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.

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.

The present disclosure is directed to a nonwoven substrate having a first surface, an opposite second surface, a first layer forming the first surface, and a second layer located below the first layer in the direction of the thickness of the nonwoven substrate. The first layer has a first fiber orientation disorder level, and the second layer has a second fiber orientation disorder level higher than the first fiber orientation disorder level as measured according to Fiber Orientation Disorder Level Test. The present disclosure is also directed to an absorbent article comprising the nonwoven substrate.

A device for producing a three dimensional shaped consolidated product. The device includes a rotary drum, defined as a rotary conveyor with a peripheral surface extending in circumferential direction with at least one product shaping area in the form of a cavity on said peripheral surface, the peripheral surface is pervious to air at least in the product shaping area, at least one material feed device to feed a base material into the at least one cavity, a vacuum device designed to generate a negative pressure at least in the at least one cavity, whereby the generated suction is directed towards the interior of the rotary conveyor, and whereby downstream of the material feed device at least one consolidating device is located such that at least a part of the filled cavity is subjected to a consolidating treatment whereby the base material at least partly will adhere to neighboring material.

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.

An absorbent article wherein an upper auxiliary layer of an absorber includes a super absorbent nonwoven fabric having a surface exposed on an uppermost surface of the absorber and having a Klemm water absorptiveness of 100 mm or more, and first super absorbent polymer particles adjacent to a back surface of the super absorbent nonwoven fabric; a main absorption layer of the absorber is a cell absorbing sheet having second super absorbent polymer particles contained in cells arranged at intervals; the first super absorbent polymer particles are fixed to an upper surface of an upper sheet of the main absorption layer with an adhesive; the upper sheet is formed of a short fiber nonwoven fabric and has a larger amount of fuzz on the upper surface thereof than a lower surface thereof; and the adhesive is applied in an intermittent pattern at an application rate of 4 to 10 g/m.sup.2.

An apparatus for manufacturing an absorbent core includes: a first drum that has a first area for sucking and stacking fibers on an outer peripheral portion of the first drum and stack a first core portion in the first area; and a second drum that has a plurality of second areas, smaller than the first area, for sucking and stacking the fibers on an outer peripheral portion of the second drum and that successively transfers second core portions stacked in each of the second areas to the first drum, wherein the second drum is rotated at a high first circumferential velocity when the second drum transfers each of the second core portions and, the second drum is rotated at a second circumferential velocity, lower than the first circumferential velocity, in non-transfer time, which is after the transfer and until subsequent transfer.

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 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.

A production line, also called converter, for manufacturing absorbent products for sanitary use, in which an absorbent core is produced directly in special processing sections of the converter.