A method and apparatus for making specific absorbent structures with an absorbent layer with absorbent material with therein substantially longitudinally extending strips that are free of absorbent material, using or having thereto a moving endless surface with receptacle(s) with specific longitudinally extending rods; and specific absorbent structures obtained therewith, suitable for absorbent articles, such as diapers and sanitary napkins.

An absorbent article (20) having an absorbent core comprising at least about 80% of superabsorbent polymers (SAP) by weight of its absorbent material. An acquisition-distribution system (ADS) (50) is at least partially disposed between the absorbent core and the topsheet. The ADS extends in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent article at least from a point A1 disposed at a distance D from the front edge to a point A2 disposed at a distance D from the back edge of the article, D being equal to 32% of the length L of the article. The ADS has a basis weight which may be at least 20% lower at the point A2 than at the point A1.

An absorbent article (20) having an absorbent core comprising at least about 80% of superabsorbent polymers (SAP) by weight of its absorbent material. An acquisition-distribution system (ADS) (50) is at least partially disposed between the absorbent core and the topsheet. The ADS extends in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent article at least from a point A1 disposed at a distance D from the front edge to a point A2 disposed at a distance D from the back edge of the article, D being equal to 32% of the length L of the article. The ADS has a basis weight which may be at least 20% lower at the point A2 than at the point A1.

The present invention is directed to a novel process for dosing super absorbent polymer particles into a plurality of particles flows, comprising the steps of: (i) providing super absorbent polymer particles; (ii) imparting a rotation to said particles; and (iii) collecting separate flows of particles, wherein the step (ii) is performed with a rotating mobile (11) provided into a housing (12). Use for manufacturing absorbent article and article thus obtained.

The present invention relates to a unitary absorbent structure and method thereof wherein said unitary absorbent structure comprises an absorbent core (5) and/or an acquisition (2) and dispersion (3) layer, said absorbent core (5) and/or an acquisition (2) and dispersion (3) layer comprising at least one non-woven fibrous substrate layer (23) having a void volume suitable to be penetrated by super absorbent particles, characterized in that said super absorbent particles are dispersed in the substrate layer (23) according to a size distribution gradient along the depth direction or z-direction of said absorbent core (5) and/or acquisition (2) and dispersion (3) layers.

An absorbent core is disclosed. The core includes a first absorbent core construction having multiple spaced-apart sections of a fibrous construction having a fiber structure. A first nonwoven sheet is positioned above the fibrous construction. A second nonwoven sheet is positioned below the fibrous construction. The first nonwoven sheet is coupled with the second nonwoven sheet at locations between adjacent sections of the multiple spaced-apart sections of the fibrous construction. Absorbent material is disposed within the fiber structure, between the first and second nonwoven sheets.

An absorbent disposable article, such as a diaper, panty diaper, panty liner, sanitary napkin or incontinence device is disclosed. The article has a porous polymer-based structure obtainable by a process of: (a) depositing and photopolymerizing, layer-by-layer in accordance with a predetermined 3D model, an emulsion having an external continuous phase surrounding droplets of an internal phase having has one or more photopolymerizable monomers and/or oligomers and a photopolymerization initiator; and (b) removing the internal phase from the continuous polymer phase formed from the one or more photopolymerizable monomers and/or oligomers. The process produces a monolithic porous structure having three types of pores: (i) pores resulting from the location from which the internal phase was removed, (ii) pores interconnecting the pores according to (i), and (iii) pores as predetermined by the 3D model. The invention also relates to a method of making the article.

Methods and tooling for making three-dimensional substrates and/or apertured substrates are provided. The three-dimensional substrates and/or apertured substrates may be used in absorbent articles, such as diapers and pants, for example. The methods and tooling may be used on an absorbent article manufacturing line.

A method of manufacturing an absorbent web includes moving a foraminous member in a machine direction. The foraminous member has at least one masking plate with a partitioned area including at least one partition defining a plurality of segments. The method further includes drawing air through the foraminous member and depositing fibrous material onto the foraminous member to form an absorbent web. The absorbent web has a bridged area with a reduced basis weight corresponding to the partitioned area of the masking plate. The bridged area has vertical interfaces separating web segments and fibrous material at least partly bridging the vertical interfaces.

A carded nonwoven fibrous web and method of making is provided. The web comprises at least 50%, by weight of the fibrous web, of staple fibers and at least 10%, by weight of the fibrous web, of non-fibrous latex binder, wherein, the staple fibers are autogenously bonded to each other and are bonded to each other by the latex binder.