JP2001293030A - Manufacturing method for absorbent product - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manufacturing method for an absorbent product such as an underpants type diaper having a gathering around the waist, which has a size suitability in a wide range, an excellent adaptability, and wherein a proper fitting property is ensured by a correct tightening force, and in addition, the appearance is excellent. SOLUTION: This manufacturing method is a method to manufacture an underpants type absorbent product. The underpants type absorbent product is equipped with a liquid-retentive absorbing body 4, and a plurality of waist peripheral section elastic members 9, which are arranged in the circumferential direction at a waist peripheral section D located at the waist of a wearer. The waist peripheral section elastic members 9 are fixed to an external layer material 5 arranged on the front surface side of a leakage-preventive sheet 3. A seal pattern is formed on the external layer material 5 and the waist peripheral section elastic members 9 by making them pass between a pair of rolls wherein the own weight or an additional pressure is applied to both of, or either one of the rolls, for a thermal sealing. The waist peripheral section elastic members 9 at an area D2 wherein the absorbing body 4 exists, are cut by the thermal sealing in the manufacturing method for the absorbent product.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for producing an absorptive article having excellent leakage prevention and good appearance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a disposable diaper is provided with a liquid-permeable top sheet, a liquid-impermeable leak-proof sheet, and a liquid-retentive absorber, and is used by a wearer when wearing. It is divided into a ventral part located on the ventral side, a dorsal part located on the dorsal part, and a crotch located between them.
Recently, a so-called pants-type disposable diaper has been proposed in which a pair of left and right leg openings and one waist opening are formed by joining and fixing the side edge of the abdomen and the side edge of the back side to each other. (JP-A-61-207605).

[0003] Such pants-type disposable diapers,
It is characterized in that it can be raised and lowered in the same way as a normal diaper, as compared with a so-called flat diaper. Further, by forming the pair of leg openings and the waist openings so as to be extendable and contractible, the tummy and the underbody can be brought into close contact with the wearer, and the fit can be improved. Moreover, the wearer can usually wear it in a standing position. For this reason, it is used for various purposes, such as for children with active movements such as yes and walking, for toilet training to promote separation of infants from diapers, for incontinent persons and for adults who can walk.

[0004] Pants-type disposable diapers have an excellent fitting property in order to suppress slippage of the diapers and prevent excrement from leaking.
Following the active movement of the wearer is required. In order to respond to such a demand, in a so-called pull-up pants-type diaper, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2-4364 discloses an elastic side panel provided in a side portion connecting a back portion and a ventral portion of a main body. A pants-type diaper in which an elastic member is disposed at a waist opening of a main body is disclosed. However, in this pants-type diaper, gaps are easily generated in the waist opening and the leg opening, and only side panels having inferior elasticity can be made, and only side panels inferior in elasticity can expand and contract. In general, the range of size suitability is narrow, and to suppress slippage of the diaper, the stretching stress of the side panel must be increased, giving the wearer unnecessary use of pressure, and when the diaper is spread Excessive force was required, and the ease with which it could be broken and the ease with which it could be worn was sometimes impaired.

Further, Japanese Patent No. 2134031 proposes a pants-type disposable diaper in which a gather is formed around the entire circumference of the waist so that the waist of the diaper can be fitted to a wearer without fail. . Since the entire circumference of the disposable diaper according to this proposal expands and contracts, even if the elongation rate of the rubber is suppressed to about twice, the size applicable range of the wearer's torso can be widened. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-265357 proposes a pants-type diaper provided with an elastic member forming a substantially continuous gather on both sides around the waist.

As described above, various disposable diapers in which waist gathers are formed on the sides of the wearer have been proposed. However, they still have wide suitability for size and excellent ease of use. At present, there is no proposal that secures a suitable fit with a sufficient tightening force and is excellent in appearance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a pants-type diaper having a waist gather, which ensures a wide range of sizing properties, excellent simplicity, and a suitable fitting property with an appropriate tightening force. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a sexual article.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises a liquid-permeable topsheet, a liquid-impermeable leak-proof sheet, and a liquid-retentive absorber, and a torso peripheral portion located around the wearer's torso. Comprises a plurality of waist peripheral elastic members arranged in the circumferential direction, wherein the waist peripheral elastic member exhibits elasticity and elasticity in a portion where the absorber does not exist, and In a portion where the body is present, the elastic member is arranged so that substantially no elasticity is exhibited and no gather is formed, and the waist-surrounding-portion elastic member is arranged on an outer layer arranged on the surface side of the leak-proof sheet. A method of manufacturing a pants-type absorbent article fixed to a material, wherein the outer layer material and the body are heated by heating both or either of a pair of rolls and passing between rolls under their own weight or additional pressure. Form a seal pattern on the peripheral elastic member By heat sealing, by providing a method of manufacturing an absorbent article wherein the absorbent body is cut to the barrel periphery elastic member partially at a site that is present, is obtained by achieving the above object.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the method for producing an absorbent article according to the present invention will be described in detail. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a disposable diaper 1 as an absorbent article according to the first embodiment has a liquid-permeable top sheet 2, a liquid-impermeable leak-proof sheet 3, and a liquid-retentive absorber. 4
Comprising, the torso peripheral portion D located around the wearer's torso,
It is a pants-type absorbent article provided with a plurality of waist peripheral elastic members 9 arranged in the circumferential direction.

The basic structure of the disposable diaper of this embodiment will be further described.
Are one side edge A1 of the abdominal part A and one side edge B1 of the dorsal part B,
The other side edge A2 of the abdominal part A and the other side edge B2 of the back part B are respectively joined to form a waist opening 8 and a pair of leg openings 7. In the waist opening 8, two string-like rubber members are arranged as a waist elastic member 81.

The topsheet 2, the leak-proof sheet 3 and the absorber 4 are each rectangular and integrated to form the absorbent body 10. And the absorbent body 10
Is attached to the outer layer material 5 having the abdominal part A and the back part B formed by laminating two outer layer nonwoven fabrics 51 and 52, at the center in the width direction of the outer layer material 5 and substantially entirely in the longitudinal direction of the outer layer material 5. Are fixedly joined. Further, first leg elastic members 71 are linearly arranged on both left and right sides of the absorber 4, and the outer layer material 5 is provided in each of the leg opening forming portions 50 with the leg opening forming portion. A second leg elastic member 72 curved along the edge 50a of the 50 is provided.
The second elastic member 72 is held and fixed by two outer nonwoven fabrics 51 and 52. Although not particularly shown, water-repellent three-dimensional guards are provided on both the left and right sides of the absorber 4, and the three-dimensional guard is capable of shrinking the first leg elastic member 71 to the non-woven fabric for forming the first leg elastic member 71 in the center region of the crotch. It is formed by bonding and fixing. An elastic member is provided at the free end of the three-dimensional guard, and the free end side is fixed in a downwardly inward position, and both ends in the longitudinal direction are fixed in an extended state.

The two outer nonwoven fabrics 5 constituting the outer layer material 5
1 and 52, the outer layer nonwoven fabric 51 located on the outermost surface of the disposable diaper 1 has a longitudinal length longer than the longitudinal length of the second outer layer nonwoven fabric 52, and
Is formed such that a portion extending outward from the edge 52a of the second outer layer nonwoven fabric 52 is folded back toward the top sheet using the edge 52a of the second outer layer nonwoven fabric 52 as a folding line. Although not shown, the end of the second outer nonwoven fabric 52 is shorter than the end of the absorber. The left and right sides of the back part B and the abdominal part A are each formed only of the outer layer material 5, and the joints 11 on the left and right sides are respectively joined by heat sealing the outer layer materials 5 to each other. Is formed. Thereby, the side portion can be constituted only by the highly permeable nonwoven fabric, and can be extremely resistant to stuffiness. Further, since the side portion has good sealing properties, it is suitable for high-speed production, and a seal portion having a soft texture can be obtained.

The second elastic member 72 is disposed on both the abdominal part A side and the dorsal part B side. Arranged so as to pass through the leg opening 7 on one side edge, cross the absorber 4 in the width direction, and pass through the leg opening 7 on the other side edge of the abdominal portion A over the other side edge of the portion A. On the back side B side, from one side edge of the back side part B to the other side edge of the back side part B, it passes through the leg opening 7 on one side side, and crosses the absorber 4 in the width direction thereof. The rear side portion B is arranged so as to pass through the leg opening 7 on the other side edge side. In addition, the second elastic member 72 on the abdominal part A side and the second elastic member 72 on the back part B side may intersect at the crotch part, or the elastic member may cross the absorber at the crotch part. There may be no configuration.

[0014] The part located around the torso D (lower abdomen and waist) of the wearer at the time of wearing,
A cord-shaped elastic member 9 around the waist is arranged. The number of elastic members is not particularly limited, and any number of elastic members having various widths can be used. As waist gathers for a baby's pants-type disposable diaper adjacent to the waist opening, eight waist elastic members 9 made of rubber having a width of 30 mm and a cross-sectional area of about 1 mm ² are arranged at substantially equal intervals. However, the texture of the obtained waist gathers is suitable, but not limited to this.

The material for forming each component of the disposable diaper of the present embodiment will be described. As the top sheet 2, the leak-proof sheet 3 and the absorber 4, those usually used for disposable diapers are used without any particular limitation. However, the mount may be interposed in a normal C-fold or lamination configuration.

In the disposable diaper 1 of the first embodiment, the waist peripheral elastic member 9 exhibits elastic elasticity at the portion D1 where the absorber 4 does not exist, and the portion where the absorber 4 exists. In D2, elasticity and elasticity are not substantially expressed, and no gathers are formed. Here, “substantially no elastic elasticity is exhibited” includes a configuration in which the elastic elasticity is reduced to such an extent that gathers are not formed even in a state where the elastic elasticity is originally developed. Means that

More specifically, as described above, the disposable diaper 1 of the present embodiment has
Outer layer nonwoven fabrics 51 and 52 are provided, and the waist peripheral elastic member 9 is joined to the outer layer nonwoven fabric 51 (52). In order to prevent formation of gathers, a portion D2 where the absorber 4 exists is provided. Outer nonwoven fabric 51 (52) located
Is subjected to a heat treatment to improve rigidity. Specifically, the waist-surrounding-portion elastic member 9 is stretched over the entire width at substantially the same elongation ratio, and is held and fixed by the two outer-layer nonwoven fabrics as described above. Is fixed via an adhesive, but at a portion D2 where the absorber is present, as shown in FIG.
That is, it is fixed by performing a heat treatment and a pressure treatment. In other words, in the portion D2, the waist peripheral elastic member 9 is fixed by heat sealing with the outer layer material 5 and the dot seal, and the dot seal 91 steps on the waist peripheral elastic member 9 to provide an elastic member. Is disconnected. As a result of the heat sealing processing, the waist-side elastic member 9 in the region D2 where the absorber is present is partially cut, and the waist-surround elastic member 9 in the region (site D2) where the absorber is present is provided. Shrinkage stress is reduced. It is desirable that the leak-proof sheet is not heat-sealed to prevent perforation.

Particularly, in the present embodiment, the waist peripheral elastic member 9 of the portion D1 is held by the outer layer material and fixed so as to be able to expand and contract, but is not bonded at the portion D2. For this reason, the elastic member is cut into free tension, and substantially no elastic shrinkage is developed at the portion D2. In this case, a hot-melt adhesive was used to bond and fix the elastic member 9 around the torso, and the hot-melt adhesive was softened again by applying heat to the sealed portion, thereby bringing the elastic member closer to free tension. The adhesive may be re-adhered later, or a state in which elastic shrinkage is not exhibited by applying heat sealing means before the applied hot-melt type adhesive is cooled and fixed. By doing so, it is possible to reduce the possibility that the cut ends of the elastic member 9 around the trunk are conspicuous and the appearance is deteriorated. Further, in this case, if a cut end of the waist peripheral elastic member 9 is conspicuous due to the heat seal, the concealing member is disposed on the outer surface side of the waist peripheral elastic member 9 to conceal the cut end. Can also.

In the present embodiment, an outer layer nonwoven fabric is used as the outer layer material in order to obtain such a structure. In the present invention, the outer layer material is formed of a liquid impermeable material and a gas permeable material. And a highly flexible sheet with a feel similar to underwear,
Specifically, woven fabric, nonwoven fabric, film, apertured film,
Examples thereof include moisture-permeable films and composite materials thereof. Further, as a material for forming the elastic member around the trunk, natural rubber,
Known elastic members such as spandex, foam, and film-type rubber, particularly preferably thread or tape-like rubber are used. In particular, when the elastic member around the trunk is thermoplasticized, it is necessary to use a thermoplastic elastic member, and polyethylene and polyurethane are preferably used.

As a method of thermoplasticizing the trunk periphery elastic member 9, the trunk periphery elastic member 9 is passed through a heat treatment means while being held at least partially in the outer layer material 5, and is passed through the outer layer material 5. A method of giving heat damage to the elastic member 9 and plasticizing the elastic member 9 may be used. In addition, as a method of heat sealing, a method of heating both or one of the pair of rolls and forming a seal pattern on the outer layer material 5 and the waist peripheral elastic member 9 through the roll of its own weight or additional pressure is applied. In addition, means such as ultrasonic welding can be used. The temperature conditions for heat seal rolls are
The optimum conditions vary depending on the linear velocity, but are in the range of 50 ° C to 300 ° C. Although the seal can be applied over the entire length of the web in the flow direction, the seal can be applied locally in a pattern or can be applied using a seal pattern of one pattern per sheet.

The pants-type disposable diaper of the present embodiment can be used in the same manner as a normal pants-type disposable diaper. And since the disposable diaper of the present embodiment is configured as described above, the absorbent is not crimped, the appearance of wearing is beautiful, and the absorbent for storing and holding the liquid is not pressed against the body even in the wearing state, It is possible to prevent rash on the skin of the wearer. In addition, it has a wide range of size suitability, excellent ease of staking, and a suitable fit with an appropriate tightening force.

The disposable diaper in which the waist gathers are partially disposed as in this embodiment has the following three advantages. The absorber is not crimped by the waist gathers, and the width of the absorber can be effectively used to fit the wearer. When the absorber is shirred, the width of the absorber during wearing becomes narrower than the actual width of the absorber, so that the absorption performance tends to decrease. Also, to prevent the absorber from being shirred,
Even if the inner size of the diaper matches the wearer's waist size and the elastic member around the waist is stretched almost twice the elongation rate, the waist size is too small, and it is hard to do so. This is hardly realistic because the elastic member is configured to exhibit the maximum stress. In addition, the folds of the absorbent body created a gap between the body and the diaper, and acted like a water channel, thereby causing leakage, particularly with respect to urine. In addition, the pleats of the absorber create a stiff feel, and while the method of applying the hot-melt adhesive may provide some improvement, the feel cannot be wiped off. The appearance (appearance) when worn should be clear. This is because folds are no longer formed in the center of the front and back of the diaper, making it look cleaner. Since the absorber can be formed to have a narrow width, materials (nonwoven fabric, carrier tissue, etc.) used for the absorber can be reduced, which is effective for cost reduction.

Next, another embodiment of the method for producing an absorbent article according to the present invention will be described. In the following description, points different from the disposable diaper of the first embodiment will be particularly described. The points that are not described in detail are the same as those in the first embodiment, and the above description is appropriately applied.

The disposable diaper 1 according to the second embodiment
As shown in FIG. 3, a high-rigidity sheet 90 for improving rigidity is arranged at a portion D2 where the absorber 4 exists. The high-rigidity sheet 90 is disposed between the outer nonwoven fabric 52 and the leak-proof sheet 3, and is disposed only at the portion where the waist-surrounding elastic member is disposed as in the present embodiment. Moreover, it is not arranged in the portion D1 where the absorber 4 does not exist. When the high rigidity sheet is arranged over the crotch, the absorbent body is less likely to be twisted, so that an effect of preventing leakage of the crotch can be obtained. Examples of the material for forming the high-rigidity sheet include the sheet materials described below. It is a foam, a woven fabric, a nonwoven fabric, a film, a paper, a perforated film, or the like, and may be a composite body obtained by combining them, or may be an elastic body. Single or composite material with steel match embossing etc.
Embossing can also improve rigidity. Particularly, in the case of a nonwoven fabric material, a high-rigidity portion can be partially formed by scale match embossing, and a more preferable high-rigidity sheet can be obtained. In addition, by printing on the high-rigidity sheet, it is possible to distinguish between front and rear and improve the appearance with the high-rigidity sheet intermittently inserted.

The rigidity of the high-rigidity sheet is CD
The measured value in at least one of the direction and the MD direction is preferably 30 g to 3000 g, particularly preferably 50 g to 1000 g. <Rigidity measurement method> Ring crush method is used to specify rigidity
A bulk softness method similar to JIS P8126 is used. Specifically, a sheet material is cut out into a size of 30 mm × 150 mm to form a φ45 mm ring, and a 10 m
The rigidity is defined as the maximum load value when the ring buckles, which is obtained when the ring is pressed in the axial direction at a speed of m / min and crushed.

The rigidity can be further improved by applying a hot melt adhesive at a high basis weight of 5 g / m ² or more.

The present invention can be applied to sanitary napkins, incontinence pads, etc., in addition to disposable diapers for adults and children. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the disposable pants-type diaper having the structure including the absorber and the outer layer material illustrated in FIG. 2 has been mainly described, but the structure includes the surface layer, the absorber, and the outer layer material. In this case, preferably, the waist periphery elastic member may be disposed on the outer layer material side, may be disposed on the surface material side, or may be between the surface layer and the outer layer.
The torso peripheral elastic member 9 has been described as an example in which the elastic member 9 is arranged to exhibit elastic elasticity in substantially the entire region where the absorber 4 does not exist, but only a part of the elastic member 9 exhibits elastic elasticity. You may do it. In addition, the trunk peripheral elastic member 9
Has been described as an example in which substantially no elastic elasticity is exhibited and the gathers are not formed in substantially the entire region where the absorber 4 is present. You may arrange so that it may not be expressed and a gather may not be formed.

In the first embodiment, the heat seal is performed in a dot pattern. However, the heat seal may be a heat seal pattern over the entire product. Various patterns can be used, such as grids, coarse / fine. For example, 1m per side
m, using a pattern with a large number of grids of 2 mm pitch,
If the pattern is applied to the outer layer material including the waist peripheral elastic member at the portion overlapping with the absorber, the outer circumferential material is plasticized and / or divided, or the outer layer material is partially formed into a film without dividing. It is also possible to increase the rigidity and form a portion where substantially no elastic contractility is exhibited. By forming such fine pits, the pits can be finely divided even when the pits are divided, and the appearance is less likely to be impaired.

In the first embodiment, an example in which the waist-surrounding-portion elastic member 9 is cut has been described. However, by using a thermoplastic member for the waist-surrounding-portion elastic member 9, the stretched waist-surrounding-portion elastic member 9 is cut. A method of thermoplasticizing a required portion of the member 9 may be performed. In this case, it is necessary to enlarge the sealing area and plasticize the elastic member integrally in the region where the elastic member overlaps the absorber. If the appearance is poor, the concealing sheet may be arranged outside. The elastic member 9 around the torso is not necessarily 2
It may not be sandwiched between the outer layer nonwoven fabrics, for example,
As shown in FIG. 4, the waist peripheral elastic member 9 may be sandwiched between an auxiliary sheet 90 ′ having a width from the waist opening to the foot opening of the front body and / or the back body and the outer nonwoven fabric 52 inside. In this case, since the seal pattern is applied to the auxiliary sheet 90 ′ and the inner outer nonwoven fabric 52, the seal pattern is covered with the outer outer nonwoven fabric 51, so that the seal pattern does not appear on the surface of the disposable diaper. In this way, by introducing the auxiliary sheet 90 ', the appearance can be made more beautiful and the degree of perfection of the product can be further increased.

In the above-described embodiment, the elastic member 9 around the torso in the region overlapping with the absorber is preferably made non-stretchable in order to give a clean appearance. , Almost 1 / of the absorber width
2 or more or approximately 1/20 or more and 3/4 or less of the entire width of the product may be made non-stretchable. For pants-type diapers for adults, it is almost 1/3 or more of the absorber width or almost the entire product width. What is necessary is just to make it non-stretch at the ratio of 1/20 or more and 3/4 or less.
Further, in the above-described example, the waist peripheral elastic member 9 is disposed so as to cross the absorber. However, the length of the absorber may be shortened or the absorber may be displaced to the front body to be disposed. ,
The effective elastic member 9 around the waist can be disposed even in a portion that does not cross the absorber, and even if a plurality of elastic members 9 are disposed further toward the crotch, the displacement can be suppressed and the appearance can be reduced. Can be improved.

[0031]

According to the method for producing an absorbent article of the present invention, a waist gather which secures a suitable fit with a wide range of size suitability, excellent simplicity and proper tightening force, and is excellent in appearance. An absorbent article having the same can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a disposable diaper as an absorbent article manufactured by the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view schematically showing a section taken along line XX of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view (corresponding to FIG. 2) schematically showing another form of the diaper manufactured by the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view (corresponding to FIG. 2) schematically showing a diaper of still another embodiment manufactured by the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Disposable diaper 10 Absorbent main body 11 Joining part 2 Top sheet 3 Leak-proof sheet 4 Absorber 5 Outer layer material 50 Leg opening forming part 51 Outer nonwoven fabric 52 Outer nonwoven fabric 7 Leg opening 71 First elastic member 72 Second elastic member 8 Waist opening 9 torso elastic member A belly side B back side

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A liquid-permeable topsheet, a liquid-impermeable leakproof sheet, and a liquid-retentive absorber, and a circumferential portion located around a wearer's torso is provided in a circumferential direction. It is provided with a plurality of waist peripheral elastic members arranged, the waist peripheral elastic member, in a region where the absorber does not exist, expresses elasticity and stretchability, and in a region where the absorber exists, A pants-type in which substantially no elasticity is exhibited and no gathers are formed, and the waist-peripheral-portion elastic member is fixed to an outer layer material disposed on the surface side of the leak-proof sheet. A method of manufacturing an absorbent article, wherein both or one of a pair of rolls is heated and self-weight or passed between rolls to which additional pressure is applied, a seal pattern is formed on the outer layer material and the waist peripheral elastic member. By forming heat seal, the absorption A method of manufacturing an absorbent article in which a body peripheral elastic member at a portion where a body is present is partially cut. 2. The temperature condition of the heat sealing roll is 50-30.
The method for producing an absorbent article according to claim 1, wherein the temperature is 0 ° C.