Kimberly-clark Corporation

Kimberly-clark Worldwide, Inc.

Richard S Yeo

Duane Girard Uitenbroek

Kenneth Yin Wang

Christopher Cosgrove Creagan

Mary Garvie Weber

Jennifer R Powers

Debra Nell Welchel

Richard Warren Tanzer

Robert E Weber

Steven Wayne Fitting

Robert J Phelan

Ralph V Braun

Jon R Butt, Sr

Daniel Kenneth Schiffer

Brigitte Kay Weigert

David George Crowther

Cedric A Dunkerly, Ii

Lance Garrett

Stephanie R Majors

Disclosed herein is a durable adhesive-based ink-printed polyolefin nonwoven which is suitable for a number of uses the most basic of which is where a printed nonwoven is needed and that nonwoven will possibly be subjected to an amount of abrasion which would prematurely remove the ink from the surface of the nonwoven web. The two main components of the present invention are an adhesive-based ink and a polyolefin-based substrate onto which the adhesive-based ink is applied. The resultant composite must have a crock value of 4 or greater.

Durable adhesive-based ink-printed polyolefin nonwovens

A hydrophilic melt-extruded multicomponent polymeric strand including a first melt-extrudable polymeric component and a second melt-extrudable, hydrophilic polymeric component, the first and second components being arranged in substantially distinct zones across the cross-section of the multicomponent strand and extending continuously along the length of the multicomponent strand, the second component constituting at least a portion of the peripheral surface of the multicomponent strand continuously along the length of the multicomponent strand. The second component renders the strand hydrophilic and preferably has a critical surface tension at 20.degree. C. greater than about 55 dyne/cc, and more preferably greater than about 65 dyne/cc. A suitable hydrophilic second component comprises a block copolymer of nylon 6 and polyethylene oxide diamine. Suitable polymers for the first component include linear polycondensates and crystalline polyolefins such as polypropylene. Nonwoven fabrics and absorbent articles made with the hydrophilic multicomponent polymeric strands are also disclosed.

Hydrophilic, multicomponent polymeric strands and nonwoven fabrics made

A patterned nonwoven fabric comprising polymeric strands which include a primary polymeric component and are bonded together without the use of compression, but instead with a heat activated adhesive polymeric component which adheres the respective primary components together. The fabric has an embossed pattern of densified areas separated by high loft areas. Preferably, the strands are continuous, crimped, multicomponent filaments. Also preferably, the nonwoven fabric is laminated to a liquid barrier film to form an outercover material for products such as personal care absorbent articles, and the like. Methods for making these materials are also encompassed.

Patterned embossed nonwoven fabric, cloth-like liquid barrier material

A tampon is disclosed which exhibits low frictional drag during insertion into and withdrawal from a woman's vagina. The tampon includes an absorbent compressed into a generally cylindrical shape and a liquid-permeable cover which surrounds at least a portion of the absorbent. The cover is treated with an aqueous solution having a viscosity of at least 50 cps at a temperature of about 25.degree. C. The solution includes a lubricant and at least about 3 percent by weight of a polymer. The polymer serving to prevent the lubricant from migrating away from the cover such that the tampon retains a sufficient amount of lubricant to facilitate comfortable withdrawal from the vaginal cavity.

Tampon exhibiting low frictional drag

The present invention encompasses flushable compositions and flushable products, such as flushable personal hygiene articles, flushable medical, hospital and surgical supplies, and flushable household wipes and packaging material that have sufficient wet tensile strength for their intended use, particularly prolonged or extended use, in the presence of body waste fluids, but which disintegrate and disperse in the presence of ordinary tap water so as to be flushable in a conventional toilet and disposable in municipal or private sewage systems without obstructing or clogging the toilet or sewage system.

Flushable compositions

Disclosed herein is a multi-color printed nonwoven laminate and a process for producing the laminate. The laminate includes a fibrous nonwoven web facing layer and a substrate layer bonded to the facing layer by a plurality of colored adhesive inks applied in a discrete bond pattern between the facing and substrate layers. The inks must provide a cohesion strength between the layers of at least about 38,000 N/m.sup.2 and the inks must be visible through the surface or the facing layer. The laminate so produced has good delamination characteristics, is aesthetically pleasing and the printed patterns are resistant to abrasion due to the position and nature of the inks. Suitable uses include an outercover for personal care absorbent articles such as diapers, training pants, incontinence garments, sanitary napkins, bandages and the like as well as a material for use as all or a portion of an article of clothing or a surgical drape.

Multi-color printed nonwoven laminates

Disclosed is a lightweight nonwoven laminate particularly useful as a component of personal care articles, for example as a barrier cuff material for disposable diapers. Components of the laminate include at least one fine fiber layer having a basis weight in the range of from about 1.5 gsm to 26 gsm and at least one continuous filament layer having a basis weight in the range of from about 10 gsm to 30 gsm. The fine fiber component comprises at least a ratio of 5% and the layers are intermittently bonded for a total basis weight up to about 55 gsm. Desirable softness, breathability and barrier properties are obtained.

Disposable garment with improved containments means

Disclosed herein is a synthetic fecal fluid composition which is useful with respect to the development of personal care devices such as diapers, training pants and incontinence garments which serve to collect and contain fecal matter. The synthetic fecal fluid composition of the present invention has a greater ability to retain liquid thereby improving its simulation of the actual material. As a result, this material is an improvement over prior materials which dewatered too quickly and therefore acted as poor supplements for use in the testing and development of personal care products. the composition contains a mixture of approximately 70 to 90% by weight of liquid such as water and approximately 10 to 30% by weight of solids including both water-soluble and water-insoluble components.

Synthetic fecal fluid compound

Disclosed is an odor-absorbing, non-dusting porous web material and a method of making the same. The web material includes a porous base web (for example, a fibrous base web, such as a non-woven or paper web) having distributed throughout odor-absorbing particulate (such as zeolite). Alkaline salt or alkaline earth oxide particulate, to better effect removal of acidic malodor, desirably also is distributed throughout the base web, in the final product. The odor-absorbing particulate is bound to the base web (e.g., fibers of a fibrous base web) by a binding system, containing a binding agent. The binding system, in the odor-absorbing web materials, is transparent to the odors so as not to substantially effect the ability of the particulate to absorb odor-causing material. The odor-absorbing web material is formed by dipping a porous base web in a saturant slurry containing the odor-absorbing particulate (the slurry including an alkaline salt or alkaline earth oxide) and the binding agent, together with a surfactant; squeezing out excess saturant slurry from the web; and drying. Also disclosed are two specific uses of the odor-absorbing web material: (1) in personal care products such as catamenial devices; and (2) in packages containing medical materials such as hospital gowns, which materials have been sterilized in the sealed package by gamma sterilization.

Odor-absorbing web material and medical material packages containing the

An absorbent pad has a cover formed of non-woven fibrous material, which is coated with a fluorocarbon polymer and odor absorber(s). The cover sheet is apertured around a critical zone to overcome undesired surface tension effects. The method of producing the cover includes providing a water-based mixture that includes 1% by weight of a fluorocarbon composition. An odor absorbing reagent is added to the mixture which then is applied to a nonwoven web of fibrous material. The treated web is dried to remove the excess water from the mixture, and the fluorocarbon composition component is cured to form a hydrophobic coating around the reagent and to bind the reagent to the web. The drying and curing steps can be accomplished by applying a flow of air heated to a temperature in a range from about 100.degree. C. to about 120.degree. C. to the web until the water has been removed.

Odor-removing cover for absorbent pads and method of making same

A breathable, multilayer, clothlike barrier especially suitable for use as an outer cover or baffle in such disposable absorbent articles as diapers, sanitary napkins, and incontinent pads, which barrier has at least three layers:

Breathable, multilayered, clothlike barrier

Breathable barrier

A baffle having a central zone extending along at least a portion of its length,

Baffle having zoned water vapor permeability

A breathable clothlike barrier which includes a defensive composite having at least two layers:

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Dunwoody, GA, United States of America

Richard S Yeo