Kimberly-clark Corporation

Kimberly-clark Worldwide, Inc.

Gary H Meitner

Michael Tod Morman

Pamela Jean Mayberry

Stanley Michael Gryskiewicz

Douglas Bryan Cole

James Arthur Davis

Leslie Warren Collier, Iv

Nancy Donaldson Kollin

Stephen M Englebert

Harry W Hotchkiss

Patrick J Notheis

Robert J Brock

David T Floyd

Mary Eva Garvie Weber

Gordon E Lynch

Garry L Shanklin

Disclosed herein is a liquid absorbent material that is particularly useful as a liner material for personal care absorbent articles such as diapers, training pants, incontinence garments, sanitary napkins, bandages and the like. The material contains a plurality of peaks across its surface at spaced-apart intervals separated by channels. Disposed within the peaks is a liquid absorbing material capable of absorbing body exudates and liquids in general. Due to the materials and the nature of the construction of the present invention, when used as a liner material for personal care absorbent articles such as diapers, it tends to reduce the total surface area in contact with the infant's skin and it also provides a plurality of air channels within the diaper from the front waistband to the back waistband of the diaper thereby providing a path for increased air circulation. The material of the present invention has other uses as, for example, a packing or liner material for packaging and shipping materials containing liquids. In addition, the peaks can contain other additive such as soaps so the material can be used as a wash pad or cloth.

Liquid absorbent material for personal care absorbent articles and the like

The invention is generally accomplished by providing a cloth which is coated or impregnated in a discontinuous manner with a polish composition. The polish composition comprises a silicone oil, a detergent and soap or wax. In a particularly preferred form, the cloth comprises a polypropylene meltblown material that has been treated with a surfactant, and the wax is a combination of saponified and non-saponified waxes. The polishing wipe further may have added thereto antistatic agents, UV absorbers and mineral oil.

One step dry-and-shine polishing cloth

Production of high bulk nonwoven materials particularly useful as wipers and the like having a varying pattern of bonds and cloth-like feel. In one embodiment the method includes opposed, varying, high density bonding patterns on opposite sides of the materials formed by contact with surfaces having varyingly shaped or sided lands and grooves. Where both surfaces are contacted by such lands and grooves, increased spacing in the unbonded areas permits high loft, essentially unbonded fiber portions between the bond points. Construction of the individual land areas is preferable with tapered sides with vertical so as to permit engraving and high bond density and pattern depth while reducing wear. Resulting products have unique softness and absorbency characteristics for improved wipers because of the bond constructions. In addition, a wide variety of attractive patterns may be obtained. Preferred thermoplastic materials include spunbonded or meltdown polypropylene alone or in combination with wood cellulose and/or staple textile fibers.

High bulk bonding pattern and method

A soft nonwoven web of entangled fibers or filaments having a pattern of fused bond areas and a stretched, loopy filament configuration outside of the patterned bond areas. The result is a soft web with high bulk that retains to a high degree the original bonded strength properties. In one embodiment, product may be obtained by pattern bonding a meltblown microfiber web under conditions of heat and pressure and then stretching the web under controlled conditions up to preferably about 140% of its original dimension in at least one direction. When relaxed, the stretched filaments bulk and loop except in the fused bond areas where they retain bonding properties. Preferred stretching conditions include room temperature and the use of draw rolls at speed differentials producing the desired stretch. Examples of thermoplastics polymers useful in accordance with the invention include polypropylene, polyethylene, polyesters and polyamides, as well as copolymers and polymer blends. Laminates of these nonwoven webs may also be treated. Uses for the material of the invention include any of those nonwoven fabric applications where softness and bulk are desired attributes such as, for example, wipers, garments, surgical drapes, and the like.

Soft thermoplastic fiber webs and method of making

Wiper comprising a matrix of nonwoven fibers having a basis weight generally in the range of from about 25 to 300 gsm and including a meltblown web having incorporated therein a staple fiber mixture including synthetic and cotton fibers. The combination provides highly improved wiping properties as well as strength and absorbency for many industrial applications requiring wiping of oily and/or aqueous materials. The wipers may be formed by a conventional meltblowing process involving extrusion of a thermoplastic polymer as filaments into airstreams which draw and attenuate the filaments into fine fibers having an average diameter of up to about 10 microns. The staple fiber mixture of synthetic and cotton fibers may be added to the airstream, and the turbulence produced where the airstreams meet results in uniform integration of the staple fiber mixture into the meltblown web. The matrix may contain up to 90% by weight of the synthetic and cotton fiber blend, which, itself, may contain up to about 90% by weight of the synthetic fibers.

Nonwoven wiper

Improved low linting, low sodium ion content, wettable nonwoven wiper is provided through the use of a treatment involving a mixture of wetting agents. The wiper of the invention maintains the excellent wiping and low linting characteristics of nonwoven wipers while greatly reducing the amount of sodium ions present in the wiper and avoiding contamination problems especially prevalent in wipe applications for the electronics industry. Specifically, the combined wetting agent treatment includes a mixture of sodium dioctyl sulfosuccinate such as Aerosol OT and a nonionic surfactant such as alkyl phenoxy ethanol (Triton X-100). The preferred mixtures are about 25 to 75% sodium dioctyl sulfosuccinate with a ratio of about 40 to 60 preferred and about 50/50 especially preferred. The result is a wiper having essentially the desired wettability of those made with 100% sodium dioctyl sulfosuccinate wetting agent and yet having only about half the sodium ion content. The wiper, therefore, can be employed advantageously in clean room applications such as the manufacture of micro-electronic devices where the prsence of greater amounts of sodium ions can be very detrimental due to changes of electrical properties of the semiconductor devices. Substrates for the wiper may include various synthetic filamentary material such as polyolefins, including polyethylene and polypropylene, and others which will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Clean room wiper

Low cost wiper material for industrial and other applications having improved water and oil wiping properties. A base material of meltblown synthetic, thermoplastic microfibers is treated with a wetting agent and may be pattern bonded in a configuration to provide strength and abrasion resistance properties while promoting high absorbency for both water and oil. The wiper of the invention displays a remarkable and unexpected ability to wipe surfaces clean of both oil and water residues without streaking. It may be produced in a continuous process at a low cost consistent with the convenience of single use disposability.

Microfiber oil and water pipe

Nonwoven disposable wiper intended primarily for industrial applications and having a reduced tendency to accumulate metal chips or other small, sharp foreign objects. The wiper results from a combination of a meltblown microfiber web laminated to at least one web of interconnected aligned split filaments, such as a fibrillated thermoplastic film or foam. The combination is pattern bonded and includes a surfactant for improved wiping properties. The combination of the split flamentary web and microfiber web results in increased safety since injuries due to metal chips picked up by the wiper material are minimized. This is accomplished without significant deterioration of the wiping properties of the meltblown material.

Nonwoven disposable wiper

A non-woven fabric-like material comprising an integrated mat of generally discontinuous, thermoplastic polymeric microfibers and a web of substantially continuous and randomly deposited, molecularly oriented filaments of a thermoplastic polymer. The polymeric microfibers have an average fiber diameter of up to about 10 microns while the average diameter of filaments in the continuous filament web is in excess of about 12 microns. Attachment between the microfiber mat and continuous filament web is achieved at intermittent discrete regions in a manner so as to integrate the continuous filament web into an effective load bearing constituent of the material. The material has desirable strength characteristics and possesses a textile-like appearance, drape and hand. By autogenously bonding the mat and web together in a manner so as to provide substantially uniform discrete bond regions, particularly outstanding strength characteristics with respect to energy absorption, tensile strength, and tear resistance can be achieved.

Growing community of inventors

Winneconne, WI, United States of America

Gary H Meitner