BACKGROUND

A bowel movement (BM) leaking from a diaper (i.e., leak around the leg area or at the waist) causes an unpleasant mess needing clean up by a caregiver. The consumer/chooser becomes dissatisfied with the absorbent product of choice, which can lead to the consumer/chooser deciding to switch to different diaper brand. As many as one in seven diapers containing BM result in BM leaking from the diaper. In addition, BM that is in contact with skin can result in compromising skin health and promoting development of diaper rash. Non-diaper skin can be healthier than diapered skin because current diapers do a poor job of keeping BM off of skin.

There is a lack of material/nonwoven solutions to reduce BM leakage occurrences and keep BM off of skin. Current materials in absorbent products, such as spunbond, SMS, and BCW, are mostly flat, dense, and do a poor job of handling runny BM and keeping BM off of skin. There are materials such as aperture films and textured BCW/SB composite nonwovens (e.g., TEXTOR brand nonwovens) that are used as liners. TEXTOR brand nonwovens can improve BM management properties compared to spunbond liner and is used in current products. Too many current products, however, that contain BM result in BM leakage. As a result, there is a great opportunity to identify materials that improve absorbent product BM management performance.

SUMMARY

The materials of the present disclosure are the next step in producing a diaper that completely absorbs runny BM at the point of insult, leaving no BM spreading and no BM on the skin, to deliver zero BM leakage and a cleaner skin experience. Identifying solutions to reduce BM blow outs and BM on skin is beneficial both to the wearer of the product and because it would result in a consumers having a more positive experience with such products by reducing the occurrence of diaper rash and providing a point of differentiation from other products.

The solutions disclosed herein are nonwoven materials having high degrees of three-dimensional (3D) topography and that have high compression resistance while also having a high level of openness. Such materials have demonstrated significantly better BM intake compared to current commercial materials being using in current products. The BM Flat Plate test method has demonstrated that three-dimensional foam-laid webs of the present disclosure reduce BM pooling to 2% wt/wt versus TEXTOR brand nonwovens at 40% wt/wt. BM pooling values are similar to rewet values and represent BM on skin.

The present disclosure describes novel extreme 3D nonwoven materials that have superior BM management properties. Such materials can improve absorbent products by reducing BM leakage and BM on skin. The nonwoven structures are made possible by templating foam-laid webs, otherwise labeled as 3D foam-laid nonwovens. The process involves dispersing bicomponent fibers in foam and templating such foam during drying & thermal bonding. This method results in extreme 3D nonwoven webs with features as high as 12 mm in height and as low as 8 mm in diameter. Because of these 3D features, there is high level of Z-direction fiber orientation that results in webs having high compression resistance while also having a high level of openness/porosity, which are key properties in being able to handle runny BM. In addition, a wide variety of 3D features, shapes, and sizes can be produced depending on template design.

The present disclosure is generally directed to a method for making a high topography nonwoven substrate, the method including generating a foam including water and synthetic binder fibers; depositing the foam on a planar surface; disposing a template form on the foam opposite the planar surface to create a foam/form assembly; heating the foam/form assembly to dry the foam and bind the synthetic binder fibers; and removing the template from the substrate after heating the foam/form assembly, wherein the substrate includes a planar base layer having an X-Y surface and a backside surface opposite the X-Y surface; and a plurality of projection elements integral with and protruding in a Z-direction from the X-Y surface, wherein each projection element has a height, a diameter or width, a cross-section, a sidewall, a proximal end where the projection element meets the base layer, and a distal end opposite the proximal end, wherein the projection elements are distributed in both the X- and Y-directions, and wherein the density of a projection element is the same as the density of the base layer.

In another aspect, the present disclosure is generally directed to a method for making a high topography nonwoven substrate, the method including generating a foam including water and synthetic binder fibers; depositing the foam on a planar surface; disposing a template form on the foam opposite the planar surface to create a foam/form assembly; heating the foam/form assembly to dry the foam and bind the synthetic binder fibers; and removing the template from the substrate after heating the foam/form assembly, wherein the substrate includes synthetic binder fibers, wherein the fibers of the substrate are entirely synthetic binder fibers; a planar base layer having an X-Y surface and a backside surface opposite the X-Y surface; and a plurality of projection elements integral with and protruding in a Z-direction from the X-Y surface, wherein each projection element has a height, a diameter or width, a cross-section, a sidewall, a proximal end where the projection element meets the base layer, and a distal end opposite the proximal end, wherein the projection elements are distributed in both the X- and Y-directions, wherein the shape of a cross-section of a projection element at the proximal end of the projection element is the same as the shape of a cross-section of a projection element at the distal end of the projection element, and wherein the density of a projection element is the same as the density of the base layer.

In still another aspect, the present disclosure is generally directed to a method for making a high topography nonwoven substrate, the method including generating a foam including water and synthetic binder fibers; depositing the foam on a planar surface; disposing a template form on the foam opposite the planar surface to create a foam/form assembly; heating the foam/form assembly to dry the foam and bind the synthetic binder fibers; and removing the template from the substrate after heating the foam/form assembly, wherein the substrate includes synthetic binder fibers, wherein the fibers of the substrate are entirely synthetic binder fibers, the substrate including a planar base layer having an X-Y surface and a backside surface opposite the X-Y surface; and a plurality of projection elements integral with and protruding in a Z-direction from the X-Y surface, wherein each projection element has a height, a diameter or width, a cross-section, a sidewall, a proximal end where the projection element meets the base layer, and a distal end opposite the proximal end, wherein the projection elements are distributed in both the X- and Y-directions, wherein each projection element has a uniform density, wherein the height of a projection element is greater than the width or diameter of that projection element, and wherein the density of a projection element is the same as the density of the base layer.

Various features and aspects of the present disclosure will be made apparent from the following detailed description.

