Nonwoven fabrics having a plurality of fibers that are bonded to each other to form a coherent web, wherein the fibers comprise a blend of a polylactic acid (PLA) and at least one secondary alkane sulfonate are provided. The nonwoven fabrics exhibit increased tensile strengths, elongation and toughness.

The rotary anvils herein may be used in combination with a tool member to perform various types of manufacturing operations, such as cutting, bonding, and embossing. The anvil roll may include a cylindrically-shaped outer circumferential surface and may be adapted to rotate about a first axis of rotation. More particularly, the anvil roll may include a body formed from a first material, such as a metallic material. The body may also include grooves in the outer circumferential surface, and abrasion resistant material may be fused to the body to fill the grooves to form strips. During operation, a tool member may be positioned to contact the strips of abrasion resistant material.

(EN) The purpose of the present invention is to provide a water absorbent article that has high water absorbency and high flexibility and, when used as a cleaning sheet, shows excellent ability to collect waste and dust even on a wet floor, etc. The method according to the present invention for manufacturing a water absorbent article (1) is characterized by comprising: a fiber lamination step for laminating a flexibility-imparting layer (6) having water absorbency on a liquid-permeable surface sheet layer (5) to form a sheet body (35); an emboss processing step for embossing the sheet body (35), said sheet body (35) being in a non-wet state, to form a bulky part provided with a number of peaks and valleys in the sheet body (35); and a binder impregnation step for, after the emboss processing step, supplying a binder to the sheet body (35) from an external surface side and thus impregnating the sheet body (35) with the binder.

A formed film includes a first surface generally located in a first plane, a second surface generally located in a second plane parallel to and spaced from the first plane, and a third surface generally located in a third plane parallel to and spaced from the first plane and the second plane, in between the first plane and the second plane. A porous structure extends between the second surface and the third surface. A plurality of raised areas have sidewalls that extend between the first surface and the third surface, and top portions that define the first surface. The plurality of sidewalls, the porous structure, and the first plane define a plurality of gathering volumes.

The present disclosure relates to apparatuses and methods for making patterned apertured substrates that may be used as components of absorbent articles. During the manufacturing processes, a precursor substrate advances in a machine direction between a pattern roll and an anvil roll. The pattern roll rotates about an axis of rotation and includes a plurality of pattern surfaces, wherein the substrate is compressed between the anvil roll and the pattern surfaces of the pattern roll to form discrete bond regions in the substrate. The pattern surfaces on the pattern roll are formed on continuous threads extending circumferentially around the axis of rotation along helical paths parallel with each other. As such, the pattern surfaces press the substrate against the outer circumferential surface of the anvil roll in the different axial locations along the cross direction as the pattern roll rotates when forming the discrete bond regions.

The present invention is intended to prevent cutting of the resilient and elastic members by a welding process. The foregoing issue is solved by passing a first sheet layer, a second sheet layer, and elongated resilient and elastic members continuously disposed in an MD direction between the two sheet layers, between a first roll with joint convex parts provided at circumferential intervals on an outer peripheral surface and a second roll opposed to the first roll, and pressurizing and heating the first sheet layer and the second sheet layer to form sheet joined sections by welding the first sheet layer and the second sheet layer in such a manner as to cross the resilient and elastic members and have MD-direction intervals therebetween, wherein circumferentially continuous grooves are formed on a pressurization surface of the second roll, passage sections of the resilient and elastic members are pressurized and heated in positions including the grooves of the second roll, and non-passage sections of the resilient and elastic members are pressurized and heated in positions not including the grooves of the second roll.

An absorbent article includes a concave groove whose transverse plane shape satisfies (1) a relationship between a depth “h” of a bottom surface portion of the concave groove, and a distance “S” from a bottom end “G” of the concave groove to an upper end “K” from which a concavity of the concave groove starts is 1.5h<S, (2) a relationship between a width “b” of a bottom surface of the concave groove, and a width “B” between the upper ends “K” and “K” at both sides of the concave groove is B≧3b, and (3) a relationship between a dimension “a” of a square concave groove expressed by a product of the width “b” of the bottom surface of the concave groove and the depth “h” of the bottom surface portion, and a cross-sectional dimension “A” of the concave groove is A≧2a.

An outer cover for an absorbent article includes a nonwoven component having a plurality of apertures formed therein and a film bonded to the apertured nonwoven component. The apertures in the nonwoven component are formed by needling prior to the film being bonded to the nonwoven component. A method of making the outer cover includes feeding a web of nonwoven material to a needling station, needling the web of nonwoven material to form a plurality of apertures therein to define an apertured web of nonwoven material, and bonding the apertured web of nonwoven material to a film.

An apparatus for compressing a material such as a tampon or a pessary device, and a method of compressing a material such as a tampon or a pessary device are described. The apparatus can have a first press unit support structure and a second press unit support structure, and each of the first press unit support structure and the second press unit support structure is rotatable about an axis. A first press unit has a compression surface area which decreases with the movement of compression associated with the first press unit support structure. A second press unit is associated with the second press unit support structure, wherein the second press unit is one of an axial direction press unit, a non-linear direction press unit, or a press unit having a compression surface area which decreases with the movement of compression.

In this disposable diaper, a compound stretchable member is provided to a waist portion, and the compound stretchable member is provided with a plurality of elastic members extending in a waist direction, and an inside nonwoven fabric sheet portion and an outside nonwoven fabric sheet portion superposed so as to be joined to each other via the elastic members. The waist portion includes a first region and a second region provided continuously with or separately from the first region in a direction orthogonal to and the waist direction, and protruding parts and recessed parts of an unevenness region are provided at a first unevenness pitch in the compound stretchable member disposed in the first region along the waist direction, and are provided at a second unevenness pitch different from the first unevenness pitch in the compound stretchable member disposed in the second region.