Pulpless absorbent cores and methods of manufacture are disclosed. A method of forming a pulpless absorbent core may comprise moving a foraminous forming surface having un-masked portions and masked portions in a machine direction, the un-masked portions defining an absorbent core region. The method may further comprise depositing particulate material at a velocity of less than 1200 meters per minute in the absorbent core region while applying a vacuum. The absorbent core region may comprise: a front core region spanning a first half of the absorbent core region and a rear core region spanning a second half, wherein the front core region trails the rear core region in the machine direction, and the masked portions of the foraminous forming surface block airflow through the forming surface to cause greater than 60% of the particulate material deposited in the absorbent core region to locate in the front core region.

Disclosed is an absorbent article including: a laminate that has an absorbent containing water-absorbent resin particles and a fibrous material, and a core wrap sandwiching the absorbent from upper and lower sides of the absorbent; a liquid-permeable sheet disposed on an upper surface of the laminate; and a liquid-impermeable sheet disposed on a surface on a side opposite to the liquid-permeable sheet of the laminate. The water-absorbent resin particles satisfy the following requirements (a) and (b). (a) A surface drying index of the absorbent article represented by the following formula is 45 or lower.

Surface drying index=(moisture content index 1.5 minutes after liquid injection/moisture content index 1 minute after liquid injection)×100

(b) A water retention capacity of the water-absorbent resin particles for a physiological saline solution is 30 g/g or more.

A stretch laminate is disclosed. The stretch laminate may include a layer of nonwoven material that includes an accumulation of filaments and has an inner surface and an outer surface, the outer surface having an ordered arrangement of zones, each zone having an attenuated region adjacent to a build-up region wherein the attenuated region has a first basis weight and the build-up region has a second basis weight greater than the first basis weight, the difference in basis weights corresponding to disposition of the filaments according to the ordered arrangement. The stretch laminate may include a plurality of elastic strands space apart from each other in a crotch-stretch direction. In some examples the elastic strands may have an Average Strand Spacing no greater than 3 mm and/or an Average Decitex no greater than 300, and/or an Average Pre-Strain no greater than 250 percent.

Disclosed are natural baby products and related methods of use. Disposable baby hygiene products, particularly disposable baby hygiene products made with natural, sustainable, environmentally-responsible, and/or biodegradable materials include disposable baby diapers made with bamboo and other natural, sustainable, environmentally-responsible, and/or biodegradable materials and disposable baby swim diapers made with natural, sustainable, environmentally-responsible, and/or biodegradable materials.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for making air-laid fibrous articles, as well as absorbent hygiene products comprising such air-laid fibrous articles as absorbent core. It comprises a plurality of discrete pockets (1) defining the shape of the articles disposed in a circumferential relationship about the periphery of a rotatable deposition drum (50) comprising a disk-shaped backing plate (2), characterized in that the discrete pockets (1) are removably attached to interfacing segments (6) which are themselves removably attached to the backing plate (2). The present invention aims to provide an easier and quicker way of interchanging the pockets and to provide an improved handling of different pocket sizes.

Disclosed is a ring-like elastic belt having a longitudinal direction and a lateral direction comprising: a pair of side seams which join the lateral edges of the front belt and the back belt such that the front fold over and the back fold over cooperatively define a distal edge of the ring-like elastic belt, the side seam made by a hot air bond which at least partially melts material of the elastic laminate, the side seam having continuity of the melted material along the substantial entirety of its longitudinal dimension; wherein the side seam has a Belt Minimum Peel Strength of at least about 6N/25 mm, a Belt Maximum Peel Strength of no more than 18N/25 mm, and a Top Bottom Difference of no more than 15%, according to the measurements herein.

Pulpless absorbent cores and methods of manufacture are disclosed. A method of forming a pulpless absorbent core may comprise moving a foraminous forming surface having un-masked portions and masked portions in a machine direction, the un-masked portions defining an absorbent core region. The method may further comprise depositing particulate material at a velocity of less than 1200 meters per minute in the absorbent core region while applying a vacuum. The absorbent core region may comprise: a front core region spanning a first half of the absorbent core region and a rear core region spanning a second half, wherein the front core region trails the rear core region in the machine direction, and the masked portions of the foraminous forming surface block airflow through the forming surface to cause greater than 60% of the particulate material deposited in the absorbent core region to locate in the front core region.

Pulpless absorbent cores and methods of manufacture are disclosed. A method of forming a pulpless absorbent core may comprise moving a foraminous forming surface having un-masked portions and masked portions in a machine direction, the un-masked portions defining an absorbent core region. The method may further comprise depositing particulate material at a velocity of less than 1200 meters per minute in the absorbent core region while applying a vacuum. The absorbent core region may comprise: a front core region spanning a first half of the absorbent core region and a rear core region spanning a second half, wherein the front core region trails the rear core region in the machine direction, and the masked portions of the foraminous forming surface block airflow through the forming surface to cause greater than 60% of the particulate material deposited in the absorbent core region to locate in the front core region.

Nonwoven materials having at least one layer comprising high core bicomponent fibers are provided. The nonwoven materials can have multiple layers and are suitable for use in a variety of applications, including in absorbent products. Such nonwoven materials can be patterned to create a three-dimensional topography including indentations formed of valleys and ridges. The nonwoven materials can have improved resiliency and strength and can retain their structure under wetted conditions and after tension and compression. The nonwoven materials can further facilitate the transfer of the liquid through the nonwoven material for improved liquid distribution and can also have improved liquid retention properties.

An absorbent article includes a polymer sheet (4) where a superabsorbent polymer (12) is disposed between an upper layer sheet (10) disposed on a skin side and a lower layer sheet (11) disposed on a non-skin side. The diffusion area of the lower layer sheet (11) is 1500 mm.sup.2 or greater. The diffusion area is measured by an absorption test method including: (1) preparing a specimen with a size of 100 mm100 mm, (2) placing a tip of a buret at a height of 10 mm above a surface of the specimen, and dropping one droplet of ion-exchanged water from the buret, and (3) after 3 minutes from a time when the droplet reaches the surface of the specimen, measuring, as the diffusion area, an area of a region of the surface of the specimen where a reflection from water is clearly visible.