Kimberly-clark Worldwide, Inc.

Kayla Elizabeth Rouse

Richard Louis Underhill

Thomas Gerard Shannon

David John Paulson

Felicia Marie Sauer

John Matthew Reiser

Michael Alan Hermans

Soft, durable and bulky tissue products comprising non-wood fibers and more particularly high yield hesperaloe pulp fibers are disclosed. The tissue products preferably comprise at least about 5 percent, by weight of the product, high yield hesperaloe pulp fiber and have relatively modest tensile strengths, such as a geometric mean tensile (GMT) greater than about 1,000 g/3″, and improved durability and cross-machine direction (CD) properties, such as a CD Stretch greater than about 10 percent. Additionally, at the foregoing tensile strengths the products are not overly stiff. For example, the tissue products may have a Stiffness Index less than about 10.0.

High strength and low stiffness hesperaloe tissue

Soft, durable and bulky tissue products comprising non-wood fibers and more particularly high yield hesperaloe pulp fibers are disclosed. The tissue products preferably comprise at least about 5 percent, by weight of the product, high yield hesperaloe pulp fiber and have relatively modest tensile strengths, such as a geometric mean tensile (GMT) greater than about 1,000 g/3&#x2033;, and improved durability and cross-machine direction (CD) properties, such as a CD Stretch greater than about 10 percent. Additionally, at the foregoing tensile strengths the products are not overly stiff. For example the tissue products may have a Stiffness Index less than about 10.0.

The present invention provides multi-layered tissue webs, and tissue products comprising the same, the multi-layered webs comprising wood fibers and non-wood cellulosic fibers where the non-wood cellulosic fibers are selectively deposited in one or more outer layers of the multi-layered web. Surprisingly disposing non-wood cellulosic fibers in the outer layers, even in relatively modest amounts, alters the machine and/or cross-machine direction properties of the resulting web, such that MD:CD tensile ratio may be reduced.

Layered tissue comprising non-wood fibers

Soft, durable and bulky tissue products comprising non-wood fibers and more particularly high yield hesperaloe pulp fibers are disclosed. The tissue products preferably comprise at least about 5 percent, by weight of the product, high yield hesperaloe pulp fiber and have relatively modest tensile strengths, such as a geometric mean tensile (GMT) greater than about 1,000 g/&#x2033;, and improved durability and cross-machine direction (CD) properties, such as a CD Stretch greater than about 10 percent. Additionally, at the foregoing tensile strengths the products are not overly stiff. For example the tissue products may have a Stiffness Index less than about 10.0.

The disclosure provides a wet-pressed tissue product comprisingfiber and having improved sheet bulk and good cross-machine tensile, toughness and durability properties. Cross-machine properties are significant because tissue products often fail in the cross-machine direction because it is often the weaker of the two product orientations (cross and machine directions). Accordingly, in certain embodiments the present disclosure provides a three-layered single-ply wet-pressed tissue product comprising high-yieldfibers from the leaves of, Eucalyptus Hardwood Kraft (EHWK) fibers and Northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK), wherein the high-yieldfibers comprise at least about 5.0 percent by weight of the tissue product, the product having a CD tensile greater than about 450 g/3&#x2033; and sheet bulk greater than about 7.0 cc/g.

High bulk wet-pressed agave tissue

Soft, durable and bulky tissue products comprising non-wood fibers and more particularly high yieldpulp fibers are disclosed. The tissue products preferably comprise at least about 5 percent, by weight of the product, high yieldpulp fiber and have relatively modest tensile strengths, such as a geometric mean tensile (GMT) greater than about 1,000 g/3&#x2033;, and improved durability and cross-machine direction (CD) properties, such as a CD Stretch greater than about 10 percent. Additionally, at the foregoing tensile strengths the products are not overly stiff. For example the tissue products may have a Stiffness Index less than about 10.0.

The invention provides tissue products comprisingfibers and methods of producing the same. Preferably thefibers are high yieldpulp fibers, which have demonstrated the ability to replace a substantial portion of the long fiber fraction of the furnish without negatively effecting important tissue product properties such as stiffness, CD Durability and bulk. Thus, the tissue product may comprise greater than about 10 weight percentfiber and more preferably greater than about 25 weight percent. Accordingly, in certain embodiments the present disclosure provides a three-layered through-air dried tissue product comprising high-yieldfibers from the leaves ofHardwood Kraft (EHWK) and Northern Softwood Kraft (NSWK), wherein the high-yieldfibers comprise 10.0 percent by weight of the tissue product, the product having a CD durability greater than about 18 and sheet bulk greater than about 10 cc/g.

High strength and low stiffness agave tissue

Soft, durable and bulky tissue products comprising non-wood fibers and more particularly high yield hesperaloe pulp fibers are disclosed. The tissue products preferably comprise at least about 5 percent, by weight of the product, high yield hesperaloe pulp fiber and have relatively modest tensile strengths, such as a geometric mean tensile (GMT) less than about 1,000 g/3&#x2033;, and improved durability and cross-machine direction (CD) properties, such as a CD Stretch greater than about 10 percent. Additionally, at the foregoing tensile strengths the products are not overly stiff. For example the tissue products may have a Stiffness Index less than about 10.0.

Hesperaloe tissue having improved cross-machine direction properties

The invention provides tissue products comprising hesperaloe fibers and having satisfactory strength in-use and good dispersibility. To produce the instant tissue products the inventors have successfully moderated the changes in strength and stiffness typically associated with substituting conventional wood papermaking fibers, such as NSWK, with hesperaloe fibers. Not only have the inventors succeeded in moderating changes to strength and stiffness they have improved dispersibility. As such, the tissue products of the present invention have properties comparable to, or better than, those produced using conventional papermaking fibers, such as wood pulp fibers.

Highly dispersible hesperaloe tissue

The present invention relates to soft, durable tissue products comprising Southern softwood fibers and more particularly low-coarseness Southern softwood fibers. The inventive tissue products generally comprise little or no Northern softwood kraft fibers yet have comparable or better tissue product properties such as a TS750 value (a measure of tissue softness) less than about 50 dB V2 rms and a CD Tear Index (a measurement of tissue durability) greater than about 13.

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Appleton, WI, United States of America

Kayla Elizabeth Rouse