwoven material 10 can help in maintaining void volume for receiving, transporting and/or storing bodily exudates of the wearer. Thus, the nonwoven material 10 can provide improved benefits to the wearer's skin by helping to prevent body exudates from coming into contact with the wearer's skin and can provide potential product improvements by keeping body exudates away from the edges of the absorbent article, which can be a source of leakage.

As shown in Figs. 5D and 5E, an illustrative nonwoven material 110 described herein (shown in Fig. 6A) was tested in two compression testing methods compared to a comparative example of a nonwoven material currently used and marketed as a GentleAbsorb® liner in HUGGIES® Little Snugglers® diapers manufactured and sold by Kimberly-Clark Global Sales, LLC, as described in U.S. Patent No. 9,327,473. A cross-sectional micro-CT image of a sample of the GentleAbsorb® liner is shown in Fig. 5C. Fig. 5D shows the results of the compression energy test and Fig. 5E shows the results of the compression linearity test. The results of these tests will now be described.

The compression energy test is described more fully in the Test Methods section of this document and consists of measuring the compression resistance of a material over three compression cycles by measuring the energy required to compress a nonwoven material from its initial thickness at a force of 5 grams-force to its final thickness at a force of approximately 1830 grams-force (approximately 10 kPa). As shown in Fig. 5D, the nonwoven material 110 according to the present invention required more compression energy in each cycle to compress compared to the compression energy required to compress the control sample of GentleAbsorb® liner and thus provides greater compression resistance. In fact, the results of the compression energy test demonstrate that the nonwoven material 110 provides advantages over the control sample. In particular, the nonwoven fabric 110 provided a compressive energy exceeding 40 gf*cm in cycle 1 and exceeding 35 gf*cm in cycles 2 and 3. In fact, the nonwoven fabric provided a compressive energy exceeding 50 gf*cm in cycles 2 and 3 and exceeding 60 gf*cm in cycle 1.

Thus, it is preferable that the nonwoven materials according to the present invention provide a compression energy exceeding 40 gf*cm, more preferably exceeding 45 gf*cm, more preferably exceeding 50 gf*cm, even more preferably exceeding 55 gf*cm and even more preferably exceeding 60 gf*cm in cycle 1 of the compression energy test. It is preferable that the nonwoven materials according to the present invention provide a compression energy in the range of 40-65 gf*cm in cycle 1 of the compression energy test. It is also preferable that the nonwoven materials according to the present invention provide a compression energy exceeding 35 gf*cm, more preferably exceeding 40 gf*cm, more preferably exceeding 45 gf*cm and even more preferably exceeding 50 gf*cm in cycle 2 of the compression energy test. Thus, it is preferable that the nonwoven materials according to the present invention provide a compression energy in the range of 40-55 gf*cm in cycle 2 of the compression energy test. It is also preferable that the nonwoven materials according to the present invention provide a compression energy exceeding 35 gf*cm, more preferably exceeding 40 gf*cm, more preferably exceeding 45 gf*cm and even more preferably exceeding 50 gf*cm in cycle 3 of the compression energy test. It is preferable that the nonwoven materials according to the present invention provide a compression energy in the range of 40-55 gf*cm in cycle 3 of the compression energy test.

By providing greater resistance to compression, nonwoven materials according to the present invention can provide additional advantages. For example, when the nonwoven material 10 is used in an absorbent article 410, the nonwoven material 10 can maintain void volume for interaction with body secretions, absorbing them into the absorbent assembly 444, which can help to keep the user's skin drier and provide greater comfort. In particular, this advantage can be realized in embodiments in which the nonwoven material 10 is formed in the absorbent article 410 in such a way that the nodes 12 extend from the base plane 18 of the first surface 20 of the nonwoven material 10 to the absorbent element 434. In addition, due to greater resistance to compression, the nonwoven material 10 can potentially provide greater lift and a feeling of greater softness to the skin of the wearer of such an absorbent article 410.

Fig. 5E shows the results of the compression linearity test. The compression linearity test, as fully described in the Test Methods section of this document, is designed to measure the compression properties of a nonwoven fabric by compressing the material at a constant intensity between two pistons until it reaches a maximum preset force. The displacement of the upper piston compressing the material is detected by a potentiometer. The amount of pressure required to compress the sample (P, gf/cm ² ) as a function of the thickness (displacement) of the material (T, mm) is displayed as a graph on the computer screen. The compression linearity value represents the degree of linearity of the compression curve. The greater the compression linearity value, the more resistant the material is to compression. As shown in Fig. 5E, the nonwoven material 110 exhibited a compression linearity of approximately 0.75, while the control sample of the GentleAbsorb® liner exhibited a compression linearity of less than 0.50. Thus, in preferred embodiments, the nonwoven materials preferably have a compression linearity greater than 0.50, more preferably greater than 0.55, more preferably greater than 0.60, even more preferably greater than 0.65, and most preferably greater than 0.70. In some embodiments, the nonwoven material can have a compression linearity in the range of from about 0.50 to 1.0 or from about 0.50 to about 0.80.

In some embodiments, the nonwoven material 10 may comprise side regions and/or end regions that are different from the perforated region 16. For example, as shown in Fig. 1, the nonwoven material 10 may comprise a first side region 26a and a second side region 26b. The first and second side regions 26a and 26b may be generally parallel to each other and extend in the longitudinal direction 28. The first and second side regions 26a and 26b may be configured such that the first side region 26a is located adjacent to the first side 16a of the perforated region 16 and the second side region 26b is located adjacent to the second side 16b of the perforated region 16. In other words, the perforated region 16 may be located between the first side region 26a and the second side region 26b. In at least some embodiments, the side regions 26a, 26b may extend entirely from the leading edge 25 of the material 10 to the trailing edge 27 of the material 10. Additionally, in some embodiments, the perforated region 16 may extend entirely from the leading edge 25 of the material 10 to the trailing edge 27 of the material 10, so that the material 10 does not comprise any end regions 26c, 26d. However, in other embodiments, the side regions 26a and/or 26b may only partially extend along the length of the nonwoven material 10. In such embodiments, the perforated region 16 may extend entirely between the transverse side edges 47, 49 of the nonwoven material 10 along at least a portion of the length of the material 10.

The nonwoven material 10 may have a width of 35 defined between the transverse side edges 47, 49. The side zones 26a, 26b have widths of 31a, 31b, respectively, while the perforated zone 16 has a width of 33. Although Fig. 1 shows that the widths 31a, 31b are constant, in other embodiments they may vary. For example, the material 10 may be formed with a perforated zone 16, the edges of which are curved and/or wavy in the longitudinal direction 28. In such embodiments, the widths 31a, 31b may increase and/or decrease in accordance with the shape of the perforated zone 16. In the context of the present document, the widths 31a, 31b may refer to the largest width of the side zones 26a, 26b along the length of the material 10.

In general, it may be preferable for the side zones 26a, 26b to have widths 31a, 31b that are not too large in percentage terms relative to the overall width 35 of the material 10. For example, the side zones 26a, 26b may generally have a greater tensile strength than the perforated zone 16. Accordingly, one advantage of the side zones 26a, 26b is that they help provide the material 10 with a greater overall tensile strength and thus allow the material 10 to be processed using high-speed manufacturing processes where the material 10 is processed in a stretched state (e.g. high-speed processes for manufacturing absorbent articles). However, if the widths 31a, 31b of the side zones 26a, 26b are too large, it has been found that the material 10 will curl undesirably when stretched, so that the material 10 may not be suitable for processing in the desired high-speed manufacturing processes. For example, this curling can cause undesirable folding of the edges of nonwoven materials as the materials move along the web path during manufacturing. It is believed that the difference in tensile strength between the side zones 26a, 26b and the perforated zone 16 is a key factor in contributing to this curling.

In order to prevent curling of the material 10, or at least to prevent such a degree of curling that affects the ability of the material 10 to be processed in a high-speed manufacturing process, it has been found that it is desirable to maintain the widths 31a, 31b below certain percentages of the total width of the material 10. It is believed that such a characteristic helps to ensure that the higher tensile strengths of the side zones 26a, 26b do not dominate the performance of the material 10 when subjected to tensile forces in high-speed manufacturing processes. It has been found that the material 10 and other materials according to the present invention retain the desired curl properties when subjected to tensile forces in conventional high-speed manufacturing processes if each of the widths 31a, 31b is less than about 20% of the total width 35 of the material 10. It may be more preferable if each of the widths 31a, 31b is less than about 25%, or less than about 20%, or less than about 17.5%, or less than about 15%, less than about 12.5%, or less than about 10%, of the total width 35 of the material 10. In at least some of these embodiments, each of the widths 31a, 31b can be greater than about 5% of the total width 35 of the material 10. Accordingly, the width 33 of the perforated zone can be from about 50% to about 90%, or from about 60% to about 90%, or from about 65% to about 90%, or from about 70% to about 90%, or from about 75% to about 90%, or from about 80% to about 90% of the total width 35 of material 10.

Each of the widths 31a, 31b may have similar values. For example, the widths 31a, 31b may have such values that one of the widths 31a, 31b is approximately 50% of the value of the other of the widths 31a, 31b, or is approximately 25% of the value of the other of the widths 31a, 31b.

In embodiments where the material 10 is used in an absorbent article, the side zones 26a, 26b can be used to bond the material 10 to the body of the absorbent article. In these embodiments, the widths 31a, 31b can be set so as to provide sufficient area for bonding the material 10 to the body of the article and to provide sufficient bonding strength of the material 10 so that the material 10 does not delaminate during manufacture or use. It has been found that the widths 31a, 31b that provide such advantages are from about 10 mm to about 40 mm, or from about 10 mm to about 35 mm, or from about 10 mm to about 30 mm, or from about 10 mm to about 25 mm, or from about 10 mm to about 20 mm.

It has also been found that in order to control the curling of the material 10 under tension, such as the tensile forces to which the material 10 may be subjected in high-speed manufacturing processes, there is a tensile strength ratio that is desirable to achieve between the zones 16, 26a, 26b. The tensile strength ratio is described in detail in the discussion of the tensile strength test method in the Test Methods section of this document. In general, the tensile strength ratio compares the added tensile strength of both side zones 26a, 26b with the tensile strength of the perforated zone 16. If the preferred tensile strength ratio is achieved, the dimensions of the side zones 26a, 26b do not need to be limited to a certain percentage of the total width 35 of the material 10 in order to achieve the desired curl properties. In general, it has been found that the more uniform the tensile strength of the material 10 is across its width 35, the less the material 10 curls under tension. More specifically, it has been found that the material 10 and other materials according to the present invention can exhibit good characteristics in the context of curling if their tensile strength ratio is greater than about 0.8 and less than about 2.5. In other embodiments, it may be more preferable that the tensile strength ratio is from about 0.8 to about 2, or from about 0.8 to about 1.75, or from about 0.8 to about 1.5. To determine the tensile strength of the different zones 16, 26a, 26b, the material 10 was subjected to a tensile strength test method. The tensile strength ratio of the material 10 can then be calculated according to equation (1), as indicated in the tensile strength test method.

Although the side zones 26a, 26b help provide increased overall tensile strength for the material 10, it has been found that the side zones 26a, 26b of the material 10 do not have a significant effect on the necking property of the material 10. In the context of the present document, the term "necking" is used to denote a tendency for the width of a material to decrease when the material is subjected to increasing longitudinal stretch. One material property used as a measure of necking is the Poisson ratio that the material has. It has been found that the material 10, or more specifically the perforated zone 16 of the material 10, may need a relatively low Poisson ratio to be able to be processed in a high-speed manufacturing process, such as a process for making absorbent articles.

As one illustrative example, where the material 10 is used in an absorbent article, if the material 10 is too narrow when stretched, it may not cover the desired width of the absorbent article. Such extreme narrowing may result in the material 10 no longer covering the adhesive inside the article. This exposed adhesive may undesirably bond other elements of the absorbent article to each other or make it difficult to open such articles. It has been found that the advantageous Poisson ratios of the perforated zone 16 of the material 10, limiting any narrowing of the material 10, are ratios that are less than about 3 at a relative strain of 1%, or less than about 2.5 at a relative strain of 1%, or less than about 2 at a relative strain of 1%, or less than about 1.5 at a relative strain of 1%. The Poisson's ratio of the perforated zone 16 can be determined according to the test method for determining the Poisson's ratio, which is described in the Test Methods section of this document.

Another characteristic feature of the side zones 26a, 26b is that they can have open area percentage values that are less than such open area percentage values for the perforated zone 16. As described earlier, it is desirable that the open area percentage value of the perforated zone 16 is high enough to provide the desired absorption properties of the material 10. In contrast, the side zones 26a, 26b should not have properties similar to the properties of the perforated zone 16 with respect to absorption or other properties interacting with fluids. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the side zones 26a, 26b can have an open area percentage value that is less than the open area percentage value of the perforated zone 16. It may be preferable that the side zones 26a, 26b have open area percentage values that are less than about 10%, or less than about 8%, or less than about 6%.

Also, in some cases, the side zones 26a, 26b may have minimum open area percentage values. For example, when the material 10 is a jet-entangled material, the forming process may be used to form microperforations 81 within the side zones 26a, 26b. The forming process may additionally or alternatively form regions of significantly reduced fiber density 39, wherein the process moves fibers from first regions of the forming surface (e.g., portions of the outer surface 58 of the forming surface 50 between the perforations 71, as shown in Fig. 8A) used to form the material 10 to second regions of the forming surface (e.g., to the perforations 71, as shown in Fig. 8A). These microperforations 81 and regions of significantly reduced fiber density 39 may contribute to achieving a certain open area percentage value of the side zones 26a, 26b. These features can be seen in Fig. 6E.

If the material 10 is a jet-entangled material, it has been found that the open area percentage values of the side zones 26a, 26b in general can be greater than about 0.5%, or greater than about 0.6%, or greater than about 0.7%, or greater than about 0.8%, or greater than about 0.9%, or greater than about 1.0%, or greater than about 1.25%, or greater than about 2.5%, as determined according to a test method based on an analysis of a sample of the material. It has been found that the open area percentages of the side zones 26a, 26b in the jet-entangled nonwoven fabrics of the present invention, such as fabric 10, are generally greater than the open area percentages of conventional nonwoven fabrics of similar basis weights, such as spunbond fabrics, meltblown fabrics, and even spunlace fabrics that do not contain apertures and/or projections or in which the apertures and/or projections are not integrally formed during the formation of such fabrics.

As described above, when the material 10 is a jet-entangled material, the forming process can form regions with a reduced fiber density within the side zones 26a, 26b. Accordingly, the forming process can also form regions with an increased fiber density within the side zones 26a, 26b, for example, in the regions corresponding to the perforations 71 in the forming surface 50. As the fibers move toward the perforations 71 in the forming surface 50, the perforations 71 are at least partially filled with fibers, thereby forming micropillars 13, as shown in Fig. 6B. This process of forming the micro-pillars 13 may be generally similar to the process of forming the nodes 12 of the perforated zone 16, although the resulting micro-pillars 13 may have a height 17 that is significantly less than the height 15 of the nodes 12. For example, the micro-pillars 13 may have height values 17 from about 0.35 mm to about 1.0 mm, or from about 0.4 mm to about 0.9 mm, or from about 0.5 mm to about 0.9 mm, or from about 0.5 mm to about 0.8 mm.

Although it is not necessary, the nonwoven material 10 may further comprise a first end region 26c and a second end region 26d. The first end region 26c and the second end region 26d may be generally parallel to each other and extend in the transverse direction 30. The first end region 26c and the second end region 26d may be designed such that the first end region 26c is located adjacent to the first end 16c of the perforated region 16 and the second end region 26d is located adjacent to the second end 16d of the perforated region 16. Any of such end regions 26c, 26d may be similar in some way to the side regions 26a, 26b as described above.

The apertures 24 of the perforated zone 16 may have a variety of shapes and orientations. In the embodiment shown in Figs. 1-4, each aperture 24 has a generally triangular shape. As best shown in Figs. 1 and 4, the triangular shape of the various apertures 24 may have a variety of orientations. As will be described in more detail below, the apertures 24 may have other various shapes and orientations, which may be due to the process and equipment used to produce the nonwoven material 10.

In some specific embodiments, the openings 24 may have a generally oval shape. For example, as shown in Fig. 6A, 6C and 6D, the openings 24 are oblong and have generally rounded sides. In at least some embodiments of the present invention, the openings 24 may have a larger dimension 41 and a smaller dimension 43, as shown in Fig. 6D. The larger dimension 41 may be the largest distance between two points on the material 110 surrounding the individual opening 24, while the smaller dimension 43 may be the smallest distance between two points on the material 110 surrounding the individual opening 24 and which passes through the center of the opening 24. The center may be the geometric center. In some embodiments according to the present invention, it may be advantageous for the major dimension 41 to be oriented so as to extend substantially in the longitudinal direction 28. In the context of the present document, the major dimension 41 is oriented so as to extend substantially in the longitudinal direction 28 when the major dimension 41 forms an angle 45 with respect to the longitudinal direction 28 that is less than forty-five degrees. In some specific embodiments, the major dimension 41 of the majority of the openings 24 may extend substantially in the longitudinal direction 28. In other embodiments, the major dimension 41 of all the openings 24 may extend substantially in the longitudinal direction 28.

Such embodiments, where the larger dimension 41 of the apertures 24 of the material 110 and other materials according to the present invention extends substantially in the longitudinal direction 28, can show better results in terms of absorption than other embodiments when used in an absorbent article. As a liquid and/or semi-liquid substance is exposed to materials, such as the material 10, the liquid and/or semi-liquid substance will tend to spread comparatively more in the longitudinal direction 28 than in the transverse direction 30. Accordingly, when the larger dimension 41 of the apertures 24 extends substantially in the longitudinal direction 28, there is more opportunity for the liquid and/or semi-liquid substance to be transferred through the apertures 24 and into any liquid management and containment systems present in the absorbent article (e.g., liquid surge absorbing materials and/or absorbent elements). Some additional advantages may be that the fibers surrounding the openings 24 may be slightly more oriented in the longitudinal direction 28, which may improve the tensile strength of the material 10 - an important factor for the ability to process such materials in a high-speed converting process.

According to more specific embodiments of the present invention, the major dimension 41 of the apertures 24 may form an angle 45 relative to the longitudinal direction 28 that is less than about thirty-five degrees, or less than about twenty-five degrees, or less than about fifteen degrees. Of course, the major dimension 41 of not all of the apertures 24 may be oriented at exactly the same angle 45 relative to the longitudinal direction 28. For example, even in embodiments where the major dimension 41 of most or the greater part of the apertures 24 extends substantially in the longitudinal direction 28, the specific angles 45 formed by the major dimension 41 of individual apertures 24 may be in the range from about zero degrees to about forty-five degrees.

In other embodiments, the larger dimension 41 of the other openings 24 may extend substantially in the longitudinal direction 28, but these openings are oriented in opposite transverse directions. For example, as seen in Fig. 6A, 6C, and 6D, the larger dimension 41 of the various illustrated openings 24 is oriented in such a way that it extends substantially in the longitudinal direction 28, but toward the first transverse direction. As seen, the other openings 24, the larger dimension 41 of which extends substantially in the longitudinal direction 28, are oriented in such a way that their larger dimensions 41 extend toward the second transverse direction opposite to the first transverse direction.

Another characteristic feature of the material 110 and other materials provided by the present invention is that the aspect ratios of the openings 24 can be limited to a certain range. At least in some embodiments of the present invention, the average aspect ratio of the openings of the materials according to the present invention can be from about 1.3 to about 3.25, or from about 1.4 to about 3.0, or from about 1.3 to about 2.5, or from about 1.3 to about 2.0. These ranges of aspect ratio of the openings 24 can promote the absorption of interacting biological fluids, in particular together with the above-described orientations of the openings 24, improving the overall properties associated with handling fluids of such materials.

Fig. 6C is an enlarged view of a region of material 110 comprising trailing edge 27 showing in greater detail the alignment and orientation of nodes 12, connecting webs 14 and openings 24 of material 110. It has been discovered that certain alignments and orientations of elements 12, 14 and 24 are capable of providing the desired properties of materials according to the present invention. For example, certain alignments and orientations can help provide the desired properties related to tensile strength and/or the desired properties related to necking for the processability of materials, while providing a material with a large open surface area and thus achieving advantageous properties related to handling fluids. Although such alignments and orientations are described in connection with a particular arrangement of material 110, it should be understood that other materials provided by the present invention can achieve such described alignments and orientations using other arrangements and materials.

The arrangement of the nodes 12, the connecting bridges 14 and the openings 24 of the material 110 forms a sequence of nodes 12 adjacent in the longitudinal direction and nodes 12 adjacent in the transverse direction. The nodes 12 are located adjacent in the longitudinal direction, for example nodes 12a and 12b, if the line 85 drawn between the centers C1 and C2 does not pass through any openings 24 or other nodes 12 and forms an angle with respect to the longitudinal direction 28, which is less than forty-five degrees. Similarly, the nodes 12 are located adjacent in the transverse direction, for example nodes 12c and 12d (or nodes 12d and 12e), if the line drawn between the centers of the nodes 12c, 12d does not pass through any openings 24 or any other nodes 12 and forms an angle with respect to the transverse direction 30, which is less than forty-five degrees.

In some embodiments, it may be advantageous if the material 110 comprises one or more tracks 21 of nodes 12, adjacent in the longitudinal direction, which extend substantially in the longitudinal direction 28. Such tracks 21, extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28, may help to increase the tensile strength of the material 110, thus improving the ability of the material 110 to withstand the forces present in a high-speed manufacturing process. Tracks 21, extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28, may also help to provide advantageous properties associated with necking, the material 110.

The track 21 consists of a series of connected nodes 12 adjacent in the longitudinal direction. It is considered that the track 21 extends substantially in the longitudinal direction 28 if the lines drawn between the centers of the nodes 12 adjacent in the longitudinal direction within the track 21, such as the line 85 drawn between the centers C1, C2 of the nodes 12a, 12b, form angles relative to the longitudinal dimension 28 that are less than approximately twenty degrees, more preferably less than approximately fifteen degrees, even more preferably less than approximately ten degrees, and also even more preferably less than approximately five degrees. In Fig. 6C, no angle is shown, since the angle formed by the line 85 relative to the longitudinal direction 28 is zero.

When each of the lines drawn between the centers of two or more nodes 12 and the center of the connected support node 12, adjacent in the longitudinal direction, forms an angle with respect to the longitudinal direction 28, which is less than approximately twenty degrees, the connected node 12, adjacent in the longitudinal direction, which is considered to be in the same track 21 as the support node 12, is a connected node 12, adjacent in the longitudinal direction, for which the line drawn between its center and the center of the support node 12 forms a smaller angle. When the lines drawn between the centers of the connected nodes 12, adjacent in the longitudinal direction, and the center of the support node 12 form equal angles with respect to the longitudinal direction 28, the track 21 ends and none of the connected nodes 12, adjacent in the longitudinal direction, is considered to be part of this particular track 21 with the support node 12.

In some embodiments, it may be preferable for the material 110 to have at least three tracks 21 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28, or at least four tracks 21 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28, or at least five tracks 21 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28, or at least six tracks 21 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28.

In other embodiments, it may be preferable for the material 110 to have a minimum number of tracks 21 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28, depending on the width 33 of the perforated zone 16 of the material 110. To help determine whether a material, such as the material 110, has a minimum desired number of tracks 21 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28, a dimensionless track ratio was developed. The value of this track ratio is equal to the width 33 of the perforated zone 16 of the material 110, expressed in millimeters, divided by the number of tracks 21 of the material 110 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28. It has been found that materials 110 having a track ratio value of less than about 15 can have sufficient tensile strength to be suitable for use in high-speed manufacturing processes. In more preferred embodiments, the track ratio may be less than about 12, or less than about 10, or less than about 8. Although we do not seek to cover all contemplated suitable embodiments, the track ratio in general may be greater than about 3, or greater than about 4, or greater than about 5.

The tracks 21 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28 have a length 23. The length 23 is a longitudinal length measured between the centers of the nodes 12 of the track 21 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28 that are closest to the rear edge 27 and the front edge 25 of the material 10 within the track 21. In general, it may be advantageous for the track 21 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28 to extend over a length 23 that is greater than about 25% of the total length L of the material 110, or greater than about 50%, or greater than about 75%, or greater than about 80%, or greater than about 90% of the total length L of the material 110. In at least some embodiments, the track 21 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28 may extend over the entire length L of the material 110. Although it should be understood that not all of the tracks 21 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28, must extend over such length values 23. Instead, the majority of tracks 21, extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28, may extend over length values 23 exceeding the above-mentioned values.

In general, the alignment of the nodes 12 in the above-mentioned ways can be used to generally align the connecting webs 14 in the longitudinal direction 28. For example, the lines 85 drawn between the centers of the nodes 12 adjacent in the longitudinal direction can approximately correspond to the locations and directions of the connecting webs 14 connecting such nodes 12 adjacent in the longitudinal direction. Due to the presence of such tracks 21, extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28, at least some of the connecting webs 14 of the material 110 can be aligned substantially in the longitudinal direction. These connecting webs 14 aligned substantially in the longitudinal direction can provide the material 110 with advantageous properties related to tensile strength and/or narrowing, as described above.

The material 110 may further comprise one or more tracks 37 of holes 24 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28. Like the tracks 21 of the nodes 12, the track 37 of holes 24 consists of a sequence of holes 24 adjacent in the longitudinal direction. The holes 24 are located adjacent in the longitudinal direction if the line drawn between the centers of adjacent holes 24 passes along the single connecting bridge 13 and forms an angle relative to the longitudinal direction 28, which is less than approximately forty-five degrees. The centers of the holes 24 may be the geometric centers of the holes 24.

The track 37 is considered to extend substantially in the longitudinal direction 28 if the lines drawn between the centers of the holes 24 adjacent in the longitudinal direction within the track 37, such as the line 77 drawn between the centers of the holes 24a, 24b, form angles relative to the longitudinal dimension 28 that are less than approximately twenty degrees, more preferably less than approximately fifteen degrees, even more preferably less than approximately ten degrees, and also even more preferably less than approximately five degrees. In Fig. 6C, no angle is shown, since the angle formed by the line 77 relative to the longitudinal direction 28 is zero degrees.

When each of the lines drawn between the centers of two or more openings 24 and the center of the support opening 24 adjacent in the longitudinal direction forms an angle with respect to the longitudinal direction 28, which is less than approximately twenty degrees, the opening 24 adjacent in the longitudinal direction, which is considered to be in the same track 37 as the support opening 24, is the opening 24 adjacent in the longitudinal direction for which the line drawn between its center and the center of the support opening 24 forms a smaller angle. When the lines drawn between the centers of the openings 24 adjacent in the longitudinal direction and the center of the support opening 24 form equal angles with respect to the longitudinal direction 28, the track 37 ends and none of the openings 24 adjacent in the longitudinal direction is considered to be part of this particular track 37 with the support opening 24.

As can be seen in Fig. 6C, the tracks 37 of the apertures 24 adjacent in the longitudinal direction are offset in the transverse direction relative to the tracks 21 of the nodes 12 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28. That is, at least with respect to the tracks 21 of the nodes 12 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28 and the tracks 37 of the apertures 24, there are no apertures 24 located in the longitudinal direction between the nodes 12 adjacent in the longitudinal direction, and this configuration provides a plurality of connecting bridges 14 that can extend substantially in the longitudinal direction 28 and provide the advantageous properties of the nonwoven material 110 associated with tensile strength and reduced necking, which were indicated above.

It may also be advantageous for the material 110, where the nodes 12 adjacent in the transverse direction retain some degree of displacement in the longitudinal direction. For example, it may be advantageous if the lines drawn between the centers of the nodes 12 adjacent in the transverse direction, such as the nodes 12c and 12d or the nodes 12d and 12e, will form angles 19 with respect to the transverse direction 30, which are greater than approximately zero degrees. It may be more preferable if the angle 19 is greater than approximately ten degrees, or more preferably greater than approximately fifteen degrees, or more preferably greater than approximately twenty degrees. In these embodiments, the angle 19 may be less than approximately twenty-five degrees, or less than approximately twenty degrees, or less than approximately fifteen degrees. Of course, it is not necessary that all the nodes 12 adjacent in the transverse direction in the material 110 have such a characteristic feature that a line drawn between the centers of the nodes 12 adjacent in the transverse direction forms an angle of 19 within the described ranges. In some embodiments, only a majority of the nodes 12 adjacent in the transverse direction may have such a characteristic feature that a line drawn between the centers of the nodes 12 adjacent in the transverse direction forms an angle of 19 within the described ranges.

If the material 110 is a fluid-entangled material, one unique property of the material 110 is a difference in the orientation of the fibers within the connecting webs 14 connecting the nodes 12 adjacent in the longitudinal direction and the connecting webs 14 connecting the nodes 12 adjacent in the transverse direction. It was found that the anisotropy, one measure of the alignment of the fibers within one connecting web 14, of the connecting webs 14 connecting the nodes 12 adjacent in the longitudinal direction, is generally greater than about 1.3, or greater than about 1.4, or greater than about 1.5, according to the test method for determining the anisotropy of the webs. In contrast, the anisotropy of the connecting webs 14 connecting the nodes 12 adjacent in the transverse direction is generally less than about 1.1, or less than about 1.08, or less than about 1.05, according to the test method for determining the anisotropy of the webs. These results indicate that the fibers within the connecting webs 14 connecting the nodes 12 adjacent in the longitudinal direction are generally more aligned in one direction than the fibers within the connecting webs 14 connecting the nodes 12 adjacent in the transverse direction. This characteristic feature can further contribute to imparting tensile strength to the material 110 in the longitudinal direction 28.

The nonwoven material 10 may be comprised of various fibers. In one embodiment, the nonwoven material 10 may comprise synthetic fibers and binder fibers. In preferred embodiments comprising synthetic fibers and binder fibers, the binder fibers may comprise at least about 5% of the plurality of fibers by total weight of the nonwoven material 10, and more preferably at least about 10% of the plurality of fibers by total weight of the nonwoven material 10. One example of synthetic fibers that may be used includes polyester fibers, polypropylene fiber, and/or bicomponent fibers of polypropylene and polyethylene, however, it should be understood that other fibers may be used without departing from the scope of the present invention. Illustrative binder fibers that may be used are FiberVisions ESC233 binder fibers, which have a linear density of 3 denier, a cut length of 40 mm, and 18 twists per inch, and FiberVisions ESC215 binder fibers, which have a linear density of 1.5 denier, a cut length of 40 mm, and 18 twists per inch. However, other types of binder fibers may be used.

In some embodiments, the nonwoven material 10 may additionally or alternatively comprise natural fibers. The fibers of the nonwoven material 10 may be randomly arranged and may be staple length fibers such as those used, for example, in carded webs, air-laid webs, webs obtained by coform technology, etc., and they may have a fiber length of less than 100 mm, and more often in the range of 10-60 mm. As a supplement or alternative, the fibers of the nonwoven material may include more continuous fibers, such as fibers used, for example, in meltblown or spunbond webs, and may have a fiber length exceeding 100 mm.

In some embodiments, the nonwoven material 10 may be made in the form of a single layer material. In other embodiments, the nonwoven material 10 may be made in the form of a laminate, wherein the laminate comprises a parent material to which the nonwoven material 10 may be attached. An exemplary parent material, which will be described in more detail below in conjunction with Fig. 7, may be a spunbond material.

In Fig. 6F and 6G, alternative embodiments of the nonwoven material 210 and 310 are shown, respectively. The alternative embodiments demonstrate that the nonwoven material 10, 110, 210, 310 can comprise nodes 12, connecting webs 14 and openings 24 in various configurations. Each of the nonwoven materials 110, 210, 310 of Fig. 6A-6G, respectively, comprises a perforated zone 16 and side zones 26a, 26b, 26c, 26d. In the description of the nonwoven materials 110, 210, 310 of Fig. 6A-6G, respectively, it should be noted that for the sake of clarity, not all nodes 12, connecting webs 14 and openings 24 are designated.

Fig. 6F shows a nonwoven material 210 comprising a perforated zone 16 which comprises a plurality of nodes 12, each of which has four connecting bridges 14 connected to adjacent nodes 12. Some of the openings 24 in the nonwoven material 210 may be generally diamond-shaped or have some curvature to acquire a lens shape (a biconvex shape with two circular arcs connected at their end points), as shown in Fig. 6F. As shown in Fig. 6F, the openings 24 may be made in the same orientation relative to each other.

Additionally, the embodiment of the nonwoven material 210 shown in Fig. 6F may be less advantageous with respect to some aspects of material handling compared to the nonwoven material 110 shown in Figs. 6A-6D due to the fact that the nonwoven material 210 does not comprise tracks 21 of nodes 12 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28, since the openings 24 are located between various nodes 12, preventing the unification of a series of nodes 12 into a track 21 of nodes 12 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28.

Fig. 6G shows another illustrative alternative nonwoven material 310 comprising a perforated region 16 comprising a plurality of nodes 12. The nonwoven material 310 is configured such that some of the nodes 12 (such as node 12a) have six connecting webs 14, while some of the nodes 12 (such as node 12b) have three connecting webs 14. As shown in Fig. 6G, the different webs 14 may have different thicknesses. As also shown in Fig. 6G, some of the nodes 12 can be designed in such a way as to have a different area than other nodes 12. The perforated zone 16 also contains a plurality of openings 24. The nonwoven material 310 is designed in such a way that some of the openings 24 (such as opening 24a) are generally made in the shape of a hexagon, while some of the openings 24 (such as opening 24b) are generally made in the shape of a rhombus or have some curvature in order to acquire the shape of a lens. As shown in Fig. 6G, the openings 24 can be designed in such a way that some of the openings 24 have an area that differs from the area of other openings.

Fig. 7A shows an exemplary process and device 100' by which a nonwoven material 10 according to the present invention can be produced. Fig. 7A shows a precursor web 36 comprising a plurality of fibers. The precursor web 36 can be formed by various web forming techniques, such as, but not limited to, a wet-laid process, a foam lay-up process, or a carding process. In a preferred embodiment, as shown in Fig. 7A, the precursor web 36 can be formed in a wet-laid process by applying a fiber and an aqueous slurry 38 from a drum 40 onto a precursor forming surface 42. The precursor forming surface 42, as shown in Fig. 7A, can be a precursor material, such as a spunbond web. However, it is understood that the fiber and the aqueous suspension 38 can be applied directly to the belt, grid or other surface that forms the initial forming surface 42. The initial web 36 can be transferred by means of the belt 44 driven by the drive roller 46, or by means of other transfer devices known to those skilled in the art. If the initial web 36 is formed in a wet lay-up process, the initial web 36 can be dried by means of known techniques via the dryer 48.

A starting web 36, produced on or off-line, may be transferred to a forming surface 50. The forming surface 50 may be the surface of a texturing drum 52, such as a forming grid, with a portion of the illustrative forming surface 50 shown in more detail in Fig. 8A and 8B. The texturing drum 52 may rotate as shown in Fig. 7A and may be driven by any suitable drive means (not shown), such as electric motors and gearing, as is well known to those skilled in the art. The material forming the texturing drum 52 may be any number of suitable materials commonly used for such forming drums, including, but not limited to, sheet metal, plastics and other polymeric materials, rubber, etc.

Fig. 8A shows a first illustrative embodiment of a portion of the forming surface 50. The forming surface 50 may comprise a plurality of forming slots 54, a plurality of projections 56, and a plurality of regions 69 that form connecting webs. The regions 69 that form connecting webs may be located between the plurality of forming slots 54 and the plurality of projections 56, and may generally be regions of the forming surface 50 that are neither a forming slot 54 nor a projection 56.

As will be described in more detail below, the geometric shape, spacing and orientation of the forming slits 54, the projections 56 and the web forming regions 69 will be consistent with the formation of the nodes 12, the openings 24 and the webs 14 in the nonwoven material 10. In fact, the alignment and orientation of these forming slits 54, the projections 56 and the web forming regions 69 can provide advantageous properties in forming the nonwoven materials as described herein. For example, certain alignments and orientations can help provide desired tensile strength properties and/or desired necking properties for material processability while providing a material with a large open surface area and thus achieving advantageous fluid handling properties. Although such alignments and orientations are described in connection with the particular arrangement of the forming surface 50 shown in FIG. 8A, and the forming surface 50' shown in Fig. 8B, it should be understood that other forming surfaces provided by the present invention can achieve such described alignments and orientations using other arrangements.

As shown in Fig. 8A, the forming surface 50 may comprise a plurality of forming apertures 54 corresponding to the shape and arrangement of the desired units 12 of the nonwoven material 10. Although the forming apertures 54 shown in Fig. 8 are circular, it should be understood that any number of shapes and combinations of shapes may be used, depending on the practical application. Examples of additional or alternative possible shapes of the forming apertures 54 include, but are not limited to, ovals, crosses, squares, rectangles, diamond shapes, hexagons and other polygons.

The forming holes 54 can be arranged in a plurality of tracks 55 (three tracks 55 are designated in Fig. 8A) extending in the longitudinal direction 57 of the forming surface 50. The longitudinal direction 57 of the forming surface 50 can correspond to the direction along the circumference, for example, if the forming surface 50 is part of a cylindrical texturing drum 52. The tracks 55 of the forming holes 54 can be formed from forming holes 54 adjacent in the longitudinal direction. As described above with respect to the assemblies 12 of the nonwoven material 110 shown in Fig. 6A and 6C, the forming holes 54 are adjacent in the longitudinal direction if the line 63 drawn between the centers of the forming holes 54 does not pass through any projections 56 or any other forming holes 54 and forms an angle with respect to the longitudinal direction 57 that is less than forty-five degrees. Similarly, the forming slots 54 may also be arranged in tracks extending in the transverse direction 61 of the forming surface 50, if a line drawn between the centers of the forming slots 54 does not pass through any projections 56 or any other forming slots 54 and forms an angle relative to the transverse direction 61 of the forming surface 50 that is less than forty-five degrees.

When each of the lines drawn between the centers of two or more forming slits 54 and the center of the connected forming slit 54 adjacent in the longitudinal direction forms an angle relative to the longitudinal direction 57 of the forming surface 50, which is less than approximately twenty degrees, the connected forming slit 54 adjacent in the longitudinal direction, which is considered to be in the same track 55 as the support forming slit 54, is a connected forming slit 54 adjacent in the longitudinal direction, for which the line drawn between its center and the center of the support forming slit 54 forms a smaller angle. When the lines drawn between the centers of the connected forming slots 54 adjacent in the longitudinal direction and the center of the support forming slot 54 form equal angles relative to the longitudinal direction 57 of the forming surface 57, the track 55 ends and none of the connected forming slots 54 adjacent in the longitudinal direction is considered part of this particular track 55 with the support forming slot 54.

The track 55 of the forming slits 54 consists of a series of connected forming slits 54 adjacent in the longitudinal direction. It may be preferable that one or more tracks 55 of the forming slits 54 are designed in such a way as to extend substantially in the longitudinal direction 57. The track 55 is considered to extend in the longitudinal direction when the lines (such as the line 63) drawn between the centers of the forming slits 54 adjacent in the longitudinal direction form an angle with respect to the longitudinal direction 57 that is less than about twenty degrees, more preferably less than about fifteen degrees, even more preferably less than about ten degrees, and also even more preferably less than about five degrees. In Fig. 8A, no angle is shown, since the angle formed by the line 63 with respect to the longitudinal direction 57 is zero degrees. In some preferred embodiments, a majority of the plurality of tracks 55 of the forming slots 54 located in the longitudinal direction 57 may be configured to extend substantially in the longitudinal direction 57. In some embodiments, such as the embodiment shown in Fig. 8A, all of the tracks 55 of the forming slots 54 on the forming surface 50 may be configured in this manner.

In some embodiments, it may be preferable for the forming surface 50 to have at least three tracks 55 of forming slits 54 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 57 of the forming surface 50, or at least four tracks 55 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 57, or at least five tracks 55 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 57, or at least six tracks 55 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 57.

The tracks 55 of the forming slits 54, extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 57 of the forming surface 50, may have a length extending through the entire forming surface 50, or may form only a part of the length of the forming surface 50 in the longitudinal direction 57 (such as a part of the circumference of the forming surface 50). For example, in some embodiments, it is contemplated that one path 55 of forming slots 54 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 57 of the forming surface 50 may extend 5%, or 10%, or 15%, or 20%, or 25% or more of the length of the forming surface 50. In some embodiments, the path 55 of forming slots 54 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 57 of the forming surface may extend less than 95%, or less than 90%, or less than 85%, or less than 80%, or less than 75% of the length of the forming surface 50. The forming surface 50 may also comprise a plurality of projections 56 extending from the outer surface 58 of the forming surface 50. As shown in Fig. 8, the projections 56 may have a pyramidal geometric shape, however, the projections 56 may have various other geometric shapes, cross-sectional shapes, spacings and orientations. In some embodiments, the cross-sectional area of the plurality of projections 56 may decrease as they move away from the outer surface 58 of the forming surface 50. For example, the area of the pyramidal shape of the projections 56 shown in Fig. 8 decreases as the projection 56 moves away from the outer surface 58 of the forming surface 50.

In general, the alignment of the forming slits 54 for forming tracks 55 of the forming slits 54, extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 57, can align the regions 69 forming the connecting webs in the longitudinal direction 57. For example, the lines 63 drawn between the centers of the forming slits 54 adjacent in the longitudinal direction can approximately correspond to the locations and directions of the regions 69 forming the connecting webs, which connect such forming slits 54 adjacent in the longitudinal direction. Due to the presence of such tracks 55 of the forming slits 54, extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 57, at least some of the regions 69 forming the connecting webs can be aligned substantially in the longitudinal direction. These substantially longitudinally aligned regions 69 forming connecting bridges can result in a nonwoven material 110, such as described above, which can provide advantageous properties related to tensile strength and/or necking, while at the same time maintaining a sufficient amount of open area percentage.

The projections 56 can be arranged in a plurality of tracks 59 (three tracks 59 are designated in Fig. 8A) extending in the longitudinal direction 57 of the forming surface 50. The tracks 59 of the projections 56 can be formed from a sequence of projections 56 adjacent in the longitudinal direction. As described above with respect to the openings 24 in the nonwoven material 110 shown in Fig. 6A and 6C, the projections 56 are adjacent in the longitudinal direction if a line (such as a line 65a or 65b in Fig. 8A) does not pass through any forming slits 54 or any other projections 56 and passes through a single region 69 forming a connecting web and forms an angle relative to the longitudinal direction 57 of the forming surface 50 that is less than approximately forty-five degrees. The centers of the projections 56 may be the geometric centers of the projections 56. Similarly, the projections 56 may also be adjacent in the transverse direction if the line drawn between the centers of the projections 56 does not pass through any forming slots 54 or any other projections 56 and passes through the only region 69 forming the connecting web and forms an angle relative to the transverse direction 61 of the forming surface 50, which is less than approximately forty-five degrees.

In some embodiments, a majority of the plurality of tracks 59 of the projections 56 extending in the longitudinal direction 57 are offset in the transverse direction relative to the closest adjacent track 55 of the forming holes 54 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 57. Due to such a configuration, as shown in Fig. 8A (as well as in alternative embodiments shown in Fig. 8B), the regions 69 forming the connecting webs located between the forming holes 54 can extend substantially in the longitudinal direction 57. As a result, the nonwoven materials 10 formed by such a forming surface 50 can comprise connecting webs 14 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 28 of the nonwoven material 110, such as those described above in connection with the nonwoven material 110 in Fig. 6A and 6C. As noted above, this can provide the advantageous properties of improved tensile strength and reduced necking in the nonwoven material 110 while maintaining the desired open area percentage of the perforated zone 16 of the nonwoven material 110.

In some embodiments, the projections 56 in each track 59 may be designed in such a way that the projections 56 adjacent in the longitudinal direction may form a line 65a or 65b forming an angle 67a, 67b, respectively, with the longitudinal direction 57. In some embodiments, this angle 67a or 67b may be from 15 degrees to 60 degrees. As shown in Fig. 8A, the projections 56 adjacent in the longitudinal direction in the track 59 of projections 56 may form a zigzag arrangement in the longitudinal direction 57, so that each projection 56 in one track 59 of projections 56 is offset in the transverse direction 61 relative to the previous projection 56 and the subsequent projection 56 in the track 59 in the same transverse direction 61.

However, in some preferred embodiments, such as the embodiment shown in the detailed plan view of the alternative forming surface 50' in Fig. 8B, the forming surface 50' may be configured to comprise one or more tracks 59 of projections 56 extending substantially in a longitudinal direction 57. A track 59 is considered to extend in a longitudinal direction when lines (such as line 65) drawn between the centers of projections 56 adjacent in the longitudinal direction form an angle with respect to the longitudinal direction 57 that is less than about twenty degrees, more preferably less than about fifteen degrees, even more preferably less than about ten degrees, and still more preferably less than about five degrees. No angle is shown in Fig. 8B, since the angle formed by line 65 with respect to the longitudinal direction 57 is zero degrees. In some embodiments, most of the plurality of tracks 59 of projections 56 extending in the longitudinal direction 57 are configured to extend substantially in the longitudinal direction 57. Also, in some embodiments, all or substantially all of the plurality of tracks 59 of projections 56 may be configured in this manner.

As also shown in Fig. 8B, each projection 56 can have a length 73 and a width 75. The length 73 can also be referred to as the major dimension of the projection 56 and the width 75 can be referred to as the minor dimension of the projection 56. As indicated above, comparing the length 73 with the width 75 of the projection 56 can result in providing the aspect ratio of the opening 24 in the nonwoven material 110, as described above in connection with Fig. 6D. Preferably, the ratio of the length 73 to the width 75 of the projection 56 exceeds 1.0. In some embodiments, the ratio of the length 73 to the width 75 of the projection 56 is from about 1.3 to about 3.25, or from about 1.4 to about 3.0, or from about 1.3 to about 2.5, or from about 1.3 to about 2.0. In some embodiments, the length 73 of the projection 56 may be oriented in such a way that the length 75 extends substantially in the longitudinal direction 57 of the forming surface 50. In the context of the present document, it is assumed that the projection 56, the length 73 of which is oriented in the longitudinal direction 57, includes projections 56 in which the direction of the length 73 forms an angle of less than 45 degrees with the longitudinal direction 57 of the forming surface 50. In some embodiments, such as the one shown in Fig. 8B, a plurality of projections 56 in a track 59 may be configured in such a way. In some embodiments, all or substantially all of the projections 56 in a track 59 of projections 56 may be configured in such a way. As also shown in Fig. 8B, adjacent tracks 59 of projections 56 may be configured in such a way that the angular orientation of the larger dimension (or length 73) of the projections 56 extends in different transverse directions. For example, the leftmost track 59 of projections 56 comprises projections 56, the length 73 of which is oriented in the first transverse direction, while the second track 59 of projections 56 comprises projections 56, the length 73 of which is oriented in the second transverse direction opposite to the first transverse direction. In some embodiments, the projections 56 in adjacent tracks 59 of projections 56 can be made in such a way that the lengths 73 of the projections 56 extend in transverse directions that are mirror images of each other.

The forming surface 50 may also comprise one or more regions 60a, 60b that are substantially free of projections 56. The regions 60a, 60b, as will be described in more detail below, may correspond to side regions 26a, 26b in the nonwoven material 10. In some embodiments, the regions 60a, 60b corresponding to the side regions 26a, 26b may comprise perforations 71. However, in preferred embodiments, if present, the perforations 71 in the regions 60a, 60b have a smaller cross-sectional area than the forming slots 54 in the forming surface 50 and may facilitate the removal of fluid during the fluid entangling process. For example, the average area of the perforations 71 in the regions 60a, 60b may be less than the average area of the forming slits 54 in the forming surface 50. The perforations 71 in the regions 60a, 60b may result in the formation of micro-columns 13, as shown in Fig. 6B. The area of the outer surface 58 of the forming surface 50 between the perforations 71 in the zones 60a, 60b may form micro-perforations 81 and/or regions with a lower fiber density 39.

As also shown in Fig. 7A, a typically perforated forming surface 50 is removably mounted on and above an optional porous inner drum shell 62 so that different forming surfaces 50 can be used for different designs of the final products. The porous inner drum shell 62 is coupled to a fluid removal system 64 that facilitates pulling the bonding fluid and fibers down into the forming slots 54 in the forming surface 50, thereby forming knots 12 in the nonwoven fabric 10. The porous inner drum shell 62 also acts as a barrier to slow down further movement of fibers into the fluid removal system 60 and other parts of the equipment, thereby reducing clogging of the equipment. The porous inner drum shell 62 rotates in the same direction and at the same speed as the texturing drum 52. In addition, for additional control of the height of the nodes 12 on the nonwoven material 10, the distance between the inner drum shell 62 and the outer surface 58 of the forming surface 50 can be varied. In general, the gap between the outer surface 58 of the forming surface 50 and the outer surface of the inner drum shell 64 will be in the range from about 0 to about 5 mm. Other ranges can be used depending on the specific practical application and the desired features of the nonwoven material 10.

The depth of the forming slots 54 in the texturing drum 52 or other surface 50 of forming projections can be from 1 mm to 10 mm, but preferably from about 3 mm to 6 mm, in order to create nodes 12 of such a shape that will be most suitable for the intended general applications. The cross-sectional diameter (or greater dimension) of the forming slot 54 can be from about 2 mm to 10 mm, but preferably from 3 mm to 6 mm when measured along the main axis, and the spacing between the forming slots 54 based on the distance between centers can be from 3 mm to 10 mm, but preferably from 4 mm to 7 mm. The arrangement of the spacing between the forming slots 54 can be changed and selected depending on the specific practical application. Some examples of arrangements include, but are not limited to, aligned row and/or column arrangements, skewed arrangements, hexagonal arrangements, wavy arrangements, and arrangements featuring pictures, shapes, and objects.

The cross-sectional dimensions of the forming slits 54 and their depth affect the cross-section and height of the knots 12 created in the nonwoven material 10. In general, the shapes of the forming slits 54 with sharp and narrow angles at the leading edge of the forming slits 54, when viewed in the machine direction, should be avoided, since they can sometimes weaken the ability to safely remove the nonwoven material 10 from the forming surface 50 without damaging the knots 12. In addition, the thickness/depth of the slit in the forming surface 50 will generally tend to correspond to the depth or height of the knots 12 in the nonwoven material 10. However, it should be noted that each of the depth, spacing, size, shape and other parameters of the slit can be changed independently of the other and can be changed based on the specific end use of the nonwoven material 10 being formed.

Without being limited by theory, it is believed that specific ratios of the depth of the forming slits 54 to the diameter (or greater dimension) of the forming slits 54 contribute to an increase in the anisotropy of the nodes 12 in the nonwoven material 10. The term "greater dimension" is used in the context if the forming slits 54 do not have a circular shape, for example, if the forming slits 54 have a shape of an ellipse, the greater dimension will be the length of the ellipse along its main axis. It is believed that the ratio of the depth of the forming slit 54 to the diameter (or greater dimension) of the forming slit 54, exceeding 1.0, leads to an increase in the anisotropy of the nodes 12 of the nonwoven material 10. In some preferred embodiments, the ratio of the depth of the forming slits 54 to the diameter (or greater dimension) of the forming slits 54 can be from 1.0 to 1.2. As noted above, increased anisotropy of the nodes 12 in the nonwoven material 10 can provide improved compression properties of the nonwoven material 10.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 7A, the forming surface 50 is shown in the form of a forming grid placed on the texturing drum 52. However, it should be understood that other means can be used to create the forming surface 50. For example, a perforated belt or mesh (not shown) can be used that contains forming slots 54 formed in the belt or mesh at appropriate locations. Alternatively, flexible rubberized belts (not shown) can be used that are impermeable to the fastening flows of a fluid under pressure except for the locations of the forming slots 54. Such belts and meshes are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, as are the means for driving and controlling the speed of such belts and meshes. The texturing drum 52 is more advantageous for forming the nonwoven material 10 according to the present invention, since it can be made with an outer surface 58 between the forming slots 54 and the projections 56, which is smooth and impermeable to the bonding fluid, and which does not leave a wire twisted pattern on the nonwoven material 10, which is prone to wire belts.

In embodiments where the forming surface 50 forms part of the texturing drum 52 as a forming grid, the forming surface 50 and its characteristic features can be obtained using a variety of techniques. For example, the forming surface 50 and the characteristic features of its forming slots 54 and projections 56 can be formed using casting, molding, punching, stamping, machining, laser cutting, water jet cutting and 3D printing or any other suitable technique.

The exemplary device and method 100' may also include one or more fluid entangling devices 66. The most common fluid used in this regard is spunlace technology or hydroentangling technology, which uses pressurized water as the entangling fluid. Thus, the fluid entangling device 66 may include a plurality of high-pressure fluid jets (not shown) for emitting a plurality of streams 68 of pressurized fluid. These streams 68 of fluid, which is preferably water, may be directed toward the parent web 36 on the forming surface 50 and may result in further entangling of fibers within the nonwoven material 10 and/or the parent forming surface 42 (in the case where the parent forming surface is an underlying web of material). The fluid flows 68 can also direct the fibers in the original web 36 into the forming slits 54 and from the base plane 18 of the first surface 20 of the nonwoven material 10 and in the direction 38 Z, perpendicular to the base plane 18, to form nodes 12 in the nonwoven material 10 (see Fig. 2 and 3). Also, due to the fluid flows 68, at least a large part of the plurality of nodes 12 can be made so that they have an anisotropy value exceeding 1.0, as described above. The fluid flows 68 can also direct the fibers in the original web 36 around the projections 56 on the forming surface 50 in the region 69, forming connecting bridges, to form a plurality of connecting bridges 14 and a plurality of openings 24 on the nonwoven material 10.

In Fig. 7A, a single fluid entangling device 66 is shown, however, depending on the desired level of entangling and the specific dimensions and qualities of the desired nonwoven material 10, a plurality of such fluid entangling devices 66 may be used. The streams 68 of entangling fluid in the fluid entangling devices 66 exit from nozzles through groups or lines of jets (not shown) consisting of a row or rows of pressurized fluid nozzles with small holes typically from 0.08 to 0.15 mm in diameter and approximately 0.5 mm apart in a direction perpendicular to the processing direction. The pressure in the nozzles may be from about 5 bar to about 400 bar, but is typically less than 200 bar, except for nonwoven materials 10 with a higher weight and if the formation of a fibrillar structure is desired. Other nozzle sizes, nozzle spacings, number of nozzles, and nozzle pressures may be used depending on the particular end application. Such jet bonding devices 66 are well known to those skilled in the art and are readily available from manufacturers such as Fleissner, Germany, and Andritz-Perfojet, France.

The fluid bonding devices 66 will often have nozzle openings located or spaced from about 5 mm to about 20 mm, and more often from about 5 mm to about 10 mm, from the forming surface 50, although the actual spacing may vary depending on the basis weight of the materials being impacted, the fluid pressure, the number of individual nozzles used, the amount of vacuum used by the fluid removal system 64, and the speed at which the equipment is operated.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 7A, the fluid entangling device 66 is a conventional hydroentangling device, the construction and operation of which are well known to those skilled in the art, such as that described in U.S. Patent No. 3,485,706 to Evans, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes. See also the description of hydraulic entangling equipment described by Honeycomb Systems, Inc., Biddeford, Maine, in an article entitled "Rotary Hydraulic Entanglement of Nonwovens," reprinted from the INSIGHT '86 INTERNATIONAL ADVANCED FORMING/BONDING Conference, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

The rotational speeds of the drive roller 46 and the texturing drum 52 can be set to different values relative to each other. In some embodiments, the rotational speed of the drive roller 46 and the texturing drum 52 can be the same. In other embodiments, the rotational speed of the drive roller 46 and the texturing drum 52 can be different. For example, in some embodiments, the speed of the texturing drum 52 can be slower than the speed of the drive roller 46 to provide an overfeed of the starting web 36 on the forming surface 50 on the texturing drum 52. Such an overfeed can be used to provide various properties of the nonwoven material 10, such as improved formation of knots 12 in the nonwoven material 10 and an increased height of the knots 12.

After jet entangling with the entangling fluid streams 68 of the jet entangling device 66, the starting web 36 becomes a jet entangled web that forms the nonwoven material 10 described above, which comprises a plurality of nodes 12, a plurality of connecting bridges 14 that connect the plurality of nodes 12 to each other, and a plurality of apertures 24, as described above. The device 100' and the process can further include removing the jet entangled web of the nonwoven material 10 from the forming surface 50 and drying the jet entangled web to form a three-dimensional nonwoven material 10. Drying the nonwoven material 10 can be performed using techniques known to those skilled in the art. In embodiments where the starting web comprises binder fibers, drying the nonwoven material 10 can activate the binder fibers. Activation of the binder fibers may help maintain the three-dimensionality of the nonwoven material 10 by helping to maintain the geometric shape and height of the nodes 12 extending from the base plane 18 on the first surface 20 of the nonwoven material 10 (as shown in Figs. 2 and 3).

Fig. 7B shows an alternative configuration of the apparatus and method 100'' for producing the nonwoven material 10 as described herein. As shown in Fig. 7B, the apparatus and method 100'' may include a support web 43 that is brought into contact with the parent web 36 prior to the fluid entangling unit 66. By separating the parent web 36 from the support web 43, different feeding options can be achieved for the parent web 36 and the support web 43. For example, the parent web 36 can be overfed into the fluid entangling unit 66 due to the size and speed of the drive roller 46 compared to the texturing drum 52, while the support web 43 can be fed into the fluid entangling unit 66 at a speed corresponding to the speed of the texturing drum 52 by means of the drive roller 47. This is further described in U.S. Patent No. 9,474,660 issued to Kirby, Scott S.C. et al., which is incorporated herein in its entirety to the extent not inconsistent with this document.

As also shown in Fig. 7C, in some embodiments, the nonwoven material 10 can be combined with an additional web, such as a carrier material 151. The carrier material 151 can be attached to the nonwoven material 10 by any suitable bonding mechanism, such as bonding with an adhesive or mechanical bonding, for example, bonding under the action of heat, ultrasound, pressure, or any other suitable bonding mechanism. In some preferred embodiments, the carrier material 151 is bonded to the nonwoven material 10 in the first and second side zones 26a, 26b of the nonwoven material 10, but not in the perforated zone 16 of the nonwoven material. The carrier material 151 can be attached to the nonwoven material 10 after the fluid entangling unit 66. In some embodiments, the carrier material 151 may be attached to the nonwoven material 10 after the nonwoven material 10 has been dried. In other embodiments, the carrier material 151 may be attached to the nonwoven material 10 before the nonwoven material 10 has been dried. The carrier material 151 may provide additional tensile strength to the nonwoven material 10 and may improve its processing under high-speed converting and/or manufacturing conditions. The carrier material 151 is preferably a liquid-permeable material and is coupled to the nonwoven material 10, for example, the carrier material 151 is coupled to the first surface 20 of the nonwoven material 10 containing the nodes 12, as well shown in Fig. 7D. It should also be noted that the carrier material 151 may be added to the device 100'' and the process, as shown and described in connection with Fig. 7B, where the support web 43 is fed into the jet bonding unit 66 separately from the original web 36.

Fig. 7D shows a cross-section of the nonwoven material 10 and the carrier material 151 when viewed along the line 7D-7D in Fig. 7C. As shown in Fig. 7D, the nonwoven material 10 connected to the carrier material 151 can have a first surface 155 and a second surface 157. In the particular embodiment shown in Fig. 7D, the material 10 is connected to the carrier sheet 151 in an orientation in which the nodes 12 of the material 10 extend from a base plane 18 of the material 10, for example from the first surface 20, to the second surface 157 of the carrier material 10. However, in other embodiments, other orientations of the material 10 and the carrier material 151 are contemplated.

In some embodiments, the carrier material 151 may have a width that is greater than the width 35 of the material 10, as shown in Fig. 7D. Such configurations may be desirable when a laminate consisting of the material 10 and the carrier material 151 is used as a liner in an absorbent article. In such embodiments, the material 10 may be located on top of the absorbent body of the article, while the carrier material 151 may completely extend between the edges of the body of the absorbent article. However, in other embodiments, the width of the carrier material 151 may be equal to the width of the material 10. Various configurations of a nonwoven material according to the present invention, such as the material 10, and a secondary material, such as the carrier material 151, located in an absorbent article are described in more detail below with reference to Figs. 11A-14.

The carrier material 151 may comprise any suitable nonwoven material, such as a spunbond material, a meltblown material, a spunbond-meltblown-spunbond (SMS) material, a spunlace material, or the like. The carrier material 151 may generally have a basis weight of from about 30 g/m2 to about 100 g/m2. Finally, the carrier material 151 may provide the material 10 with increased strength in order to allow the material 10 to be processed in high-speed manufacturing processes. In at least some embodiments, the carrier material 151 may provide advantages directed to the properties of the material 10 associated with its interaction with fluids.

The carrier material 151 may be attached to the material 10 in bonding regions 153. In at least some embodiments, the material 10 is attached to the carrier material 151 only in bonding regions 153. As shown, these bonding regions 153 may be located within the side zones 26a, 26b of the material 10. In some embodiments, the bonding regions 153 may have the same extent as the side zones 26a, 26b. However, in other embodiments, such as those shown in Fig. 7D, the bonding regions 153 may be narrower than the side zones 26a, 26b. The material 10 and the carrier material 151 may be bonded using mechanical bonding methods, such as bonding under the action of heat, ultrasound, pressure, and the like. Alternatively, the material 10 and the carrier material 151 may be bonded using an adhesive.

However, in other embodiments, the material 10 may be further bonded to the carrier material 151 in the bonding regions 153, as well as within the perforated zone 16 of the material 10. For example, adhesive may be applied to the carrier material 151 in the regions that contact the perforated zone 16 of the material 10. In such embodiments, the nodes 12 of the material 10 may be further bonded to the carrier sheet 151 together with at least portions of the side zones 26a, 26b.

Although Fig. 7A-7C show exemplary fluid entangling devices 100', 100'' and 100''' and methods for producing the nonwoven material 10, it is contemplated that variations other than these fluid entangling devices 100', 100'' and 100''' and processes may be used. For example, as previously mentioned, the starting web 36 may be provided by various techniques other than the wet lay-up process, such as formed by a foam lay-up process or a carding process. Additionally, the starting web 36 may be provided on a separate production line and wound onto roll spindles (not shown) and then transported to a separate production line for introduction into the fluid entangling process by the fluid entangling device 66, as described above.

Absorbent product

In one of many potential applications, the above-described nonwoven material 10 can be included in an absorbent article 410. Figures 9-11 show a non-limiting illustration of an absorbent article 410, such as a diaper. Other embodiments of the absorbent article can include potty training pants, juvenile pants, adult incontinence garments, and feminine hygiene products. Although the embodiments and illustrations described herein may generally be suitable for absorbent articles manufactured in the longitudinal direction of the product, hereinafter referred to as machine direction manufacturing, it should be noted that one of ordinary skill in the art can apply the information provided herein to absorbent articles manufactured in the transverse direction of the product, hereinafter referred to as transverse direction manufacturing, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

The nonwoven material 10 according to the present invention can form one or more components or one or more portions of components of the absorbent article 410 described below. In the exemplary embodiment described below and shown in Fig. 9-11, the nonwoven material 10 can form the bodyside liner 428 of the absorbent article 410. However, as noted above, it is contemplated that the nonwoven material 10 can additionally or alternatively form other components or other portions of components of the absorbent article 410, including, but not limited to, the outer cover 426, the fluid transfer layer 446, the fluid absorbent layer 448, the waist sealing element 454 and/or a component of a fastening system, such as a front fastening 492.

The absorbent article 410 shown in Fig. 9 may comprise a chassis 11. The absorbent article 410 may comprise a front waist region 412, a back waist region 414, and a crotch region 416 located between the front waist region 412 and the back waist region 414 and connecting the front and back waist regions 412, 414, respectively. The front waist region 412 may be referred to as a front end region, the back waist region 414 may be referred to as a back end region, and the crotch region 416 may be referred to as an intermediate region.

As shown in Fig. 9 and 10, the absorbent article 410 can have a pair of longitudinal side edges 418, 420 and a pair of opposite waist edges, respectively designated as a front waist edge 422 and a back waist edge 424. The front waist region 412 can be adjacent to the front waist edge 422, and the back waist region 414 can be adjacent to the back waist edge 424. The longitudinal side edges 418, 420 can extend from the front waist edge 422 to the back waist edge 424. The longitudinal side edges 418, 420 can comprise portions curved between the front waist edge 422 and the back waist edge 424, as shown in Fig. 10, while in other embodiments they may be designed to extend in a direction parallel to the longitudinal direction 430 along their entire length.

The front waist region 412 may include a portion of the absorbent article 410 that is located at least partially on the front side of the wearer when worn, while the back waist region 414 may include a portion of the absorbent article 410 that is located at least partially on the back side of the wearer when worn. The crotch region 416 of the absorbent article 410 may include a portion of the absorbent article 410 that is located between the legs of the wearer when worn, and may partially cover the lower part of the torso of the wearer. The waist edges 422 and 424 of the absorbent article 410 are configured to encircle the waist of the wearer and together define a central waist opening 423 (as indicated in Fig. 9) intended for the waist of the wearer. Portions of the longitudinal side edges 418, 420 in the crotch region 416 may generally form openings for the wearer's legs when wearing the absorbent article 410.

The absorbent article 410 may comprise an outer cover 426 and a body facing liner 428. The outer cover 426 and the body facing liner 428 may form part of the chassis 411. According to one embodiment, the body facing liner 428 may be bonded to the outer cover 426 by layering using any suitable means, such as, but not limited to, adhesives, ultrasonic bonds, heat bonds, pressure bonds, or other conventional techniques. The outer cover 426 may have a length in the longitudinal direction 430 and a width in the transverse direction 432, which, according to the illustrated embodiment, may coincide with the length and width of the absorbent article 410.

The chassis 411 may comprise an absorbent member 434. The absorbent member 434 may be positioned between the outer cover 426 and the bodyside liner 428. In one embodiment, the absorbent member 434 may have a length and a width that are equal to or less than the length and width of the absorbent article 410. The bodyside liner 428, the outer cover 426, and the absorbent member 434 may form part of an absorbent assembly 444. The absorbent assembly 444 may also comprise a fluid transfer layer 446 (shown in Figs. 10 and 11) and a fluid absorbent layer 448 (shown in Figs. 10 and 11) between the bodyside liner 428 and the absorbent member 434. In some embodiments, if the fluid transfer layer 446 is present, then the absorbent layer 448 may be located between the body facing liner 428 and the fluid transfer layer 446, as is known in the art. The absorbent assembly 444 may also comprise a release layer (not shown) located between the absorbent element 434 and the outer cover 426, as is known in the art. The absorbent assembly 444 may comprise other components in some embodiments. It is also contemplated that some embodiments may not comprise the fluid transfer layer 446 and/or the absorbent layer 448 and/or the release layer.

The absorbent article 10 may be configured to retain and/or absorb liquid, solid and semi-liquid body exudates released by the wearer. In some embodiments, a pair of containment flaps (not shown) may be configured to provide a barrier against the spread of body exudates in the lateral direction. In some embodiments, the absorbent article 410 may further comprise elastic leg members (not shown) known to those skilled in the art. In some embodiments, the absorbent article 10 may comprise a waist sealing element 454. The waist sealing element 454 may be located in the rear waist region 414 of the absorbent article 410. Although not shown, it is contemplated that the waist sealing element 454 may additionally or alternatively be located in the front waist region 412 of the absorbent article 410.

Additional details regarding each of these elements of the absorbent article 10 described herein can be found below by referring to Figures 1-7.

External coating

The outer cover 426 and/or its parts can be breathable and/or impermeable to liquid. The outer cover 426 and/or its parts can be elastic, stretchable or non-stretchable. The outer cover 426 can be made of one layer, several layers, laminated materials, spunbond textile materials, films, meltblown textile materials, elastic mesh, microporous webs, bonded carded webs or foam materials obtained using elastomeric or polymeric materials. According to one embodiment, for example, the outer cover 426 can be made of a microporous polymeric film, such as polyethylene or polypropylene.

According to one embodiment, the outer cover 426 may be a single layer of a liquid-impermeable material, such as a polymer film. According to one embodiment, the outer cover 426 may preferably be stretchable and more preferably elastic in at least the transverse direction 432 of the absorbent article 410. According to one embodiment, the outer cover 26 may be stretchable and more preferably elastic in both the transverse 432 and longitudinal 430 directions. According to one embodiment, the outer cover 426 may be a multilayer laminate, in which at least one of the layers is liquid-impermeable. According to some embodiments, the outer cover 426 may be a two-layer structure, the two layers of which may be bonded to each other, for example, using an adhesive for a laminate. Suitable types of adhesive for the laminate may be applied continuously or discontinuously in the form of drops, sprays, parallel spirals, or the like, but it should be understood that the inner layer may be bonded to the outer layer by other bonding methods, including, but not limited to, bonds obtained by ultrasonic welding, bonds obtained by heat welding, bonds formed under pressure, or the like.

The outer layer of the outer cover 426 may be of any suitable material and may be such that the wearer perceives a generally cloth-like texture or appearance. An example of such a material may be a 100% polypropylene carded web with a diamond-shaped bond structure, available from Sandler A.G., Germany, such as Sawabond 4185®, 30 gsm or equivalent. Another example of a material suitable for use as the outer layer of the outer cover 426 may be a polypropylene spunbond nonwoven web, 20 gsm. The outer layer may also be made of the same materials from which the bodyside liner 428 may be made, as described herein.

The liquid-impermeable inner layer of the outer cover 426 (or the liquid-impermeable outer cover 426 if the outer cover 426 is of a single-layer construction) can be either vapor-permeable (i.e., "breathable") or vapor-impermeable. The liquid-impermeable inner layer (or the liquid-impermeable outer cover 426 if the outer cover 426 is of a single-layer construction) can be made of a thin plastic film. The liquid-impermeable inner layer (or the liquid-impermeable outer cover 426 if the outer cover 426 has a single-layer structure) can prevent liquid body exudates from leaking out of the absorbent article 410 and wetting articles such as bed sheets and clothing, as well as the wearer and caregiver.

In some embodiments, in which the outer cover 426 has a single-layer structure, it can be embossed and/or matte-finished to achieve a more cloth-like texture or appearance. The outer cover 426 can allow vapor to escape from the absorbent article 410, while preventing the passage of liquids. A suitable liquid-impermeable, vapor-permeable material can consist of a microporous polymer film or nonwoven material that has been coated or otherwise treated to impart the desired level of liquid impermeability.

Absorbent base

The absorbent body 434 can be preferably designed as a whole compressible, conformable, pliable, non-irritating to the skin of the wearer and capable of absorbing and retaining liquid exudates of the body. The absorbent body 434 can be made in a wide range of sizes and shapes (for example, rectangular, trapezoidal, T-shaped, I-shaped, hourglass-shaped, etc.), as well as from a wide range of materials. The size and absorbent capacity of the absorbent element 434 should be compatible with the size of the intended wearer (from infants to adults) and the volume of liquid received during the intended use of the absorbent article 410. The absorbent element 434 can have a length and a width that can be less than or equal to the length and width of the absorbent article 410.

The absorbent member 434 comprises an absorbent material. In one embodiment, the absorbent member 434 may consist of a web material of hydrophilic fibers, cellulose fibers (for example, wood pulp fibers), natural fibers, synthetic fibers, sheets of woven or nonwoven material, a mesh material such as gauze or other stabilizing structures, a superabsorbent material, binders, surfactants, selected hydrophobic and hydrophilic materials, pigments, lotions, odor-eliminating agents, or the like, as well as combinations thereof. According to one embodiment, the absorbent member 434 may be a matrix of cellulose fluff and a superabsorbent material. According to one embodiment, the absorbent member 434 may be made of a single layer of materials or, alternatively, may be made of two or more layers of materials.

In the absorbent body 434, various types of wettable hydrophilic fibers can be used. Examples of suitable fibers include natural fibers, cellulose fibers, synthetic fibers consisting of cellulose or cellulose derivatives, such as viscose fibers; inorganic fibers consisting of an inherently wettable material, such as glass fibers; synthetic fibers obtained from inherently wettable thermoplastic polymers, such as certain fibers from polyesters or polyamides, or consisting of non-wettable thermoplastic polymers, such as polyolefin fibers that have been hydrophilized by suitable means. The fibers can be hydrophilized, for example, by treatment with a surfactant, treatment with silica gel, treatment with a material that is characterized by the presence of a suitable hydrophilic moiety and that cannot be easily removed from the fiber, or by coating the non-wettable hydrophobic fiber with a sheath of a hydrophilic polymer during or after the formation of the fiber. Suitable superabsorbent materials may be selected from natural, synthetic and modified natural polymers and materials. The superabsorbent materials may be inorganic materials such as silica gels or organic compounds such as crosslinked polymers. According to one embodiment, the absorbent element 434 may not contain a superabsorbent material.

If there is a release layer, the absorbent element 434 can be located on the release layer and placed over the outer cover 426. The release layer can be bonded to the outer cover 426, for example, by means of an adhesive. According to some embodiments, the release layer can be absent, and the absorbent element 434 can directly contact the outer cover 426 and can be directly bonded to the outer cover 426. However, it should be understood that the absorbent element 434 can contact, but not be bonded to the outer cover 426, and remain within the scope of the present invention. According to one embodiment, the outer cover 426 may consist of a single layer, and the absorbent element 434 may contact the single layer of the outer cover 426. According to some embodiments, at least a portion of a layer, such as, but not limited to, the fluid transfer layer 446 and/or the release layer, may be located between the absorbent element 434 and the outer cover 426. The absorbent element 434 may be associated with the fluid transfer layer 446 and/or the release layer.

Body facing lining material

The body facing liner 428 of the absorbent article 410 can overlap the absorbent element 434 and the outer cover 426, and can be configured to contain discharges from the wearer, and can separate the skin of the wearer from liquid waste retained by the absorbent element 434. The body facing liner 428 can form at least a portion of the body facing surface 419 of the base 411 configured to be located against the skin of the wearer.

According to various embodiments, the fluid transfer layer 446 can be located between the bodyside liner 428 and the absorbent element 434 (as shown in Fig. 11). According to various embodiments, the acquisition layer 448 can be located between the bodyside liner 428 and the absorbent element 434 or the fluid transfer layer 446, if present (as shown in Fig. 11). According to various embodiments, the bodyside liner 428 can be bonded to the absorption layer 448 or the fluid transfer layer 446, if the absorption layer 448 is absent, using an adhesive and/or using point fusion bonding. Point fusion bonding can be selected from ultrasonic bonding, thermal bonding, pressure bonding, and combinations thereof.

According to one embodiment, the body facing liner 428 can extend beyond the absorbent element 434 and/or the fluid transfer layer 446, if present, and/or the acquisition layer 448, if present, and/or the release layer, if present, to overlap a portion of the outer cover 426 and can be bonded to it in any manner considered suitable, such as by bonding to it with an adhesive, substantially enclosing the absorbent element 434 between the outer cover 426 and the body facing liner 428. In some embodiments, the body facing liner 428 and the outer cover 426 can have the same dimensions in width and length. In some embodiments, however, the bodyside liner 428 may be narrower than the outer cover 426 and/or shorter than the outer cover 426. In some embodiments, the length of the bodyside liner 428 may be in the range of 50-100% of the length of the absorbent article 410 measured in a direction parallel to the longitudinal direction 430. In some embodiments, the bodyside liner 428 may be wider than the outer cover 426. It is also contemplated that the bodyside liner 428 may not extend beyond the absorbent element 434 and/or may not be attached to the outer cover 426. In some embodiments, the bodyside liner 428 may surround at least a portion of the absorbent element 434, including surrounding both longitudinal edges of the absorbent element 434 and/or one or more end edges of the absorbent element 434. It is further contemplated that the body facing liner 428 may consist of more than one segment of material.

The body facing liner 428 may have different shapes, including a rectangular shape, an hourglass shape, or any other shape. The body facing liner 428 may be deformable in a suitable manner, soft to the touch and non-irritating to the skin of the wearer, and may be the same or less hydrophilic than the absorbent element 434, allowing body secretions to easily penetrate the absorbent element 434 and providing the wearer with a relatively dry surface.

The body facing liner 428 can be made from a wide variety of materials such as synthetic fibers (e.g., polyester or polypropylene fibers), natural fibers (e.g., wood or cotton fibers), a combination of natural and synthetic fibers, porous foams, reticulated foams, perforated plastic films, or the like. Examples of suitable materials include, but are not limited to, cellulosic chemical fibers, wood, cotton, polyester, polypropylene, polyethylene, nylon fibers, or other fibers capable of bonding under the influence of heat, polyolefins such as, but not limited to, copolymers of polypropylene and polyethylene, linear low density polyethylene, and esters of aliphatic acids such as polylactic acid, webs of apertured film with small holes, mesh materials, and the like, as well as combinations thereof.

For the body facing liner 428, various woven and nonwoven materials can be used. The body facing liner 428 can comprise a woven material, a nonwoven material, a polymer film, a laminate of a film and a fabric, and the like, as well as combinations thereof. Examples of a nonwoven material can include a spunbond textile material, a meltblown textile material, a material obtained by coform technology, a carded web, a bonded carded web, a bicomponent spunbond textile material, a material obtained by spunlace technology, or the like, as well as combinations thereof. The body facing liner 428 does not necessarily have to be a single layer structure and, thus, can comprise more than one layer of fabrics, films and/or webs, as well as combinations thereof. For example, the bodyside liner 428 may comprise a support layer and a projection layer that are hydrobonded. The projection layer may comprise hollow projections, such as those disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 9,474,660 to Kirby, Scott S.C., et al., and as described in Fig. 8.

For example, the body facing liner 428 can be comprised of a meltblown or spunbond web comprised of polyolefin fibers. Alternatively, the body facing liner 428 can be a bonded carded web comprised of natural and/or synthetic fibers. The body facing liner 428 can be comprised of a substantially hydrophobic material, and the hydrophobic material can optionally be treated with a surfactant or otherwise processed to impart a desired level of wettability and hydrophilicity. The surfactant can be applied by any conventional method, such as spraying, printing, brush coating, or the like. The surfactant can be applied to the entire body facing liner 428, or it can be selectively applied to specific areas of the body facing liner 428.

According to one embodiment, the bodyside liner 428 can be made of a nonwoven bicomponent web. The nonwoven bicomponent web can be a spunbond bicomponent web or a bonded carded bicomponent web. An example of a bicomponent staple fiber includes a polyethylene/polypropylene bicomponent fiber. In this particular bicomponent fiber, the core is formed from polypropylene, and the sheath of the fiber is formed from polyethylene. Without departing from the scope of the present invention, fibers oriented in other ways, such as in the form of several lobes, side by side, end to end, can be used. According to one embodiment, the bodyside liner 428 can be a spunbond substrate with a basis weight of from about 10 or 12 to about 15 or 20 gsm. According to one embodiment, the body facing liner 428 may be a 12 gsm spunbond-meltblown-spunbond backing having a 10% meltblown content sandwiched between two spunbond layers.

Although the outer cover 426 and the bodyside liner 428 may comprise elastomeric materials, it is contemplated that the outer cover 426 and the bodyside liner 428 may consist of materials that are not generally elastomeric. According to one embodiment, the bodyside liner 428 may be stretchable and more preferably elastic. According to one embodiment, the bodyside liner 428 may be stretchable in a suitable manner and more preferably elastic in at least the transverse or circumferential direction of the absorbent article 410. In other aspects, the bodyside liner 428 may be stretchable and more preferably elastic in both the transverse and longitudinal directions 432, 430, respectively.

In the exemplary embodiment shown in Fig. 9-11B, the above-described hydroentangled nonwoven material 10 can be used as the bodyside liner 428. As shown in Fig. 11A, the nonwoven material 10 according to the present invention can be oriented such that a plurality of nodes 12 extend from a base plane 18 on a first surface 20 to an absorbent body 434. In other words, the second surface 22 of the nonwoven material 10 can form at least a portion of the bodyside surface 419 of the base 411 configured to be located against the skin of the wearer. The perforated zone 16 of the nonwoven material 10 may be configured to allow discharges to flow through the plurality of openings 24 in the nonwoven material 10 into underlying structures of the absorbent assembly 444, such as the fluid-absorbing layer 448, the fluid-transferring layer 446, and the absorbent element 434.

By having the nonwoven material 10 configured such that the knots 12 extend toward the absorbent member 434, the knots 12 can help create additional void volume to accommodate exudates while they are absorbed by and carried through the absorbent assembly 444, yet remain clear of the body-facing surface 419 of the chassis 411 of the absorbent article 410. In such an orientation, the nonwoven material 10 can create void volume for exudates between the nonwoven material 10 and any underlying structures in the absorbent article 10 due to the knots 12 of the nonwoven material 10 creating a gap between the base plane 18 of the first surface 20 and any such underlying structure. The void volume for discharges created by the nonwoven material 10 can vary depending on the height of the knots 12, the density of the knots 12 and the area of the perforated zone 16 of the nonwoven material 10, and it can be designed to proportionally fit different stepped sizes of absorbent articles 410 and absorbent articles 410 designed to handle different discharges. By creating a void volume with such properties, the nonwoven material 10 can absorb discharges with a minimum spread of discharges over the body-facing surface 419 of the base 411 of the absorbent article 410. In this way, the nonwoven material 10 can help to reduce the area of contact of discharges with the skin of the wearer and reduce potential irritation of the skin of the wearer.

Fig. 11A shows a nonwoven material 10 forming a body-facing liner 428 for an absorbent article 410. In such a configuration, the nonwoven material 10 may have a width substantially equal to the width of the outer cover 426. The second surface 22 of the nonwoven material 10 may form a body-facing surface 419 of the absorbent article 410 and may be configured to contact the skin of the wearer.

Fig. 11B shows an alternative embodiment of an absorbent article 510 similar to the absorbent article 410 described in Fig. 11A, unless otherwise noted herein. In Fig. 11B, the absorbent article 510 can comprise a nonwoven material 10 connected to a carrier material 151 to form a bodyside liner 528. The carrier material 151 can be combined with the nonwoven material 10, for example, in the method 100''' described above with respect to Fig. 7C. The carrier material 151 can be connected to the first side 20 of the nonwoven material 10. The carrier material 151 can be positioned between the nonwoven material and the absorbent element 434. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 11B, the carrier material 151 can be positioned between the nonwoven material 10 and the fluid-absorbing material 448.

Other orientations and variations of the nonwoven material 10 in the absorbent article are also within the scope of the present invention. For example, although the nonwoven material 10 is shown in Fig. 11A and 11B in an orientation in which the nodes 12 extend from the base plane 18 of the first surface 20 toward the absorbent body 434, it is also contemplated that the nonwoven material 10 can be oriented such that the nodes 12 extend from the base plane 18 of the first surface 20 away from the absorbent body 434, as shown in Fig. 11C. In the embodiment of the absorbent article 610 shown in Fig. 11C, the nonwoven material 10 can form a bodyside liner 628, wherein the first surface 20 provides a bodyside surface 419 configured to be near the skin of the wearer. In such an embodiment, the nodes 12 can provide separation from body exudates that may be located on the base plane 18 of the first surface 20 of the nonwoven material 10. Additionally, the nodes 12 can provide barriers to the spread of body exudates, such as BM, on the first surface 20 of the nonwoven material 10. By reducing the spread of exudates on the nonwoven material 10, the nonwoven material 10 can help reduce irritation of the skin of the wearer and the likelihood of exudates leaking from the absorbent article 610.

Fig. 12 shows an absorbent article 710 similar to absorbent articles 410, 510 and 610. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 12, article 710 can comprise a nonwoven material according to the present invention, such as material 10. As can be seen more clearly in Fig. 14, which shows a cross-section of article 710 when viewed along line 14F-14F shown in Fig. 12, nonwoven material 10 can be located over bodyside liner 728. In some example embodiments, bodyside liner 728 can be a material such as carrier material 151 described with respect to method 100''' shown in Fig. 7C.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 12, the material 10 may have a width (width 35 described in Fig. 1) that is generally less than the width of the bodyside liner 728. In such embodiments, the material 10 may be positioned on the base 719 of the article 710 so that it is positioned generally above the absorbent element 434. In some embodiments, the perforated zone 16 of the material 10 may completely cover the absorbent element 434. In such embodiments, the side zones 26a, 26b may be positioned entirely outside the absorbent element 434. However, in other embodiments, the side zones 26a, 26b may at least partially overlap with the absorbent element 434.

The material 10 can be bonded to the base 719 at least through the entire front waist region 173 of bonding and through the entire back waist region 171 of bonding. The front waist region 173 of bonding can be generally located near the front edge 25 of the material 10. The front waist region 173 of bonding also passes through the entire perforated zone 16 of the material 10 and in some embodiments, as shown, for example, in Fig. 12, can at least partially pass through the side zones 26 and/or 26b. The front waist bonding region 173 may have a length 186 that is approximately 20% greater than the overall length of the material 10, or approximately 30% greater, or approximately 35% greater, or approximately 40% greater, or approximately 45% greater, or approximately 50% greater than the overall length of the material 10. In some preferred embodiments, the length 186 may be approximately 60% less, or approximately 55% less, or approximately 50% less than the overall length of the material 10. In at least some embodiments, the front waist bonding region 173 may be generally formed by mechanical bonding means, such as bonding under the action of heat, ultrasound, pressure, or the like. However, in other embodiments, the front waist bonding region 173 may be formed by bonding using adhesive.

A large area covered by the front waist region 173 of the binding may be particularly advantageous when the average areas of the openings 24 of the material 10 in the perforated zone 16 are greater than approximately 17 mm ² , or more preferably when these average areas are greater than approximately 20 mm ² . With such large average areas of the openings 24 of the article 710 containing said material 10, the risk of squeezing the penis increases for male wearers. By binding a large part of the front region of the material 10 to the base 719, the penis of the male wearer is prevented from being surrounded by the openings 24 in the front part of the article 710.

The back waist bonding region 171 is located near the back edge 27 of the material 10 and bonds the material 10 to the base 719. Like the front waist bonding region 173, the back waist bonding region 171 can extend through the entire perforated zone 16 of the material 10, and also, in some embodiments, can at least partially extend through the side zones 26 and/or 26b. The back waist bonding region 171 can be generally formed by mechanical bonding means, such as bonding under the action of heat, ultrasound, pressure or the like. However, in other embodiments, the back waist bonding region 171 can be formed by bonding using adhesive.

The rear waist binding region 171 differs from the front waist binding region 173 because the rear waist binding region 171 has a length 188 much shorter than the length 186 of the front waist binding region 173. It is required that in the rear part of the article 719 the material 10 is generally not adhered to the base 719, so that the material 10 can provide a volume of voids by means of the nodes 12 facing the base 719, to provide an increased quality of absorption and storage of fecal matter, which is released into the rear region of the article 719 near the rear edge 27 of the material 10. Accordingly, the length 188 is preferably about 10% less than the total length of the material 10, or, more preferably, about 7.5% less, or about 5% less, or about 2.5% less than the total length of the material 10. In some preferred embodiments, the length 188 is preferably about 2% greater than the total length of the material 10. The rear waist region 171 of bonding generally functions to provide adhesion of the rear edge 27 of the material 10 to the base 719.

Fig. 13 shows the material 10 separately from the article 710, as well as an exemplary bonding configuration that can be used to bond the material 10 to the chassis 719 of the absorbent article 710. As shown in Fig. 13, in addition to the bonding regions 171, 173 (both regions 171 and 173 are shown in Fig. 13 without shading to more clearly illustrate other features in Fig. 13), the material 10 can be further bonded to the body-facing liner material 728 in the side regions 26a, 26b by adhesive bonds 175a, 175b.

In some manufacturing processes for forming an article 710 comprising a material 10, an adhesive may be applied to the body facing liner 728 before the material 10 is brought to the body facing liner 728 to form bonds 175a, 175. Accordingly, in such embodiments, it may be important that the adhesive bonds 175a, 175b have widths 177 that are generally less than the widths 31a, 31b of the side regions 26a, 26b of the material 10. According to some embodiments, the widths 177 may be from about 50% to about 90% or from about 60% to about 80% of the widths 31a, 31b of the side regions 26a, 26b. And although they are shown as extending the entire length of the material 10, the adhesive bonds 175a, 175b may extend only a length of from about 80% to about 97.5% or a length of from about 85% to about 95% of the total length of the material 10.

The width 177 is less than the widths 31a, 31b, which allows for some inaccuracy in the required placement of the material 10 when it is brought to bonding with the lining material 728, relative to the alignment of the side zones 26a, 26b and the adhesive applied to the lining material 728, forming the bonds 175a, 175b. If the widths 177 are too large, normal variations in the method may cause a sufficiently large misalignment of the material 10 with the liner material 728, which results in the adhesive used to form the bonds 175a, 175b and applied to the liner material 728 overlapping the perforated zone 16 of the material 10 or not being covered by the side zones 26a and/or 26b of the material 10. Such overlapping or lack of coverage of the exposed adhesive may result in the adhesive being exposed through the openings 24 or otherwise, which may also result in unwanted bonding of this adhesive to parts of the article 710 other than the material 10.

It is also important to balance the additional amount of adhesive forming the bonds 175a, 175b to ensure proportionate lamination strength between the material 10 and the liner material 728, as well as the absence of adhesive bleed-through due to the relative openness of the side zones 26a, 26b. It has been found that the additional amounts of adhesive used to form the adhesive bonds 175a, 175b should be greater than about 6.0 g/m2 or greater than about 6.5 g/m2 and less than about 13 g/m2 or less than about 12 g/m2. These additional amounts of adhesive have been found to provide sufficient lamination strength between the material 10 and the liner material 728 such that the material 10 does not peel off from the liner material 728 during manufacture or use and no adhesive bleed-through occurs in the side regions 26a, 26b.

In some particular embodiments, the material 10 may be bonded to the liner 728 at least by means of adhesive bonds 175a, 175b before forming the front and/or rear waist bonding regions 173, 171. For example, the material 10 may be bonded to the liner 728 by means of adhesive bonds 175a, 175b before bonding the laminate of materials 10 and 728 to each other through all bonding regions 171, 173. This may be the case when the bonding regions 171, 173 are formed by means of mechanical bonds.

In at least some of these embodiments, it may be necessary to form one or more additional bonds before forming the bonding regions 171, 173. As an example, when the material 10 is bonded to the liner material 728 in a high-speed manufacturing process using bonds 175a, 175b before forming the bonding regions 171, 173, the leading edge 25 or 27 of the material 10 in the machine direction may undesirably turn back before forming the bonding regions 171, 173.

For these reasons, some contemplated bonding configurations connecting the material 10 to the liner material 728 comprise at least one additional bond 179 or 181. In some embodiments, only one bond 179 or 181 may be formed, depending on which end, 25 or 27, of the material 10 is the leading end in the processing direction. In other embodiments, both bonds 179 and 181 may be formed. According to some embodiments, the bonds 179 and/or 181 may be formed together with the adhesive bonds 175a, 175b or at least before the formation of the bonding regions 171 and/or 173. Said additional bonds 179 and/or 181 help to ensure that the front edge 25 or 27 of the material 10 will be located in a flat state at the lining material 728 when forming the bonding regions 171, 173 or both edges, the front edge and the rear edge 25 and 27, in the processing direction when forming both bonds 179 and 181.

In some embodiments, the additional bond or bonds 179 and/or 181 may be adhesive bonds. According to some embodiments, the bonds 179 and/or 181 may at least partially overlap the respective front or back waist binding regions 173, 171. In further embodiments, the bonds 179 and/or 181 may completely overlap the front waist and/or back waist binding regions 173, 171.

If the bonds 179 and/or 181 are present, the bonds 179 and/or 181 can comprise the leading and trailing edges 190, 192 and 194, 196, respectively. The bonds 179 and/or 181 can also have lengths 193 and 191, respectively. In general, the bond 179 or 181 can primarily act to attach the leading edge 25 or 27 in the machine direction to the liner material 728 to allow the subsequent formation of the bonding region 171 or 173. Although if both bonds 179 and 181 are present, the bonds 179, 181 can act to attach the leading and trailing edges of the material 10 in the machine direction, for example the edges 25 and 27, to the liner material 27 before the formation of the bonding regions 171, 173. Accordingly, the lengths 191, 193 can be relatively small. According to some embodiments, the lengths 191 and/or 193 can be from about 1.0 mm to about 5.0 mm, or from about 2.0 mm to about 5.0 mm, or from about 3.0 mm to about 5.0 mm. Such relatively small lengths 191 and/or 193 can be particularly useful when the bonds 179 and/or 181 are adhesive bonds.

If the bonds 179 and/or 181 are adhesive bonds, the rear and/or front edges 192, 194 of the bonds 179, 181, respectively, can be set distances 182, 184, respectively, from the rear edge 27 and the front edge 25 of the material 10, as shown in Fig. 13. And although it may be required that the distances 182 and/or 184 be as small as possible, the distances 182 and/or 184 can typically be from about 2.0 mm to about 5.0 mm, or from about 2.5 mm to about 5.0 mm, or from about 2.5 mm to about 4.0 mm. If the bonds 179 and/or 181 are adhesive bonds, such offsets from the rear and front edges 27, 25 of the material 10 help to ensure that normal alignment changes in the high-speed process of making an absorbent article do not result in the adhesive forming the bonds 179 and/or 181 becoming undesirably exposed beyond the edges 25 and/or 27 of the material 10.

As shown in Fig. 13, the bonds 179, 181 pass through the perforated zone 16 of the material 10. If the bonds 179, 181 are adhesive bonds, it is important that the additional amounts of adhesive be relatively small to prevent adhesive from seeping through the openings 24 of the perforated zone 16. Such adhesive seepage may cause undesirable bonding between the parts of the article 710. It has been found that the additional amount of adhesive for the adhesive bonds 179 and/or 181 should be from about 10 g/m2 to about 40 g/m2, or from about 10 g/m2 to about 35 g/m2, or from about 15 g/m2 to about 35 g/m2.

Although in embodiments where both bonds 179, 181 are formed, the bond 179 or 181 that bonds the leading edge 25 or 27 of the material 10 during manufacturing to the liner material 728 may comprise a greater additional amount than the other of the bonds 179, 181. For example, in a high-speed manufacturing process, the leading edge 25 or 27 of the material 10 is subjected to greater forces than the trailing edge 25 or 27. Accordingly, the bond 179, 181 that bonds the leading edge 25 or 27 to the liner material 728 may be required to be relatively stronger than the bond 179, 181 that bonds the trailing edge 25 or 27 to the liner material 728. In these embodiments, the bond 179 or 181 that bonds the leading edge 25 or 27 to the liner material 728 may comprise an additional amount of approximately 15 g/m2 to approximately 40 g/m2 or from approximately 25 g/m2 to approximately 35 g/m2. For comparison, the other of the bonds 179, 181, which bonds the rear edge 25 or 27 of the material 10 to the lining material 728, may contain an additional amount that is greater than approximately 5 g/m2, but less than approximately 15 g/m2.

Other proposed binding configurations may include a configuration containing bonds 173, 175a, and 175b along with only bonding region 173 or only bond 179. Further proposed binding configurations may include a configuration containing bonds 175a and 175b along with bonding region 173 and only bond 181. Further proposed binding configurations may include a configuration containing bonds 175a and 175b along with both bonds 179 and 181, but without bonding regions 171, 173.

Sealing element for waist

In an embodiment, the absorbent article 410 may have one or more waist sealing elements 454. Fig. 9 and 10 show a preferred embodiment of the waist sealing element 454 on the absorbent article 410, such as a diaper, where the waist sealing element 454 may be located in the back waist region 414. In some embodiments, the waist sealing element 454 may be located in the front waist region 412. The waist sealing element 454 may be located on the body-facing surface 419 of the chassis 411. The waist sealing element 454 may be connected to the chassis 411 in such a way that a portion of the waist sealing element 454 is free to move relative to the chassis 411 and may form a pocket to help contain body exudates.

The waist sealing element 454 may be comprised of a plurality of materials. In a preferred embodiment, the waist sealing element 454 may be comprised of a spunbond-meltblown-spunbond ("SMS") material. However, it is contemplated that the waist sealing element 54 may be comprised of other materials, including, but not limited to, spunbond-film-spunbond ("SFS"), bonded carded web ("BCW"), or any nonwoven material. In some embodiments, the waist sealing element 454 may be comprised of a laminate comprising more than one of these exemplary materials or other materials. In some embodiments, the waist sealing element 454 may be comprised of a liquid-impermeable material. In some embodiments, the waist sealing element 454 may be comprised of a material coated with a hydrophobic coating. In some embodiments, the waist sealing element 54 may comprise an elastic material to provide additional characteristics of fit and retention of the absorbent article 10. In such an embodiment, suitable elastic materials may include, but are not limited to, sheets, strips or tapes of natural rubber, synthetic rubber or thermoplastic elastomeric polymers. The elastic materials may be stretched and bonded to the substrate, bonded to the assembled substrate or bonded to the substrate and then made elastic or compressed, for example, by applying heat so that elastic contractive forces are transmitted to the substrate. However, it should be understood that the waist sealing element 454 may be excluded from the absorbent article 410 without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Fastening system

According to one embodiment, the absorbent article 410 may comprise a fastening system. The fastening system may comprise one or more rear fasteners 491 and one or more front fasteners 492. The embodiments shown in Figs. 9 and 10 illustrate an embodiment with one front fastener 492. Portions of the fastening system may be included in the front waist region 412, the back waist region 414, or both.

The fastening system can be designed to fasten the absorbent article 410 around the waist of the wearer in a fastened state, as shown in Fig. 9, and to help keep the absorbent article 410 in place during use. In an embodiment, the back fasteners 491 can comprise one or more materials bonded together to form a composite tab, as is known in the art. For example, a composite fastener can consist of a stretch component 494, a nonwoven carrier layer or base 496 with hooks and a fastening component 498, as indicated in Fig. 10.

Test methods

Test method based on node analysis

The anisotropy of the fibers in the nodes 12 can be determined using the image analysis measurement method described herein. This test method also measures the height of the nodes, as well as the percentage of fibers and voids in the node 12.

In this context, the fiber anisotropy is considered for a plurality of nodes 12 of each respective material. Typically, in an image analysis method, a numerical value of the anisotropy is determined from a cross-sectional image of the node 12 using a special image analysis measurement parameter called anisotropy. The anisotropy of the node 12 can be measured using X-ray computed microtomography (also known as micro-CT) to non-destructively acquire an image, followed by image analysis techniques to detect fiber components and then measure the anisotropy of these components only in areas of the node 12. An image analysis algorithm performs the detection, image processing and measurement, and transfers the data digitally to a database in the form of a spreadsheet. The resulting measurement data are used to compare the anisotropy of different structures containing fiber components of the nodes 12.

The method for determining the anisotropy in the fibers of the nodes of each structure involves the first step of obtaining digital X-ray computed microtomography images of the sample. These images are obtained using a SkyScan 1272 microCT system available from Bruker microCT (2550 Contich, Belgium). The sample is attached to a mounting device provided by Bruker with the SkyScan 1272 system so that it does not move under its own weight during the scanning process. The following SkyScan 1272 conditions are used during the scanning process:

- Camera pixel size (µm)=9.0

- Source voltage (kV)=35

- Source current (µA)=225

- Image pixel size (µm)=6.0

- Image format=TIFF

- Depth (bit)=16

- Rotation step (deg.) = 0.10

- Use 360 rotation=NO

- Frame averaging=ON (6)

- Random Movement=ON (1)

- Correction for uniform field illumination=ON

- Filter=No filter

Once the specimen scan is complete, the resulting image set is then reconstructed using the NRecon software provided with the SkyScan 1272 micro CT system. Although the reconstruction parameters may be somewhat specimen dependent and should be known to one skilled in the art, the following parameters should provide basic guidelines for the analyzing technician:

- Image file type=BMP

- Pixel size (µm)=6.00

- Smoothing=1 (Gaussian)

- Correction of artifacts "ringing" = 10

- Beam hardening correction (%)=10

Once the reconstruction is complete, the resulting image dataset is ready for cross-sectional image slice extraction using a Bruker SkyScan software package called DataViewer. Once the entire reconstructed image dataset has been loaded into DataViewer, the microCT analyst must then select and extract cross-sectional image slices that are at or near the centers of the nodes present in each respective sample. For each image selected, one centered node 12 must be obtained. For a typical sample, this process will result in 4-6 images, and 4-6 nodes 12 will be available for analysis. The analyst then renumbers the images sequentially (e.g., 1, 2, 3, etc.) by changing the numbers in the image file name extensions.

After obtaining and renumbering the cross-sectional CT images of each specimen, anisotropy measurements can be performed using image analysis software.

The image analysis software platform used to perform anisotropy measurements is QWIN Pro (version 3.5.1), available commercially from Leica Microsystems, headquartered in Heerbrugg, Switzerland.

Thus, the method for determining the anisotropy of a given sample includes the step of performing several anisotropy measurements with respect to a set of computer microtomography images. More precisely, the image analysis algorithm is used to read and process the images, as well as perform the measurements using the user language of the interactive programming system (QUIPS) of Quantimet. The image analysis algorithm is reproduced below.

DEFINING VARIABLES AND OPENING FILES

The following lines indicate the location on the computer where the data is sent.

Open File (C:\Data\94054 - Nhan (patent)\z-micro-ct data.xls, channel #1)

PauseText("Enter the number of the final image in the set.")

Input (IMAGES)

SAMPLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER AND INSTALLATION

Enter Results Header

File Results Header (channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

Measure frame (x 31, y 61, Width 1737, Height 793)

Image frame (x 0, y 0, Width 1768, Height 854)

-- Calvalue 6.0 um/pixel

CALVALUE = 6.0

Calibrate (CALVALUE CALUNITS$ per pixel)

-- Enter image prefix name of set of images to analyze

PauseText("Enter image file prefix name.")

Input (TITLE$)

File ("Rep. #", channel #1)

File ("% Fiber", channel #1)

File ("% Voids", channel #1)

File("Height (um)", channel #1)

File ("Anisotropy", channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

For (REPLICATE = 1 to IMAGES, step 1)

Clear Accepts

IMAGING AND IDENTIFICATION

ACQOUTPUT = 0

The next two lines indicate the location on the computer of the CT images read during the image analysis process.

ACQFILE$ = "C:\Images\94054 - Nhan\Z-slices\"+TITLE$+""+STR$(REPLICATE)+".jpg"

Read image (from file ACQFILE$ into ACQOUTPUT)

Colour Transform (Mono Mode)

Gray Transform (WSharpen from Image0 to Image1, cycles 3, operator Disc)

Detect (whiter than 64, from Image1 into Binary0)

IMAGE PROCESSING

PauseText("Select region of interest for analysis.")

Binary Edit [PAUSE] (Accept from Binary0 to Binary1, nib Fill, width 2)

Binary Amend (Close from Binary1 to Binary2, cycles 30, operator Disc, edge erode on)

Binary Identify (FillHoles from Binary2 to Binary3)

Binary Amend (Open from Binary3 to Binary4, cycles 40, operator Disc, edge erode on)

PauseText ("Clean up any over extended ROI areas.")

Binary Edit [PAUSE] (Reject from Binary4 to Binary5, nib Fill, width 2)

PauseText("Draw vertical lline thru the thickest region binary.")

Binary Edit [PAUSE] (Accept from Binary5 to Binary7, nib Rect, width 2)

Binary Logical (C = A AND B : C Binary6, A Binary1, B Binary5)

MEASURE AREAS OF ANALYSIS

-- Analysis Region Fiber Area

MFLDIMAGE = 6

Measure field (plane MFLDIMAGE, into FLDRESULTS(2), statistics into FLDSTATS(7,2))

Selected parameters: Area, Anisotropy

FIBERAREA = FLDRESULTS(1)

ANISOTROPY = FLDRESULTS(2)

-- Analysis Region Area

MFLDIMAGE = 5

Measure field (plane MFLDIMAGE, into FLDRESULTS(1), statistics into FLDSTATS(7,1))

Selected parameters: Area

ROIAREA = FLDRESULTS(1)

PERCFIBER = FIBERAREA/ROIAREA*100

PERCVOIDS = 100-PERCFIBER

-- Measure Node Height

Measure feature (plane Binary7, 8 ferets, minimum area: 24, gray image: Image0)

Selected parameters: X FCP, Y FCP, Length

LENGTH = Field Sum of (PLENGTH(FTR))

OUTPUT DATA

File (REPLICATE, channel #1, 0 digits after '.')

File (PERCFIBER, channel #1, 1 digit after '.')

File (PERCVOIDS, channel #1, 1 digit after '.')

File (LENGTH, channel #1, 1 digit after '.')

File (ANISOTROPY, channel #1, 2 digits after '.')

File Line (channel #1)

Next (REPLICATE)

Close File (channel #1)

END

The QUIPS algorithm is implemented using the QWIN Pro software platform. The analyst is first prompted to enter the number of images in a set for a specific sample. The analyst is then prompted to enter a set of sample identification information, which is sent to an EXCEL file.

The analyzing specialist is then prompted via an interactive command window and an input window to enter the image file prefix of the analyzed CT images. After this step, all subsequent images for this sample will be automatically read by the above-described image analysis algorithm.

The analyst is then guided to manually select the area of interest of the node for analysis using the computer mouse. Care should be taken to select the entire node so that it includes the conical sections right up to the datum plane 18 of the material.

After several stages of image processing, which will occur automatically, the analyst will again be prompted to clear any areas that extend beyond the region of interest (ROI). This is done using the computer mouse and by toggling the binary overlay on and off using the "control" and "b" keys on the computer keyboard. After this stage, the binary image should only cover the node.

Finally, the analyst will be given instructions to use the computer mouse to draw a vertical line through the region of greatest height in the binary image. This line will be used by the computer algorithm to measure the height of node 12.

The process of selecting the region of interest of node 12, clearing the regions extending beyond it, and drawing a vertical line through the region of node 12 with the greatest height will be repeated until all images for a particular sample have been analyzed.

After all the images have been analyzed, the following measurement parameter data will be located in the corresponding EXCEL file:

Instance No.

% fiber

% voids

Height

Anisotropy

For each of these parameters, 4-6 values will be listed in the columns. To compare anisotropy values between samples, the data in the column labeled "Anisotropy" can be compared between different samples by performing a Student's t-analysis with a confidence level of 90%.

Test method based on analysis of a material sample

The test method described herein based on the analysis of a material sample can be used to determine the open area percentage of a given nonwoven material sample 10. In this context, the open area percentage is the percentage of the area of the nonwoven material through which light from a light source directly and unimpededly passes. Typically, in this image analysis method, the numerical value of the open area percentage is determined for the material using specific image analysis measurement parameters, such as area. This test method and equipment also provide the ability to measure the size of the aperture 24, the circularity of the aperture 24, the aspect ratio of the aperture 24, the two-dimensional area of the knot 12, the density of the knots 12 and the distance between them. This test method involves obtaining two separate digital images of the sample.

Installation and determination of the analysis of the sample of the perforated zone of the material

An exemplary setup for obtaining images of a perforated area is illustrated representatively in Fig. 15. In particular, a CCD video camera 70 (e.g., a Leica DFC 300 FX video camera available from Leica Microsystems of Heerbrugg, Switzerland) is mounted on a standard tripod 72, such as a standard Polaroid MP-4 Land Camera tripod, previously available from the Polaroid Resource Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and currently available from a resource such as eBay. The standard tripod 72 is attached to a macro viewer 74, such as a KREONITE macro viewer available from Dunning Photo Equipment Inc. of Bixby, Oklahoma. An automatic platform 76 is placed on the top surface of the macro viewer 74. The 76 automatic stage is used to automatically change the position of a given sample for frame selection by the camera. A suitable 76 automatic stage is the Model H112, available from Prior Scientific Inc., of Rockland, MA.

A specimen (not shown in Fig. 15) is placed on the automated stage 76 of a Leica Microsystems QWIN Pro Image Analysis system, under the optical axis of a 60 mm objective 78, such as a Nikon AF Micro Nikkor, with an aperture setting of 4, manufactured by Nikon Corporation, having an office in Tokyo, Japan. The objective 78 is attached to a camera 70 using a c-mount lens adapter. The distance from the front of the objective 78 to the specimen is 55 cm. The specimen is laid horizontally on the surface 80 of the automated stage and any creases are removed by gently stretching it and/or securing it to the surface 80 of the automated stage using transparent adhesive tape on its outer edges. The surface of the specimen is illuminated with incident fluorescent light delivered by a 40-watt, 16-inch diameter, type 82 Circline fluorescent lamp, such as that manufactured by General Electric Company of Boston, Massachusetts. The lamp 82 is contained in a clamp that is positioned so that it is centered over the specimen and is approximately 3 cm above the surface of the specimen. The illumination level of the lamp 82 is controlled by a type 3PN1010 variable autotransformer (not shown), available from Staco Energy Products Co. of Dayton, Ohio. Transmitted light is also delivered to the specimen from beneath the robotic platform by an array of four 2-foot, dual-ended, EMC LED tube lamps 84, which are dimmable and available from Fulight Optoelectronic Materials, LLC. The LED lamps 84 are covered with a diffusing plate 86. The diffusing plate 86 is inserted into the upper surface 88 of the viewing device 74 for macro objects and forms a part of it. A black mask 90 is applied to the light source, having an opening 92 measuring 3 inches by 3 inches. The opening 92 is located in such a way that it is aligned in the center under the optical axis of the system of the camera 70 and the lens 78. The distance D3 from the opening 92 of the fluorescent lamp to the surface 80 of the automatic platform 76 is approximately 17 cm. The illumination level of the group of fluorescent lamps is also controlled by a control unit (not shown), configured to dim the illumination of the LED lamps.

The image analysis software platform used to perform the open area percentage and perforation size measurements is QWIN Pro (version 3.5.1), available from Leica Microsystems, headquartered in Heerbrugg, Switzerland. Alternatively, LAS Macro Editor, the next generation of software after QWIN Pro, can be used to perform the analysis. The system and images are also accurately calibrated using the QWIN software and a standard ruler with measurement marks at least every millimeter. The calibration is performed in the horizontal dimension of the video camera image. Units of millimeters per pixel are used for the calibration.

Thus, the method for determining the open area in percentage and the size of the apertures of a given sample includes the step of performing measurements with respect to an image in transmitted light. Namely, an image analysis algorithm is used to obtain and process images, as well as perform measurements using the language of the Quantimet User Interactive Programming System (QUIPS). The image analysis algorithm is reproduced below. For clarity, references in the algorithm to "pillars" or "protrusions" refer to nodes 12 for nonwoven material 10, and references to "openings" or "perforations" refer to openings 24 for nonwoven material 10.

DEFINING VARIABLES AND OPENING FILES

The following lines indicate the location on the computer where the data is sent.

Open File (C:\Data\94054 - Nhan (patent)\data.xls, channel #1)

TOTCOUNT = 0

TOTFIELD = 0

MFRAMEH = 875

MFRAMEW = 1249

SAMPLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER AND INSTALLATION

Configure (Image Store 1392 x 1040, Gray Images 81, Binaries 24)

Enter Results Header

File Results Header (channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

PauseText("Enter sample image prefix name now.")

Input (TITLE$)

PauseText("Set sample into position.")

Image Setup DC Twain [PAUSE] (Camera 1, AutoExposure Off, Gain 0.00, ExposureTime 34.23 msec, Brightness 0, Lamp 38.83)

Measure frame (x 74, y 110, Width 1249, Height 875)

Image frame (x 0, y 0, Width 1392, Height 1040)

-- Calvalue = 0.0377 mm/px

CALVALUE = 0.0377

Calibrate (CALVALUE CALUNITS$ per pixel)

FRMAREA = MFRAMEH*MFRAMEW*(CALVALUE**2)

Clear Accepts

For (SAMPLE = 1 to 1, step 1)

Clear Accepts

File ("Field No.", channel #1, field width: 9, left justified)

File ("% Open Area", channel #1, field width: 7, left justified)

File ("Bump Density", channel #1, field width: 13, left justified)

File ("Bump Spacing", channel #1, field width: 15, left justified)

File Line (channel #1)

Stage (Define Origin)

Stage (Scan Pattern, 1 x 5 fields, size 82500.000000 x 39000.000000)

IMAGE ACQUISITION I - Localization of the protrusion

For (FIELD = 1 to 5, step 1)

Measure frame (x 74, y 110, Width 1249, Height 875)

Display (Image0 (on), frames (on,on), planes (off,off,off,off,off,off), lut 0, x 0, y 0, z 1, Reduction off)

PauseText ("Ensure incident lighting is correct (WL = 0.88 - 0.94) and acquire image.")

Image Setup DC Twain [PAUSE] (Camera 1, AutoExposure Off, Gain 0.00, ExposureTime 34.23 msec, Brightness 0, Lamp 38.83)

Acquire (into Image0)

REVEALING - Only protrusions

PauseText ("Ensure that threshold is set at least to the right of the left gray-level histogram peak which corresponds to the 'land' region.")

Detect [PAUSE] (whiter than 129, from Image0 into Binary0 delineated)

BINARY IMAGE PROCESSING

Binary Amend (Close from Binary0 to Binary1, cycles 10, operator Disc, edge erode on)

Binary Identify (FillHoles from Binary1 to Binary1)

Binary Amend (Open from Binary1 to Binary2, cycles 20, operator Disc, edge erode on)

Binary Amend (Close from Binary2 to Binary3, cycles 8, operator Disc, edge erode on)

PauseText ("Toggle <control> and <b> keys to check projection detection and correct if necessary.")

Binary Edit [PAUSE] (Reject from Binary3 to Binary3, nib Fill, width 2)

Binary Logical (copy Binary3, inverted to Binary4)

IMAGE ACQUISITION 2 - Open area in % and perforation size

Measure frame (x 74, y 110, Width 1249, Height 875)

Display (Image0 (on), frames (on,on), planes (off,off,off,off,off,off), lut 0, x 0, y 0, z 1, Reduction off)

PauseText ("Turn off incident light & ensure transmitted lighting is correct (WL = 0.95) and acquire image.")

Image Setup DC Twain [PAUSE] (Camera 1, AutoExposure Off, Gain 0.00, ExposureTime 34.23 msec, Brightness 0, Lamp 38.83)

Acquire (into Image0)

ACQFILE$ = "C:\Images\94054 - Nhan\"+TITLE$+"_"+STR$(FIELD)+".jpg"

Write image (from ACQOUTPUT into file ACQFILE$)

IDENTIFICATION - Open areas only

Detect (whiter than 127, from Image0 into Binary10 delineated)

BINARY IMAGE PROCESSING

Binary Amend (Close from Binary10 to Binary11, cycles 5, operator Disc, edge erode on)

Binary Identify (FillHoles from Binary11 to Binary12)

Binary Amend (Open from Binary12 to Binary13, cycles 10, operator Disc, edge erode on)

Binary Identify (EdgeFeat from Binary13 to Binary14)

PauseText ("Ensure apertures are detected accurately.")

Binary Edit [PAUSE] (Reject from Binary14 to Binary14, nib Fill, width 2)

FIELD MEASUREMENTS - % Open Area, Bump Density & Spacing

-- % open area

MFLDIMAGE = 10

Measure field (plane MFLDIMAGE, into FLDRESULTS(1), statistics into FLDSTATS(7,1))

Selected parameters: Area%

Field Histogram #1 (Y Param Number, X Param Area%, from 0. to 60., linear, 20 bins)

PERCOPENAREA = FLDRESULTS(1)

-- bump density & spacing

MFLDIMAGE = 3

Measure field (plane MFLDIMAGE, into FLDRESULTS(5), statistics into FLDSTATS(7,5))

Selected parameters: Area, Intercept H, Intercept V, Area%,

Count/Area

BUMPDENSITY = FLDRESULTS(5)

MNSPACE1 = (FRMAREA-FLDRESULTS(1))/(FLDRESULTS(2)+FLDRESULTS(3))/2

Field Histogram #2 (Y Param Number, X Param MNSPACE1, from 0. to 50., linear, 25 bins)

File (FIELD, channel #1, 0 digits after '.')

File (PERCOPENAREA, channel #1, 1 digit after '.')

File (BUMPDENSITY, channel #1, 1 digit after '.')

File (MNSPACE1, channel #1, 1 digit after '.')

File Line (channel #1)

MEASUREMENTS OF ELEMENTS - Dimensions of perforations and posts

-- Bump Size

Measure feature (plane Binary3, 8 ferets, minimum area: 24, gray image: Image0)

Selected parameters: Area, X FCP, Y FCP, EquivDiam

Feature Histogram #1 (Y Param Number, X Param Area, from 1. to 100., logarithmic, 20 bins)

Feature Histogram #2 (Y Param Number, X Param EquivDiam, from 1. to 100., logarithmic, 20 bins)

-- Aperture Size

Measure feature (plane Binary14, 8 ferets, minimum area: 24, gray image: Image0)

Selected parameters: Area, X FCP, Y FCP, Roundness, AspectRatio,

EquivDiam

Feature Histogram #3 (Y Param Number, X Param Area, from 1. to 100., logarithmic, 20 bins)

Feature Histogram #4 (Y Param Number, X Param EquivDiam, from 1. to 100., logarithmic, 20 bins)

Feature Histogram #5 (Y Param Number, X Param Roundness, from 0.8999999762 to 2.900000095, linear, 20 bins)

Feature Histogram #6 (Y Param Number, X Param AspectRatio, from 1. to 3., linear, 20 bins)

Stage (Step, Wait until stopped + 1100 msecs)

Next (FIELD)

Next (SAMPLE)

File Line (channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

OUTPUT OF HISTOGRAMS OF ELEMENTS

File ("Bump Size (area - sq. mm)", channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File Feature Histogram Results (#1, differential, statistics, bin details, channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File ("Bump Size (ECD - mm)", channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File Feature Histogram Results (#2, differential, statistics, bin details, channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File ("Aperture Size (area - sq. mm)", channel #1)

File Line (channel #)

File Feature Histogram Results (#3, differential, statistics, bin details, channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File ("Aperture Size (ECD - mm)", channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File Feature Histogram Results (#4, differential, statistics, bin details, channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File ("Aperture Roundness", channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File Feature Histogram Results (#5, differential, statistics, bin details, channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File ("Aperture Aspect Ratio", channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File Feature Histogram Results (#6, differential, statistics, bin details, channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

Close File (channel #1)

END

The QUIPS algorithm is implemented using the QWIN Pro software platform. The analyst is first prompted to enter sample setup information, which is sent to an EXCEL file.

The analyst then enters an image file prefix name corresponding to the specimen identifier. This will be used by the algorithm to save the images generated during the analysis to the specified file location. The analyst is then cued to place the specimen on the automated platform using the live image setup window on the computer monitor. The specimen should be laid flat and gentle force should be applied to the edges to remove any large folds that may be present. The 82 Circline fluorescent lamp may be turned on at this point to assist in positioning the specimen. The analyst is then cued to adjust the 82 Circline fluorescent lamp for incident illumination using an adjustable autotransformer to a white level of approximately 0.9. The lamps below the transmitted illumination platform should either be turned off at this point or masked using a piece of black blockout cardboard placed over the 3" x 3" opening 92.

The analyst is then cued to ensure that the detection threshold is set to an appropriate level to detect the nodes 12 using a "detection window" that is displayed on the computer monitor screen. Typically, the threshold is set using the white mode at a point that is approximately halfway up the 8-bit gray scale (e.g., 127). If necessary, the threshold level can be adjusted up or down so that the resulting binary image optimally covers the nodes 12 shown in the resulting image.

After the algorithm has automatically performed several binary image processing steps on the detected binary image of nodes 12, the analyst will be given the opportunity to recheck the detection of nodes and correct any inaccuracies. To recheck the detection of nodes against the underlying received grayscale image, the analyst can press both the "control" and "b" keys simultaneously. If necessary, the analyst can select from a set of binary image editing tools (e.g., draw, undo, etc.) to make any minor adjustments. If care is taken to ensure proper illumination and detection in the previously described steps, few or no corrections will be necessary at this point.

The analyst is then prompted to turn off the incident fluorescent lamp 82 Circline and either turn on the transmitted illumination lamps under the platform or remove the light barrier mask. The transmitted illumination lamps under the platform are adjusted using the LED power controller to a white level of approximately 0.95. At this point, the image focus can be optimized for the perforated zone 16 of the material 10 containing the apertures 24.

After performing additional operations on the resulting individual binary images for the holes 24, the algorithm will provide the analyst with hints to recheck the detection of the holes 24 against the underlying grayscale image. If necessary, the analyst can select from a set of binary image editing tools (e.g., draw, undo, etc.) to make any minor adjustments.

The algorithm will then automatically take measurements and output the data to a designated file in the form of an EXCEL spreadsheet.

Once the data has been transferred, the algorithm will control the movement of the robotic stage to the next field of view, and the process of turning on the 82 Circline fluorescent lamp for incident illumination and blocking the illumination under the stage for transmitted illumination will begin again. This process will be repeated four times so that for each specimen there will be five sets of data from five separate field of view images.

After completing the analysis, taking measurements and transferring the measurement parameter data, the EXCEL file will contain the following data:

Open area in percent

Knot density (number per square meter)

Distance between nodes (mm)

Node size (one histogram for area in ^mm2 , and one histogram for equivalent circle diameter in mm)

Perforation size (one histogram for the area in ^mm2 , and one histogram for the equivalent circle diameter in mm).

Roundness of perforations

Perforation aspect ratio

The final mean for the sample distribution is usually based on an N=5 analysis of five individual specimens of the sample parts. Comparison of the percentage open area, size of the holes 24 (perforations) and other parameters obtained by the algorithm for different samples can be performed using Student's T-analysis with a confidence level of 90%.

Setting and defining the open area in percentage of the lateral zone of the material

The setup for obtaining images of the side zones of the material is similar to the setup for obtaining images of the perforated zone of the material with a few minor differences, which are described in detail below.

The camera, lens, support structure, and platform used to capture images of the side zones of the material, as well as the settings for them, are the same as in the section "Setup and Definition of Analysis of a Sample of a Perforated Zone of Material" . However, the present setup does not use a viewing device. A sample of the side zone of the material to be tested is prepared and placed on the surface 80 of the automated platform as in the section "Setup and Definition of Analysis of a Sample of a Perforated Zone of Material" . However, instead of illuminating the surface of the sample with incident fluorescent light delivered by a Circline fluorescent lamp, light is transmitted to the sample from below the sample from a ChromaPro 45 device, formerly commercially available from Circle S in Tempe, Arizona, which contains a black mask with a 3-inch by 3-inch opening imposed on its surface.

As in the section “Setup and Definition of the Analysis of the Perforated Material Zone Sample” , the image analysis software platform used to perform the open area percentage measurement for the side zones of the material is QWIN Pro (Version 3.5.1), available from Leica Microsystems. Alternatively, LAS Macro Editor, the next generation of software after QWIN Pro, can be used to perform the analysis. The system and images are also accurately calibrated using the QWIN software and a standard ruler with measurement marks at least within one millimeter. The calibration is performed in the horizontal dimension of the video camera image. Units of millimeters per pixel are used for the calibration.

In the section "Setting and Determining the Open Area in Percentage of the Side Area of the Material" , when starting the QWIN Pro program, the illumination level is set to 0.95 using the white level function in the QWIN Pro program to adjust the light output for the ChromaPro light output. The QWIN Pro program is further configured to move the Prior automatic platform so that six images are automatically acquired and measured from each side of the material sample, resulting in a total of twelve measurement results.

Thus, the method for determining the open area in percent of the lateral zone includes a step of performing measurements with respect to the image in transmitted light. Namely, an image analysis algorithm is used to obtain and process images, as well as perform measurements using the Quantimet User Interactive Programming System (QUIPS) language. The image analysis algorithm is reproduced below.

DEFINING VARIABLES AND OPENING FILES

The following lines indicate the location on the computer where the data is sent.

Open File (D:\Data\103470 - Nhan\data.xls, channel #1)

TOTCOUNT = 0

TOTFIELD = 0

MFRAMEH = 875

MFRAMEW = 1249

SAMPLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER AND INSTALLATION

Configure (Image Store 1392 x 1040, Gray Images 81, Binaries 24)

Enter Results Header

File Results Header (channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

PauseText("Enter sample image prefix name now.")

Input (TITLE$)

Measure frame (x 511, y 50, Width 446, Height 940)

Image frame (x 0, y 0, Width 1392, Height 1040)

PauseText("Set sample into position.")

Image Setup DC Twain [PAUSE] (Camera 1, AutoExposure Off, Gain 0.00, ExposureTime 34.23 msec, Brightness 0, Lamp 38.83)

-- Calvalue = 0.0333 mm/px

CALVALUE = 0.0333

Calibrate (CALVALUE CALUNITS$ per pixel)

FRMAREA = MFRAMEH*MFRAMEW*(CALVALUE**2)

File ("Field No.", channel #1, field width: 9, left justified)

File ("% Open Area", channel #1, field width: 7, left justified)

File Line (channel #1)

For (SAMPLE = 1 to 2, step 1)

Clear Accepts

Stage (Define Origin)

Stage (Scan Pattern, 1 x 6 fields, size 82500.000000 x 39000.000000)

For (FIELD = 1 to FIELDS, step 1)

IMAGE ACQUISITION

ACQOUTPUT = 0

Measure frame (x 511, y 50, Width 446, Height 940)

Display (Image0 (on), frames (on,on), planes (off,off,off,off,off,off), lut 0, x 0, y 0, z 1, Reduction off)

PauseText ("Turn off incident light & ensure transmitted lighting is correct (WL = 0.95) and acquire image.")

Image Setup DC Twain [PAUSE] (Camera 1, AutoExposure Off, Gain 0.00, ExposureTime 34.23 msec, Brightness 0, Lamp 38.83)

Acquire (into Image0)

ACQFILE$ = "D:\Images\103470 - Nhan\"+TITLE$+"_"+STR$(FIELD)+".jpg"

Write image (from ACQOUTPUT into file ACQFILE$)

IDENTIFICATION - Open areas only

Detect (whiter than 164, from Image0 into Binary10)

BINARY IMAGE PROCESSING

Binary Amend (Close from Binary10 to Binary11, cycles 1, operator Disc, edge erode on)

Binary Identify (FillHoles from Binary11 to Binary12)

Binary Identify (EdgeFeat from Binary12 to Binary13)

FIELD MEASUREMENTS

-- % open area

MFLDIMAGE = 13

Measure field (plane MFLDIMAGE, into FLDRESULTS(1), statistics into FLDSTATS(7,1))

Selected parameters: Area%

Field Histogram #1 (Y Param Number, X Param Area%, from 0. to 5., linear, 20 bins)

Display Field Histogram Results (#1, horizontal, differential, bins + graph (Y axis linear), statistics)

Data Window (1449, 599, 423, 270)

PERCOPENAREA = FLDRESULTS(1)

File (FIELD, channel #1, 0 digits after '.')

File (PERCOPENAREA, channel #1, 1 digit after '.')

File Line (channel #1)

MEASUREMENTS OF ELEMENTS

-- Aperture Size

Stage (Step, Wait until stopped + 1100 msecs)

Next (FIELD)

File Line (channel #1)

PauseText("Load next replicate now.")

Image Setup DC Twain [PAUSE] (Camera 1, AutoExposure Off, Gain 0.00, ExposureTime 23.16 msec, Brightness 0, Lamp 38.83)

Next (SAMPLE)

File Line (channel #1)

OUTPUT OF HISTOGRAMS OF ELEMENTS

File ("% Area Histogram", channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File Field Histogram Results (#1, differential, statistics, bin details, channel #1)

Close File (channel #1)

END

In the section "Setting and Determining the Open Area in Percentage of the Side Zone of the Material", the QUIPS algorithm is executed using the QWIN Pro software platform. The analyst is first given prompts to enter the setup information about the sample, which is sent to an EXCEL file.

The analyst then enters an image file prefix name corresponding to the specimen identifier. This will be used by the algorithm to save the images obtained during the analysis to the specified file location. The analyst is then cued to place the specimen on the automated platform using the live image setup window on the computer monitor. The specimen should be laid flat and gentle force should be applied to its edges to remove any large folds that may be present. At this point, the illumination level should be set to 0.95 using the white level function of the QWIN Pro software to adjust the light output for the ChromaPro light output if this has not already been done. At this point, the image focus may be optimized for the lateral zone 26a or 26b of the material 10 containing the microperforations 81 and/or the areas of significantly reduced fiber density 39.

After performing additional operations on the resulting individual binary images for the microperforations 81 and/or areas of significantly reduced fiber density 39, the algorithm will provide the analyst with cues to recheck the detection of the microperforations 81 and/or areas of significantly reduced fiber density 39 relative to the underlying grayscale image. If necessary, the analyst can select from a set of tools for editing the binary images (e.g., draw, undo, etc.) to make any minor adjustments.

The algorithm will then automatically take measurements and output the data to a designated file in the form of an EXCEL spreadsheet.

Once the data is transferred, the algorithm will direct the movement of the robotic platform to the next field of view. This process will be repeated six times along each edge of the material side zone sample so that for each sample instance there will be twelve sets of data from twelve separate field of view images.

After completing the analysis, taking measurements and transferring the measurement parameter data, the EXCEL file will contain the following data:

Open area in percent

The final mean for the sample distribution is usually based on an N=5 analysis of five individual subsample samples. Comparison of the percentage open area obtained by the algorithm for different samples can be performed using Student's t-analysis with a confidence level of 90%.

Test to determine the compression energy

The test used herein to determine the compressive energy is a three-cycle compression test that can be performed to measure the compressive resilience of projections on a single-layer raised layer. Compressive resilience is measured by measuring the compressive energy. Generally, the term "compressive energy" refers to the energy required to compress the raised layer from its initial thickness under the action of 5 grams-force (approximately 0.027 kPa) to its final thickness under the action of approximately 1830 grams-force (approximately 10 kPa). Compressive energy is calculated as the area under the compressive stress (force/area) versus linear thickness curve defined by the initial contact pressure (5 grams-force) and the final contact pressure of approximately 1830 grams-force (approximately 10 kPa).

1. Where the nonwoven material to be tested forms part of a composite or absorbent article, freeze spraying shall be used to thoroughly remove the nonwoven material.

2. A round test specimen is cut out from the non-woven material using a cutting die with a diameter of 47.8 mm.

3. The upper and lower stainless steel plates are attached to the dynamometer.

4. The upper plate has a diameter of 89 mm, while the lower plate has a diameter of 152 mm. The upper plate is connected to a 100 N load cell, while the lower plate is connected to the base of the dynamometer.

5. TestWorks Version 4 software provided by MTS is used to control the displacement of the top plate and record the load and distance between the two plates.

6. The top platen is initiated to move slowly downwards and make contact with the bottom platen until the compressive load reaches about 5000g. At this point, the distance between the two platens is zero.

7. Then the upper plate is set to move upwards (from the lower plate) until the distance between the two plates reaches 15 mm.

8. The results of the slider readings shown on the TestWorks Version 4 software are set to zero.

9. The test specimen is placed in the center of the bottom plate with the nodes facing the top plate.

10. The upper platen is initiated to descend toward the lower platen and compress the test specimen at a rate of 10 mm/min. The distance the upper platen moves is indicated by reading the crosshead. This is the loading process.

11. The compression shall continue until the load exceeds 1830 grams-force (approximately 10 kPa), at which point the platen shall reverse direction and move upward at a rate of 10 mm/min until the force decreases below 5 grams-force. The platen shall then reverse direction and enter a second compression cycle at a rate of 10 mm/min until the load exceeds 1830 grams-force (approximately 10 kPa). Once the load exceeds 1830 grams-force (approximately 10 kPa), the platen shall reverse direction and move upward at a rate of 10 mm/min until the force decreases below 5 grams-force. The platen must then reverse its direction of motion and enter a third compression cycle at a rate of 10 mm/min until a load of 1830 gf (approximately 10 kPa) is exceeded. At this point, the upper platen stops moving downwards and returns at a rate of 10 mm/min to its original position, where the distance between the two plates is 15 mm.

12. The compressive load and the corresponding distance between the two slabs during loading and unloading are recorded on a computer using TestWorks Version 4 software provided by MTS.

13. The compressive load is converted to compressive stress by dividing the compressive force by the area of the test specimen, which is 17.94 cm ² .

14. The distance between two slabs at a given compressive stress is the thickness at that particular compressive stress.

15. For each type of test specimen, a total of six test specimens are tested in order to obtain representative load and unload curves for each type of test specimen.

Compression Linearity Test

Compression linearity is measured using the Kawabata Evaluation System KES model FB-3, also available commercially from Kato Tech Company.

This instrument is designed to measure the compressive properties of materials by compressing the sample between two pistons. To measure the compressive properties, the upper piston is lowered onto the sample at a constant rate until it reaches a maximum specified force. The displacement of the upper piston is detected by a potentiometer. The magnitude of the pressure required to compress the sample (P, gf/cm ² ) as a function of the thickness (displacement) of the material (T, mm) is displayed as a graph on the computer screen. The following instrument settings were used for all materials in this study:

Sensitivity=2×5

Transfer (speed)=1mm/50s

Fm set=5,0

Stroke length selection = max 5 mm

Compression area = 2 ^cm2

Time interval=standard

Maximum compression force = 50 gf

The KES algorithm calculates the following compression property values and displays them on the computer screen:

Compression Linearity (LC).

For each sample, 5 measurements were obtained.

Test method for tensile strength

The tensile strength test method used herein is performed to measure the compressive tensile strength of each of the side zones 26a, 26b and the perforated zone of the materials of the present invention. The tensile strength is typically reported as a force value in pounds-force (gram-force) at a given strain.

1. If the nonwoven material to be tested forms part of a composite or absorbent article, a freeze spray should be used to thoroughly remove the nonwoven material.

2. The side zones of the nonwoven material are cut out from the perforated zone using a paper cutter along the machine direction. Approximately 1 mm of side zone may remain on each side of the perforated zone after cutting. Three fragments (side zone 1, side zone 2 and perforated zone) are subjected to separate tests on a tensile frame.

3. The upper and lower grips must be wider than the width of the test specimens. The upper grip is connected to a 100 N load cell, while the lower grip is connected to the base of the dynamometer.

4. TestWorks Version 4 software provided by MTS is used to control the displacement of the upper grip and record the load and distance between the two grips. Test setup:

Working length=76.2mm

Ram speed=305 mm/min

Preliminary partial load = 25 grams-force

5. The test specimen with the longitudinal direction oriented vertically is placed in the center of the lower grips.

6. The upper gripper is initiated to tension upward at a speed of 305 mm/min. The distance the upper gripper moves is indicated by reading the ram readings.

7. The tensile load and the corresponding distance the upper grip moves during the test are recorded on a computer using TestWorks Version 4 software provided by MTS.

8. The length of travel of the upper grip is converted into relative deformation by dividing the length of travel by the working length and multiplying by 100.

Once these data are recorded, the tensile strength factor parameter can be calculated. The tensile strength factor is determined as follows. Given the results of the tensile strength test method for each of the side zones 1 and 2 and the perforated zone 16, find the strain common to each of the side zone 1, side zone 2, and perforated zone specimens at which the combined load (side zone 1 load at total strain + side zone 2 load at total strain + perforated zone load at total strain) equals 1.2 lbf (544.3 gram-force). If there is no total strain for which the combined load equals 1.2 lbf, select the total strain for which the combined load is as close to 1.2 lbf as possible. However, the combined load must still be within +/- 10% of 1.2 lbf. Once this total strain value has been found, the tensile strength coefficient parameter can be determined according to equation (1) below.

Coefficient = (load on side zone 1 at total deformation + load on side zone 2 at total deformation)/(load on perforated zone at total deformation) (1)

Test method for determining Poisson's ratio

The test method for determining the Poisson's ratio can be used to determine the amount of cross-sectional reduction that a material can experience under longitudinal tension. Specifically, the Poisson's ratio is a measure of the transverse strain of a material divided by the longitudinal strain. In this document, Poisson's ratios are reported as a ratio at a given longitudinal strain.

The steps of the Poisson's ratio test method begin in the same way as steps 1-5 of the tensile strength test method, in which the specimen is a perforated area of the material sample. The following steps are specific to the Poisson's ratio test method:

6. The width of the perforated area of the specimen is marked as the midpoint of the material specimen between the upper and lower grips with a felt-tip pen or other marking device, and the width of the material specimen is measured along the marked section and recorded.

7. Initiate upward tension of the upper grip at a speed of 305 mm/min until 1% longitudinal deformation of the material sample is achieved. When the longitudinal deformation reaches 1%, the upper grip is stopped.

8. The width of the material sample is measured along the marked section and recorded.

9. Steps 7 and 8 are repeated for longitudinal deformation of 2%, 3%, 4% and 5%.

10. The transverse deformation values for a material sample are calculated for each of the achieved longitudinal deformation values.

11. Poisson's ratio is then determined for the material specimen at each recorded value of longitudinal strain by dividing the determined values of transverse strain by their corresponding values of longitudinal strain.

Test method for determining the anisotropy of bridges

The anisotropy of the fibers in the connecting bridges 14 passing between the nodes 12 adjacent in the longitudinal direction and the connecting bridges 14 passing between the nodes 12 adjacent in the transverse direction can be determined using the measurement method described in this document using image analysis.

In this context, the anisotropy of the fibers is considered for a plurality of connecting bridges 14 within the perforated zone 16 of the material for each respective material. Typically, in the image analysis method, a numerical value of the anisotropy is determined from approximately eight (coronal) images of the connecting bridge 14 using a special measurement parameter using image analysis called anisotropy. The anisotropy of the connecting bridge 14 can be measured using X-ray computed microtomography (also known as micro-CT) for non-destructive imaging, followed by image analysis techniques to identify fiber components and then measure the anisotropy of these components only in areas of the connecting bridge 14. An image analysis algorithm performs the detection, image processing and measurement, and transfers the data digitally to a database in the form of a spreadsheet. The resulting measurement data are used to compare the anisotropy of the connecting bridges 14 passing between the nodes 12 adjacent in the longitudinal direction and the connecting bridges 14 passing between the nodes 12 adjacent in the transverse direction.

The method for determining the anisotropy in the fibers of each of the connecting bridges involves the first step of obtaining digital X-ray computed microtomography images of the sample. These images are obtained using a SkyScan 1272 microCT system available from Bruker microCT (2550 Contich, Belgium). The sample is attached to a mounting device provided by Bruker with the SkyScan 1272 system so that it does not move under its own weight during the scanning process. The following SkyScan 1272 conditions are used during the scanning process:

Camera pixel size (µm)=9.0

- Source voltage (kV)=35

- Source current (µA)=225

- Image pixel size (µm)=6.0

- Image format=TIFF

- Depth (bit)=16

- Rotation step (deg.) = 0.10

- Use 360 rotation=NO

- Frame averaging=ON (6)

- Random Movement=ON (1)

- Correction for uniform field illumination=ON

- Filter=No filter

Once the specimen scan is complete, the resulting image set is then reconstructed using the NRecon software provided with the SkyScan 1272 micro CT system. Although the reconstruction parameters may be somewhat specimen dependent and should be known to one skilled in the art, the following parameters should provide basic guidelines for the analyzing technician:

- Image file type=BMP

- Pixel size (µm)=6.00

- Smoothing=1 (Gaussian)

- Correction of artifacts "ringing" = 10

- Beam hardening correction (%)=10

Once the reconstruction is complete, the resulting image data set is ready for the extraction of cross-sectional image slices using the Bruker SkyScan software package called DataViewer (v. 1.5.6.3). Once the entire reconstructed image data set has been loaded into the DataViewer, the analyzing microCT specialist must then select and extract cross-sectional image slices (coronal) at eight different locations along each junction bridge 14 of interest. In a typical method, six different junction bridges 14 of each type are analyzed (e.g., junction bridges 14 extending between nodes 12 adjacent in the longitudinal direction and junction bridges 14 extending between nodes 12 adjacent in the transverse direction). Once the cross-sectional CT images have been acquired, anisotropy measurements can be performed for each desired junction bridge 14 using the image analysis software.

The image analysis software platform used to perform anisotropy measurements is QWIN Pro (version 3.5.1), available commercially from Leica Microsystems, headquartered in Heerbrugg, Switzerland.

Thus, the method for determining the anisotropy of a given sample includes the step of performing several anisotropy measurements with respect to a set of computed microtomography images. More precisely, the image analysis algorithm is used to read and process the images, as well as perform the measurements using the user language of the interactive programming system (QUIPS) of Quantimet. The image analysis algorithm is reproduced below.

OPENING DATA FILES AND SETTING VARIABLES

The following lines indicate the location on the computer where the data is sent.

Open File (C:\Data\103470 - Nhan\data.xls, channel #1)

ACQOUTPUT = 0

INSTALLATION AND CALIBRATION

Configure (Image Store 1504 x 1250, Gray Images 102, Binaries 32)

-- Pixel calibration value = 6.00 um/px

CALVALUE = 6.00

Calibration (Local)

Image frame (x 0, y 0, Width 1504, Height 1250)

Measure frame (x 31, y 61, Width 1442, Height 1188)

Enter Results Header

File Results Header (channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

--Enter image file information

PauseText("Enter image file prefix name.")

Input (TITLE$)

Clear Feature Histogram #1

Clear Feature Histogram #2

Clear Field Histogram #1

FIELD/ANALYSIS LOOP

For (FIELD = 440 to 480, step 5)

IMAGING AND IDENTIFICATION

-- Image File location

ACQFILE$ = "C:\Images\103470 - Nhan\Coronal Images\Rep #3\"+TITLE$+""+STR$(FIELD)+".jpg"

Read image (from file ACQFILE$ into ACQOUTPUT)

FIBRE IDENTIFICATION

Clear Feature Histogram #1

Clear Feature Histogram #2

Detect (whiter than 55, from Image0 into Binary0 delineated)

IMAGE PROCESSING

Binary Amend (Close from Binary0 to Binary1, cycles 1, operator Disc, edge erode on)

Binary Amend (White Exh. Skeleton from Binary1 to Binary2, cycles 1, operator Disc, edge erode on, alg. 'L' Type)

Binary Identify (Remove White Triples from Binary2 to Binary3)

Display (Image0 (on), frames (on,on), planes (off,off,off,3,off,off), lut 0, x 0, y 0, z 1, Reduction off)

ANISOTROPY OF THE MEASUREMENT FIELD

PauseText("Set measure frame region now.")

Measure frame [PAUSE] (x 1296, y 255, Width 506, Height 497)

MFLDIMAGE = 3

Measure field (plane MFLDIMAGE, into FLDRESULTS(1), statistics into FLDSTATS(7,1))

Selected parameters: Anisotropy

ANISOT = FLDRESULTS(1)

ORIENTATION OF MEASUREMENT ELEMENTS

Clear Accepts

Measure feature (plane Binary3, 64 ferets, minimum area: 10, gray image: Image0)

Selected parameters: X FCP, Y FCP, VertProj, HorizProj, Length,

Perimeter, UserDef1, UserDef2, DerivOrient

Feature Expression (UserDef1 (all features), title Orient = PHPROJ(FTR)/PVPROJ(FTR))

Feature Expression (UserDef2 (all features), title Length = PPERIMETER(FTR)/2)

Feature Histogram #1 (Y Param UserDef2, X Param DerivOrient, from 0. to 180., linear, 20 bins)

Feature Histogram #2 (Y Param UserDef2, X Param UserDef1, from 1.999999955e-002 to 200., logarithmic, 20 bins)

Display Feature Histogram Results (#1, horizontal, differential, bins + graph (Y axis linear), statistics)

Data Window (1336, 117, 341, 454)

Display Feature Histogram Results (#2, horizontal, differential, bins + graph (Y axis linear), statistics)

Data Window (1329, 566, 341, 454)

-- Output data to spreadsheet

File Feature Histogram Results (#1, differential, statistics, bin details, channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File Feature Histogram Results (#2, differential, statistics, bin details, channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File ("Anisotropy = ", channel #1)

File (ANISOT, channel #1, 3 digits after '.')

File Line (channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

File Line (channel #1)

Next (FIELD)

Close File (channel #1)

The QUIPS algorithm is implemented using the QWIN Pro software platform. The analyst is first prompted to enter the number of images in a set for a specific sample. The analyst is then prompted to enter a set of sample identification information, which is sent to an EXCEL file.

The analyzing specialist is then prompted via an interactive command window and an input window to enter the image file prefix of the analyzed CT images. After this step, all subsequent images for this sample will be automatically read by the above-described image analysis algorithm.

The analyst is then guided to manually select the area of interest on the jumper for analysis using the computer mouse. Care should be taken to select only the jumper of interest.

After several stages of image processing, which will occur automatically, the analyst will again be prompted to clear any areas that extend beyond the region of interest (ROI). This is done using the computer mouse and by turning the binary overlay on and off using the "control" and "b" keys on the computer keyboard simultaneously. After this stage, the binary image should only cover the connecting jumper.

The process of selecting the area of interest of the connecting jumper 14 and clearing the areas extending beyond it will be repeated until all images for a particular sample have been analyzed.

After all the images have been analyzed, the following measurement parameter data will be located in the corresponding EXCEL file:

Instance No.

Anisotropy

For the parameter "Anisotropy", 6 values will be listed in the columns. In order to compare the anisotropy values between the connecting bridges 14 that connect the nodes 12 adjacent in the longitudinal direction and the connecting bridges 14 that connect the nodes 12 adjacent in the transverse direction, the data in the column labeled "Anisotropy" are compared between different samples by performing a Student's T-analysis with a confidence level of 90%.

Implementation options

Embodiment 1. A nonwoven material comprising a plurality of fibers, wherein the nonwoven material comprises: a first surface and a second surface, the first surface opposite the second surface; and a plurality of nodes extending from a base plane on the first surface, wherein at least a majority of the plurality of nodes have an anisotropy value greater than 1.0, as determined by a node analysis test method.

Embodiment 2. The nonwoven material of embodiment 1, further comprising a perforated area, the perforated area comprises a plurality of nodes, the perforated area further comprises: a plurality of connecting webs connecting the plurality of nodes to each other, wherein a majority of the plurality of nodes comprises at least three connecting webs connected to adjacent nodes; and a plurality of openings formed between the plurality of connecting webs and the plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of openings provide an open area percentage for the perforated area of the nonwoven material of from about 10% to about 60%, as determined by testing based on an analysis of a sample of the material.

Embodiment 3. The nonwoven material of embodiment 1 or 2, wherein the nonwoven material has a compression energy of at least about 40 gf*cm in any cycle of the test method for determining compression energy.

Embodiment 4. The nonwoven material of any of the previous embodiments, wherein the nonwoven material has a compression energy of at least about 50 gf*cm in any cycle of the test method for determining compression energy.

Embodiment 5. The nonwoven material of any of the previous embodiments, wherein the nonwoven material has a compression energy of at least about 60 gf*cm in the first cycle of the test method for determining compression energy.

Embodiment 6. The nonwoven fabric of any of the previous embodiments, wherein the nonwoven fabric has a compression linearity greater than about 0.50 as determined by a compression linearity test method.

Embodiment 7. The nonwoven material of any of the previous embodiments, wherein each of the majority of the plurality of nodes is characterized by a ratio of the height of the node to the larger dimension of the node that is greater than 1.0.

Embodiment 8. The nonwoven fabric of any of the previous embodiments, wherein the plurality of knots provide a knot density of from about 1.0 knot/ ^cm2 to about 3.0 knot/ ^cm2 .

Embodiment 9. A nonwoven material comprising a plurality of fibers, wherein the nonwoven material comprises: a first surface and a second surface, the first surface opposite the second surface; and a plurality of nodes extending from a base plane on the first surface, wherein the nonwoven material is characterized by a compressive energy equal to at least about 40 gf*cm in any cycle of a test method for determining compressive energy.

Embodiment 10. The nonwoven fabric of embodiment 9, wherein the nonwoven fabric has a compression energy of at least about 50 gf*cm in any cycle of the test method for determining compression energy.

Embodiment 11. The nonwoven material of embodiment 9 or 10, wherein the nonwoven material has a compression energy of at least about 60 gf*cm in the first cycle of the test method for determining compression energy.

Embodiment 12. The nonwoven fabric of any one of embodiments 9-11, wherein the nonwoven fabric has a compression linearity greater than about 0.50 as determined by a compression linearity test method.

Embodiment 13. The nonwoven material of any one of embodiments 9-12, further comprising: a perforated area, the perforated area comprises a plurality of nodes, the perforated area further comprises: a plurality of connecting webs connecting the plurality of nodes to each other, wherein a majority of the plurality of nodes comprises at least three connecting webs connected to adjacent nodes; and a plurality of apertures formed between the plurality of connecting webs and the plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of apertures provide an open area percentage for the perforated area of the nonwoven material of from about 10% to about 60%, as determined by a test method based on an analysis of a sample of the material.

Embodiment 14. The nonwoven fabric of any one of embodiments 9-13, wherein at least a majority of the plurality of nodes have an anisotropy value greater than 1.0 as determined by a node analysis test method.

Embodiment 15. The nonwoven fabric of embodiment 14, wherein each of the majority of the plurality of nodes has a node height to major node dimension ratio greater than 1.0, and the plurality of nodes provide a node density equal to from about 1.0 node/ ^cm2 to about 3.0 node/ ^cm2 .

Embodiment 16. A nonwoven material comprising a plurality of fibers, wherein the nonwoven material comprises: a first surface and a second surface, the first surface opposite the second surface; and a plurality of nodes extending from a base plane on the first surface, wherein the nonwoven material is characterized by a compression linearity greater than approximately 0.50, as determined by a test method for determining compression linearity.

Embodiment 17. The nonwoven fabric of embodiment 16, wherein the nonwoven fabric has a compression energy of at least about 40 gf*cm in any cycle of the test method for determining compression energy.

Embodiment 18. The nonwoven material of embodiment 16 or 17, wherein the nonwoven material has a compression energy of at least about 60 gf*cm in the first cycle of the test method for determining compression energy.

Embodiment 19. The nonwoven fabric of any one of embodiments 16-18, wherein at least a majority of the plurality of nodes have an anisotropy value greater than 1.0 as measured by a node analysis test method.

Embodiment 20. The nonwoven fabric of embodiment 19, wherein each of the majority of the plurality of nodes has a node height to major node dimension ratio greater than 1.0, and the plurality of nodes provide a node density of approximately 1.0 node/ ^cm2 to approximately 3.0 node/ ^cm2 .

All documents mentioned in the detailed description are incorporated herein by reference in relevant part, and the citation of any document shall not be construed as an admission that it is prior art with respect to the present invention. If any meaning or definition of a term in this written document conflicts with any meaning or definition of the term in a document incorporated by reference, the meaning or definition as the term is used in this written document shall control.

Although specific embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. It is therefore intended that the appended claims cover all changes and modifications that fall within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (33)

1. A nonwoven material comprising a plurality of fibers, wherein the nonwoven material comprises: a first surface and a second surface, wherein the first surface is opposite the second surface; and a plurality of nodes extending from a base plane on the first surface, wherein at least a majority of the plurality of nodes are characterized by a fiber orientation anisotropy value greater than 1.0, as determined by a node analysis test method; wherein each of the majority of the set of nodes is characterized by a ratio of the height of the node to the larger size of the node that exceeds 1.0. 2. A nonwoven material according to item 1, characterized in that it additionally contains a perforated zone, the perforated zone contains a plurality of nodes, and the perforated zone additionally contains: a plurality of connecting jumpers connecting the plurality of nodes to each other, wherein a majority of the plurality of nodes comprises at least three connecting jumpers connected to adjacent nodes; and a plurality of apertures formed between the plurality of connecting webs and the plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of apertures provide an open area percentage for the perforated area of the nonwoven material of from 10% to 60% as determined by testing based on an analysis of a sample of the material. 3. A nonwoven material according to claim 1, characterized in that the nonwoven material is characterized by a compression energy equal to at least 40 gf*cm in any cycle of the test method for determining the compression energy. 4. A nonwoven material according to claim 1, characterized in that the nonwoven material is characterized by a compression energy equal to at least 50 gf*cm in any cycle of the test method for determining the compression energy. 5. A nonwoven material according to claim 1, characterized in that the nonwoven material is characterized by a compression energy equal to at least 60 gf*cm in the first cycle of the test method for determining the compression energy. 6. The nonwoven material of claim 1, wherein the nonwoven material is characterized by a compression linearity greater than 0.50, as determined by a test method for determining compression linearity. 7. A nonwoven material according to claim 1, characterized in that the plurality of knots provide a knot density from 1.0 knot/ ^cm2 to 3.0 knots/ ^cm2 . 8. A nonwoven material comprising a plurality of fibers, wherein the nonwoven material comprises: a first surface and a second surface, wherein the first surface is opposite the second surface; and a set of nodes extending from a base plane on a first surface; wherein the nonwoven material is characterized by a compressive energy equal to at least 40 gf*cm in any cycle of the test method for determining the compressive energy; wherein each of the majority of the plurality of nodes is characterized by a ratio of the height of the node to the larger dimension of the node exceeding 1.0, and the plurality of nodes provide a density of nodes from 1.0 node/cm ² to 3.0 nodes/cm ² . 9. The nonwoven material according to claim 8, characterized in that the nonwoven material is characterized by a compression energy equal to at least 50 gf*cm in any cycle of the test method for determining the compression energy. 10. The nonwoven material according to claim 8, characterized in that the nonwoven material is characterized by a compression energy equal to at least 60 gf*cm in the first cycle of the test method for determining the compression energy. 11. The nonwoven material of claim 8, wherein the nonwoven material has a compression linearity greater than 0.50 as determined by a test method for determining compression linearity. 12. Non-woven material according to item 8, which additionally contains: a perforated zone, the perforated zone contains a plurality of nodes, and the perforated zone additionally contains: a plurality of connecting jumpers connecting the plurality of nodes to each other, wherein a majority of the plurality of nodes comprises at least three connecting jumpers connected to adjacent nodes; and a plurality of apertures formed between the plurality of connecting webs and the plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of apertures provide an open area percentage for the perforated area of the nonwoven material of from 10% to 60% as determined by a test method based on an analysis of a sample of the material. 13. The nonwoven material of claim 8, wherein at least a majority of the plurality of nodes have a fiber orientation anisotropy value greater than 1.0 as determined by a node analysis test method. 14. A nonwoven material comprising a plurality of fibers, wherein the nonwoven material comprises: a first surface and a second surface, wherein the first surface is opposite the second surface; and a set of nodes extending from a base plane on a first surface; wherein the nonwoven material is characterized by a compression linearity greater than 0.50 as determined by the compression linearity test method; wherein each of the majority of the plurality of nodes is characterized by a ratio of the height of the node to the larger dimension of the node exceeding 1.0, and the plurality of nodes provide a density of nodes equal to from 1.0 node/cm ² to 3.0 nodes/cm ² . 15. The nonwoven material according to claim 14, characterized in that the nonwoven material is characterized by a compression energy equal to at least 40 gf*cm in any cycle of the test method for determining the compression energy. 16. The nonwoven material according to claim 14, characterized in that the nonwoven material is characterized by a compression energy equal to at least 60 gf*cm in the first cycle of the test method for determining the compression energy. 17. The nonwoven material of claim 14, wherein at least a majority of the plurality of nodes have a fiber orientation anisotropy value greater than 1.0 as measured by a node analysis test method.