JPH06169948A - Surface material for absorptive article - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide more a clean feel and a good skin touch to a surface material by preparing it of a constitution wherein a non-woven fabric or a mesh sheet is used as a base and a liq. permeable porous film is laminated on an absorptive face and a plurality of ribs on the absorptive face are placed on both sides of the approximately central part and the inclined directions of the ribs are faced to the central part of the absorptive face. CONSTITUTION:The surface material 2 of a sanitary napkin 1 is constituted of a composite material wherein a non-woven fabric or a mesh sheet 7 is used as a base and a liq. permeable porous film 8 is laminated on the approximately central part or the central zone and a plurality of ribs 5 on the absorptive face 2A are placed on both sides of the approximately central part of the absorptive face 2A and the inclined direction is faced to the central part of the absorptive face 2A. As the louver-shaped ribs 5 are inclined toward the central part of the liq. absorptive face 2A, it effectively acts to prevent leakage of blood of menses in the width direction of the sanitary napkin 1 and as the ribs 5 has a bellows structure, the characteristic easiness for moving exhibits its effect on fitting properties of the sanitary napkin 1 during fitting.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a surface material for absorbent articles, and more specifically, it is a sanitary napkin that forms an absorbent surface for bodily fluids by being laminated on the absorbent body or enclosing the absorbent body. The present invention relates to a surface material for absorbent articles such as.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins and pads for incontinence generally include an absorbent body disposed in the center for absorbing and retaining body fluids such as urine and menstrual blood excreted from the body. It has a flexible liquid-permeable surface material arranged on the side in contact with the body and a liquid impermeable back material arranged on the side opposite to the body. By the way, at present, surface materials such as sanitary napkins are roughly classified into non-woven fabric type, mesh type, film type and the like. Conventional surface materials classified into non-woven fabric type, mesh type, and film type are generally the same material such as mesh material for non-woven fabric, non-woven fabric for non-woven fabric, that is, the same absorption performance over the entire surface of the use surface. And the shape has a touch. this is,
This is because the cost is advantageous because the same material is used, and it is difficult to manufacture a surface material having divided characteristics.

[0003]

However, in the conventional commercially available absorbent articles, a considerable difference was observed during the wearing according to the investigation and evaluation in Table 1 below.

[Table 1]

It is considered that this is due to the characteristics of the surface material that comes into direct contact with the skin (for example, the physical properties of the material, the processing method of the material, etc.) and has an effect as it is. Therefore, at the time of wearing, the part that is the base of the thighs of both feet, that is, the both ends of the sanitary napkin in the width direction of the napkin, at least the material used here is desired to have a good feeling of touch, It is desired that the central portion of the sanitary napkin, which is the absorption site, be made of a material with a salat feeling and excellent absorption characteristics. As a result, the surface material cannot be sufficiently overcome with a single material,
Further, it is important to improve the shape of the surface material in order to further improve the absorption speed and the feeling of slat which are the basic performances of the absorbent article. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a wearer with a further feeling of slat and a good feeling of contact with the skin by using an appropriate material in a preferable state, an absorption speed, an absorption amount,
Another object of the present invention is to provide a surface material for absorbent articles which is excellent in terms of liquid return.

[0005]

The present invention relates to a surface material for an absorbent article, which is laminated with an absorbent body or wraps the absorbent body to form an absorbent surface for body fluid, wherein the surface material is a non-woven fabric or a mesh. A sheet is used as a base, which is made of a composite material in which a liquid-permeable porous film is laminated at approximately the center or the central zone of the absorption surface, and has a plurality of folds on the absorption surface, and the folds are the absorption surface. The above object is achieved by providing a surface material for an absorbent article, which is arranged on both sides of substantially the central part of the absorbent article and in which the tilt direction of the folds is directed to the central part of the absorbent surface. Is. Further, it is preferable that an elastic member is provided on a free end portion of the fold, the absorbent article is a sanitary napkin, and a width of a laminated portion at a substantially center of the absorbent surface is preferably 30 to 60 mm. .

[0006]

In the above surface material, the film laminated on the central part of the liquid absorbing surface gives a feeling of slat to the part where the body fluid is generated, while the non-woven fabric or the mesh sheet is present at both ends in the width direction of the liquid absorbing surface. It comes into contact with the part that rubs against the skin violently to improve the touch as much as possible. Further, the surface material has a louver-shaped fold in its surface shape, and the folds formed are shaped toward the approximate center of the absorption surface, which is the discharge point of body fluid such as menstrual blood. It is tilted and has a plurality of folds on the left and right (about 2 to 5 pieces each), which is the basic function of the absorbent article, especially for lateral leakage that occurs in the width direction of the absorbent article. It has an effective shape. In addition to the side leakage prevention, the pleats are effective in fitting when worn due to the characteristic ease of movement of the bellows structure, and are effective in general leakage prevention.

[0007]

The surface material of the absorbent article according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of a sanitary napkin provided with a surface material according to the present invention. Figure 2
(A) And (b) is a top view and a sectional view of a composite material used for a surface material of an absorptive article concerning the present invention. Figure 3
(A) thru | or (d) is a top view of the composite raw material different from FIG. 2 used for the surface material of the absorbent article which concerns on this invention. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an apparatus for manufacturing a surface material for absorbent articles according to the present invention. FIG. 5 is a plan view of a main part of the manufacturing apparatus of FIG. 6A to 6D are explanatory views of the state of the surface material in each step in the manufacturing apparatus of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the surface material 2 of the absorbent article (sanitary napkin 1) according to this embodiment is laminated on the absorbent body 4 or encloses the absorbent body 4 to absorb a body fluid. 2A is the same as the conventional surface material. Therefore, the surface material 2 of the sanitary napkin 1 of this embodiment is based on the nonwoven fabric or the mesh sheet 7 (in FIG. 1, the cross section thereof is drawn in a spiral shape) and has a liquid-permeable porosity. Made of a composite material in which the elastic film 8 is laminated at the substantially central portion or the central band (point arrow P in FIG. 1) of the absorbent surface 2A, and has a plurality of folds 5 on the absorbent surface 2A. The absorbent surface 2A is arranged on both sides of the central portion of the absorbent surface 2A, and the tilting direction is directed toward the central portion of the absorbent surface 2A.

A more preferable example of the present embodiment will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 2, a nonwoven fabric 7 as a material for the surface material 2 is laminated with a film 8 in its central zone to form a composite material 2 '. There is. Nonwoven fabric 7 has a basis weight of 10-40
g / m ² , especially about ²⁰ to 30 g / m ² , is desirable, and the material of the nonwoven fabric 7 is, for example, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, as a fibrous material.
Specific examples thereof include ethyl vinyl acetate,
There is no particular limitation as long as it is a conventionally used non-woven fabric material. In this embodiment, a commercially available non-woven fabric having a basis weight of 20 g / m ² is used. The basis weight of the film 8 is 10 to 40 g / m
² , especially about ²⁰ to 30 g / m ² is desirable, and the material of the film 8 is preferably a hydrophobic resin such as polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, ultra-low-density polyethylene, etc. as a sheet-like material. There is no particular limitation as long as it is a film material used. In this embodiment, commercially available low density polyethylene is used.

The stacking width is 10 than the width of the sanitary napkin 1.
It is desirable to reduce the size by about 20 mm, and it is important that the non-woven fabric 7 is present on both side peripheral portions of the sanitary napkin 1. Therefore, the lamination width is such that the non-woven fabric 7 is present on both side peripheral portions of the sanitary napkin 1 in consideration of the molding of the folds 5 to be described later, and is 30 to 60 mm in order to function as a body fluid absorbing surface. Especially, it is desirable that the width is about 40 to 50 mm. In addition, in this embodiment, the film 8 is laminated on the non-woven fabric 7 in a strip shape.
As shown in (d), the film can be laminated only on the absorbing surface that is particularly required. Further, since such a laminated portion serves as the absorption surface 2A of the surface material 2, it is perforated to form a porous film. The method of perforating the film 8 can be carried out based on a method known per se in this field (for example, JP-A-4-1146).
47 and JP-A-55-32581).

The pleats 5 shown in FIG. 1 are formed in the laminated portion of the nonwoven fabric 7 and the film 8 and are formed in a state where the laminated portion is folded back. About 2 to 5 such folds 5 are continuously formed on both sides of the sanitary napkin 1. The tilted state of the pleats 5 is directed to the central portion of the absorbent surface 2A. Further, the width of the pleats 5 is effectively about 4 to 15 mm, and particularly preferably 5 to 10 mm. In this embodiment, three folds 5 are formed on each side, and the width of the folds 5 is 8
mm. Further, an elastic member 6 (elastic string material) is provided on the free end portion of the pleats 5. The elastic member 6 contributes to the three-dimensional holding of the folds 5, and since the folds 5 have a louver-shaped height difference, they have the effect of advancing and absorbing flowing menstrual blood, and ensure the stability of the leak prevention effect.

In the surface material 2 of the sanitary napkin 1 configured as described above, the louver-shaped folds 5 are tilted toward the central portion (point P in FIG. 1) of the liquid absorption surface 2A, It effectively acts to prevent menstrual blood leakage in the width direction of the sanitary napkin 1, and because the folds 5 have a bellows structure, the characteristic easiness of movement also has an effect on the fit when the sanitary napkin 1 is worn. To be demonstrated. Further, in the surface material 2, the film 8 laminated on the central portion of the liquid absorbing surface 2A gives a feeling of slat to the portion where the body fluid is generated, while the nonwoven fabric 7 exists at both ends in the width direction of the liquid absorbing surface 2A and is the most violent. It makes contact with the part that rubs against the skin and makes it feel as good as possible. Although the non-woven fabric 7 is used as the composite material in the above embodiment, a mesh film may be used. As the mesh film, JP-A-51-108943 and JP-A-60-
The mesh film described in JP-A-259260 can be used. Although the above example is a surface material for sanitary napkins, it may be used for other absorbent articles such as incontinence pads.

Next, a method and apparatus for manufacturing a surface material for absorbent articles according to the present invention will be described. [Manufacturing Method of Composite Material Used as Surface Material] First, integration of the nonwoven fabric 7 and the film 8 by laminating is performed by thermal bonding,
It can be performed using various processing methods such as ultrasonic bonding, and as such an apparatus, a T-die extruder or a film laminating apparatus that melt-bonds while extruding a film can be used. For example, in this embodiment, a T-die extruder is used, and the molten film resin is extruded and laminated on the surface of the nonwoven fabric from a predetermined opening size.

In the above-mentioned T-die extruder method, when a film resin is usually extrusion-molded, both sides of the opening are cut with slits or the like to form a uniform film.
It is difficult to cut the film uniformly using such slits without cutting the nonwoven fabric 7. For this reason,
It is necessary to prevent uneven thickness at both ends of the film resin. Therefore, in the production of the composite material of this embodiment using the T-die extruder, the opening cross-sectional area of the extrusion nozzle is provided so as to decrease toward both ends.

[Method of manufacturing pleat from composite material] The absorbent article manufacturing apparatus 10 of FIG. 4 includes a pleat forming roll 11, an adhesive mechanism 12, a pleat forming guide mechanism 13, a pleat tilting guide plate 14, and an absorbent body wrapping. It consists of mechanism 15.
The composite material produced above is wound around the supply roll 20, and the composite material 2 ′ is supplied from the guide roll 21 to the pleating roller 11. The laminated portion of the composite material 2'has been punched by a punching device (not shown) in the preceding stage of the pleat forming roll 11. The laminated part of the composite material 2'is shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), the composite material 2 ′ is folded back with the film 5b being wrapped by the pleat forming roll 11.
The pleat forming roll 11 is composed of a concave roll 34 having a groove portion 33 formed therein and a convex roll 36 having a protrusion portion 35 fitted to the groove portion 33 formed therein. Note that in FIG. 6A, the protrusions 35 are drawn away from the groove portions 33 for ease of explanation. The grooved portion 33 has 1 to 3 rows on each side, and the groove width is 1 to 5 mm and the groove depth is 4 to 10 mm.
The pitch is preferably 4 to 8 mm, and is formed so as to be adjacent to both sides of the non-woven fabric / film composite portion. In this embodiment, each has three rows, the groove width is 4 mm, and the groove depth is 8 mm.
The groove pitch is 8 mm except for the central part.

Further, in the pleat forming roll 11, the elastic member 6 is supplied and merged into the pleat 5 formed in the groove portion 33. In this case, the adhesive member 12 causes the elastic member 6 to
An adhesive material for fixing the composite material 2 ′ and the composite material 2 ′ is applied to the elastic member 6. The pleats 5 integrated with the elastic member 6 serve as a rising conveyor, and the fold forming guide mechanism 13 is provided.
Will be guided to. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6B and 6C, the guide plate body 3 of the pleat forming guide mechanism 13
A groove portion 38 of the same kind as the groove portion 33 of the concave roll 34 is formed on the 7th surface, and an inlet 38a thereof is formed relatively wide, and a width thereof is narrowed toward the discharge port 38b. Has been done. Therefore, the folds 5 are subjected to drawing processing and bonding to form a three-dimensional shape.

Next, when the composite material 2'is conveyed, the folds 5 are formed.
The fold-tilting guide plate 14 is processed so as to be pushed down toward the center, and the surface material 2 of this embodiment is formed. Then, the surface material 2 is absorbed by the absorbing mechanism 4 by the wrapping mechanism 15.
Used for the sanitary napkin 1.

[0018]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION The surface material of the absorbent article according to the present invention is made of an appropriate material in a preferable shape and used in the right place to give a wearer a further feeling of slat and a good touch, an absorption speed, It is excellent in terms of absorption amount and liquid return.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of a sanitary napkin provided with a surface material according to the present invention.

2A and 2B are a plan view and a sectional view of a composite material used as a surface material of an absorbent article according to the present invention.

3 (a) to 3 (d) are plan views of another composite material different from FIG. 2 used for the surface material of the absorbent article according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an apparatus for manufacturing a surface material for absorbent articles according to the present invention.

5 is a plan view of relevant parts in the manufacturing apparatus of FIG.

6A to 6D are explanatory views of the state of the surface material in each step in the manufacturing apparatus of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sanitary napkin 2 Surface material 2'Composite material 3 Backing material 4 Absorber 5 Fold 6 Elastic member 7 Nonwoven fabric 8 Film 10 Manufacturing equipment for surface material of absorbent article 11 Fold forming roll 12 Adhesive mechanism 13 Fold forming guide mechanism 14 Tilt Guide plate 15 Absorber wrapping mechanism 33 Groove portion 34 Concave roll 35 Protruding portion 36 Convex roll

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location 2119-3BT

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A surface material for an absorbent article, which is laminated with an absorbent body or wraps the absorbent body to form an absorbent surface for body fluid, wherein the surface material is a nonwoven fabric or a mesh sheet as a base and is liquid permeable. Of a composite material in which a porous film of the above is laminated in the substantially central portion or central zone of the absorbing surface, and has a plurality of pleats on the absorbing surface, and the pleats are provided on both sides of the substantially central portion of the absorbing surface. A surface material for an absorbent article, wherein the surface of the absorbent article is arranged, and the fold direction of the fold is directed toward a central portion of the absorbent surface. 2. The surface material for an absorbent article according to claim 1, wherein an elastic member is provided at a free end portion of the fold. 3. The absorbent article is a sanitary napkin, and the width of the laminated portion at the approximate center of the absorbent surface is 30 to 60 mm.
The surface material of the absorbent article according to claim 1 or 2, wherein