Body fluid absorbent article

Abstract

To provide a body fluid absorbent article which is excellent in wear resistance, is hardly torn in use, and has a surface material which is excellent in body fluid spot liquid absorption.SOLUTION: A body fluid absorbent article is formed by a surface material 1, a fluid absorber 3, and a leakage prevention material 4, which are arranged in this order from a body fluid exudation side. The surface material 1 is formed of cotton fibers as constitution fibers, and in a non-woven fabric formed by mutually entangling the cotton fibers, epoxy-modified silicone is applied. An application amount of the epoxy-modified silicone is 0.7 to 2.0 mass% with respect to a weight of the non-woven fabric. The fluid absorber 3 is formed of an aggregate of pulp fibers. The leakage prevention material 4 is formed of a synthetic resin film with body fluid impermeability.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a body fluid absorbent article such as a sanitary napkin or a disposable diaper.

Background Art

[0002] A body fluid absorbent article such as a sanitary napkin is arranged in the order of a surface material, an absorbent body, and a leak-proof material from the body fluid exudation side. Since the surface material directly touches the skin, a non-woven fabric having cellulose fibers such as cotton fibers with a good texture as constituent fibers is adopted. The applicant of the present application has proposed a surface material in which stearic acid amide is imparted to such a non-woven fabric in order to obtain a non-woven fabric with a better texture (Patent Document 1). Further, the applicant of the present application has proposed a surface material obtained by imparting a specific oil agent to a non-woven fabric so as to be able to absorb exuded body fluid spotwise (Patent Document 2). Furthermore, the applicant of the present application has proposed a surface material obtained by imparting a specific oil agent to a non-woven fabric so as to be excellent in wear resistance and difficult to break during use, and to be able to absorb exuded body fluid spotwise (Patent Document 3).

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Patent Document 3

Disclosure of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] The problem of the present invention is the same as the problem of the invention according to Patent Document 3, and it is to provide a body fluid absorbent article having a surface material excellent in wear resistance, difficult to break during use, and excellent in spot absorbency of body fluid.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] The present invention solves the above problems by means different from those of the invention according to Patent Document 3. That is, the present invention relates to a body fluid absorbent article in which a surface material 1, an absorbent liquid 3, and a leakage prevention material 4 are arranged in this order from the body fluid exudation side, wherein the surface material 1 is made of a non-woven fabric formed by cellulose-based fibers as constituent fibers and the constituent fibers are entangled with each other, and an epoxy-modified silicone is applied thereto.

[0006] The surface material 1 used in the present invention is made of a non-woven fabric having cellulose-based fibers as constituent fibers. As the cellulose-based fibers, cotton fibers or rayon fibers are used. In particular, among cotton fibers, unbleached cotton is preferable because it is easy to absorb exuded body fluid spotwise due to cotton wax, cottonseed oil, etc. adhering to the surface of the cotton fiber. As the rayon fiber, generally, short fibers having a fineness of 1 to 10 decitex and a fiber length of 10 to 100 mm are used, but long fibers may also be used. A small amount of other types of fibers other than cellulose-based fibers may be mixed in the non-woven fabric.

[0007] The constituent fibers made of cellulose-based fibers are entangled with each other. Thereby, the constituent fibers are bonded to form a non-woven fabric having a predetermined strength. As a method of entanglement, the water jet entanglement method is preferable. In order to further increase the strength, a spunbond non-woven fabric and a cellulose-based fiber web may be laminated, and the spunbond non-woven fabric and the cellulose-based fibers may be entangled by the water jet entanglement method. The basis weight of the non-woven fabric used in the present invention is about 10 to 50 g / m 2 or so.

[0008] The surface material 1 is formed by applying an epoxy-modified silicone to such a nonwoven fabric. The epoxy-modified silicone is obtained by introducing an epoxy group into a polysiloxane such as dimethylpolysiloxane. The application amount of the epoxy-modified silicone is preferably 0.5 to 3.0% by mass, more preferably 0.7 to 2.0% by mass, based on the mass of the nonwoven fabric. By applying the epoxy-modified silicone, the abrasion resistance is improved and the spot liquid absorbency of body fluid is also good. The reason for the improvement in abrasion resistance is considered to be that the surface friction resistance is reduced by the epoxy-modified silicone. Although not certain, it is predicted that it may be because the epoxy group of the epoxy-modified silicone binds to cellulose fibers such as cotton fibers. The good spot liquid absorbency is considered to be due to the water-repellent action of the epoxy-modified silicone.

[0009] To apply the epoxy-modified silicone to the nonwoven fabric, a conventionally known method may be adopted. For example, a liquid containing the epoxy-modified silicone may be applied to the surface of the nonwoven fabric by the kiss coater method or the spray method, and then dried.

[0010] The body fluid absorbent article according to the present invention is formed by arranging an absorbent liquid 3 next to the surface material 1. The absorbent liquid 3 is an aggregate mainly composed of pulp fibers. In the present invention, a bulky nonwoven fabric 2 having cushioning properties may be arranged between the surface material 1 and the absorbent liquid 3. By arranging such a bulky nonwoven fabric 2, the skin feel of the surface material 1 becomes even better. The bulky nonwoven fabric 2 is thicker than the nonwoven fabric constituting the surface material 1. Further, it is preferable that the constituent fibers of the bulky nonwoven fabric 2 are hydrophobic fibers other than cellulose fibers. When hydrophilic fibers such as cellulose fibers are used, the spot liquid absorbency of the surface material 1 tends to be inhibited.

[0011] A leak-proof material 4 is arranged next to the absorbent liquid 3. As the leak-proof material 4, a synthetic resin film impermeable to body fluid or the like is used. A fixture (not shown) such as a double-sided adhesive tape may be arranged on the surface (the opposite side to the skin side) of the leak-proof material 4. This is to fix the body fluid absorbent article to the underwear with the fixture so that it does not shift during use.

[0012] The body fluid absorbent article according to the present invention is suitably used as a sanitary napkin or a disposable diaper. It can also be used as a wound dressing material for absorbing blood exuded from a wound. Further, the nonwoven fabric provided with epoxy-modified silicone can be suitably used as a surface material of various body fluid absorbent articles.

Effect of the Invention

[0013] Since the body fluid absorbent article according to the present invention uses a specific nonwoven fabric provided with epoxy-modified silicone as a surface material, the surface material is difficult to tear and can absorb exuded body fluid in a spot-like manner. That is, during the use of the body fluid absorbent article, due to friction against the skin, it has the effect of being difficult to tear, and since the exuded body fluid is difficult to diffuse in the surface direction along the surface material, it does not stick to the skin and can be used comfortably.

Example

[0014] Example 1 Undecomposed bleached cotton (manufactured by Marusan Sangyo Co., Ltd.) that retains the oil content originally held by cotton was prepared. This undecomposed bleached cotton was opened and accumulated through an airlaid card to have a basis weight of about 35 g / m 2A fibrous web was obtained. This fibrous web was placed on a mesh-like support and subjected to hydroentanglement while being conveyed. The hydroentanglement was performed by the following method using an injection device in which injection holes with a nozzle diameter of 0.1 mm were arranged in a row with a hole interval of 0.6 mm. That is, the fibrous web was placed on a 100-mesh support, and after spraying the water flow from the injection device twice at an injection pressure of 2.8 MPa toward the surface of the fibrous web, the fibrous web was reversed and the water flow sprayed at an injection pressure of 2.8 MPa was applied twice toward the back surface of the fibrous web to obtain a fiber fleece. This fiber fleece was placed on a 15-mesh support, and using the above injection device, the water flow sprayed at an injection pressure of 4.1 MPa was applied twice to obtain a nonwoven fabric. Excess moisture was removed from this nonwoven fabric through a squeezing roll. A liquid containing epoxy-modified silicone (「PS-540」manufactured by Kitahiro Chemical Co., Ltd.) was applied to the obtained nonwoven fabric with a kiss coater and dried in a dryer in an atmosphere of 100 °C to impart epoxy-modified silicone to the nonwoven fabric and obtain a surface material. The application amount of the liquid containing epoxy-modified silicone was adjusted so that the amount of epoxy-modified silicone imparted was 0.7% by mass based on the weight of the nonwoven fabric finally.

[0015] Example 2 As the nonwoven fabric, a spunlace nonwoven fabric Y035S / A19 (100% by mass of organic cotton, 18 mesh) manufactured by Unitika Ltd. was prepared. A liquid containing epoxy-modified silicone (「PS-540」manufactured by Kitahiro Chemical Co., Ltd.) was spray-coated on this nonwoven fabric. The spray coating was performed using a small Kurata-type sprayer so that the liquid adhered evenly to the surface of the nonwoven fabric. Then, it was dried in a dryer in an atmosphere of 100 °C to impart epoxy-modified silicone to the nonwoven fabric and obtain a surface material. The spray coating amount of the liquid containing epoxy-modified silicone was adjusted so that the amount of epoxy-modified silicone imparted was 0.7% by mass based on the weight of the nonwoven fabric finally.

[0016] Example 3 A surface material was obtained in the same manner as in Example 2 except that the amount of epoxy-modified silicone imparted was 1.0% by mass.

[0017] Example 4 A surface material was obtained in the same manner as in Example 2, except that the amount of the epoxy-modified silicone applied was 1.5% by mass.

[0018] Example 5 A surface material was obtained in the same manner as in Example 2, except that the amount of the epoxy-modified silicone applied was 2.0% by mass.

[0019] Comparative Example 1 The nonwoven fabric prepared in Example 1 was used as the surface material as it was.

[0020] Comparative Example 2 The nonwoven fabric prepared in Example 2 was used as the surface material as it was.

[0021] Comparative Example 3 The fiber fleece obtained in Example 1 was placed on a 25-mesh support, and using the injection device used in Example 1, a water stream was injected twice at an injection pressure of 4.1 MPa to obtain a nonwoven fabric. After removing excess moisture from this nonwoven fabric through a squeezing roll, it was dried. A liquid containing stearic acid amide and palm oil (the quantitative ratio of stearic acid amide and palm oil is almost equal) was spray-coated onto the obtained nonwoven fabric. The spray coating was performed using a small Kurata-type sprayer so that the oil agent adhered evenly to the surface of the nonwoven fabric. Then, it was dried by passing through a dryer in an atmosphere of 100 °C to apply stearic acid amide and palm oil to the nonwoven fabric and obtain a surface material. The spray coating amount of the liquid containing stearic acid amide and palm oil was adjusted so that the final amount of stearic acid amide and palm oil applied was 0.7% by mass based on the weight of the nonwoven fabric.

[0022] Regarding the surface materials obtained in Examples 1 to 5 and Comparative Examples 1 to 3, the abrasion resistance (number of times) and spot liquid absorbency (mm) were evaluated by the following method. The results are shown in Table 1. The measurement was performed on the surface opposite to the coated surface.

[0023] [Evaluation of Abrasion Resistance (Number of Times)] From each of the surface materials obtained in Examples 1 to 5 and Comparative Examples 1 to 3, 30 samples with a length of 293 mm and a width of 165 mm were randomly collected. Six of these samples were set on a Kagaku-shinkou-type friction fastness tester (manufactured by Dai-eki Kagaku Seiki Co., Ltd., model "RT-300") in accordance with JIS L 0849 to measure the abrasion resistance. When setting the samples, a urethane mat was laid under the samples in advance, and the samples were fixed to the fixtures provided in the Kagaku-shinkou-type friction fastness tester so that wrinkles would not occur. Also, the surface of the friction terminal was covered with cloth adhesive tape, and a load of 500 g was applied to the friction terminal so that the cloth adhesive tape would contact the sample. Then, the friction terminal was slid at a reciprocating speed of 30 times / min, and the number of reciprocations when breaks were visually observable in all six samples was measured. Visual observation was performed every 25 times up to 100 times, and every 100 times thereafter up to 500 times. This measurement was performed five times, and the average value of these was taken as the abrasion resistance (number of times). In addition, even if the number of reciprocations exceeded 500 times, when breaks were not visually observable in all six samples, the measurement was terminated and the number of reciprocations was set to 500 times. Therefore, the value of the abrasion resistance (number of times) has a maximum value of 500 times.

[0024] [Evaluation of Spot Liquid Absorbency (mm)] From each of the surface materials obtained in Examples 1 to 5 and Comparative Examples 1 to 3, three test pieces of 10 cm × 10 cm were collected. The three test pieces were overlapped and placed on filter paper. 1 cc of blue solution was dropped onto the test pieces and left for 5 minutes. Then, only the upper test piece (the test piece directly contacted by the blue solution) was taken out, and the longest vertical length (mm) and the longest horizontal length (mm) of the area colored blue were added together, and the decimal part was rounded to obtain the spot liquid absorbency (mm).

[0025] [Table 1] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Abrasion Resistance (number of times) Spot Liquid Absorbency (mm) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Example 1 500 37 Example 2 500 49 Example 3 500 46 Example 4 500 45 Example 5 500 45 Comparative Example 1 400 85 Comparative Example 2 300 100 Comparative Example 3 25 38 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[0026] As can be seen from the results in Table 1, the surface material according to the example has a well - balanced improvement in wear resistance and spot liquid absorbency compared to the surface materials according to the comparative examples.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0027]

Figure 1

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0028] 1 Surface material 2 Bulky non - woven fabric 3 Liquid absorbent 4 Leak - proof material

Claims

Claim 1 In a body fluid absorbent article arranged in the order of a surface material, a liquid absorbent, and a leakage preventing material from the body fluid exudation side, the surface material is formed by applying an epoxy-modified silicone to a non-woven fabric made of cellulose-based fibers as constituent fibers and having the constituent fibers entangled with each other, and is characterized by being a body fluid absorbent article. Claim 2 The body fluid absorbent article according to Claim 1, wherein the cellulose-based fiber is a cotton fiber. Claim 3 The body fluid absorbent article according to Claim 1, wherein the amount of the epoxy-modified silicone applied is 0.7 to 2.0% by weight based on the weight of the non-woven fabric. Claim 4 The body fluid absorbent article according to Claim 1, wherein the liquid absorbent is an aggregate of pulp fibers. Claim 5 A surface material for a body fluid absorbent article formed by applying an epoxy-modified silicone to a non-woven fabric made of cellulose-based fibers as constituent fibers and having the constituent fibers entangled with each other.

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