Elastic Laminate Rugosity via Point-Bonded Nonwoven Film
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing elastomeric laminates with elastic strands in personal care products, such as diapers and face coverings, suffer from skin irritation, bulkiness, and noise due to strand bunching, which compromises their softness, breathability, and aesthetic appeal.
Innovation Solution
The development of elastomeric laminates comprising an elastomeric film and nonwoven substrate with a specific pattern of bonding and post-lamination stretching, creating intermeshed rugosities that enhance strength, softness, and breathability, while avoiding the use of elastic strands.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If elastic strands are used to provide stretchability and rugosity, then the laminate becomes bulky and noisy, but the softness and breathability are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes elastic strands from the laminate structure entirely, replacing them with a nonwoven substrate that achieves stretchability through its construction and bonding pattern rather than through discrete elastic components. This extraction eliminates the bulkiness and noise associated with strands while preserving the desired rugosity and stretch properties.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a composite structure combining a nonwoven substrate with an elastomeric film layer. This composite approach allows the nonwoven to provide structural bulk and breathability while the elastomeric film provides elasticity and stretch, achieving the desired properties without using traditional elastic strands.
2Shape
If elastic strands are used to create stretchability, then the laminate exhibits increased rugosity, but skin irritation and discomfort occur
Solution Approach 1:
By removing elastic strands from the laminate, the patent eliminates the primary source of skin irritation. The stretchability is instead achieved through the nonwoven substrate's construction and the bonding pattern, which does not contact the skin in the same irritating manner as traditional elastic strands.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the fundamental parameters of the laminate structure by replacing strand-based elasticity with a nonwoven-based system. This parameter change in the material composition and structure eliminates skin irritation while maintaining the necessary stretch and rugosity properties.
3Shape
If elastic strands are used to provide stretchability, then the laminate achieves the desired aesthetic, but the strands bunch together when stretched
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes elastic strands that are prone to bunching when stretched. Instead, it uses a nonwoven substrate with a specific bonding pattern that maintains its structure and appearance during stretching, eliminating the bunching problem while preserving the aesthetic rugosity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the stretchability function across multiple bond points distributed throughout the nonwoven substrate rather than relying on continuous elastic strands. This segmentation prevents bunching by distributing the mechanical stress across many discrete bond locations.
4Ease of operation
If higher basis weight nonwovens are used to achieve softness, then the laminate becomes less breathable, but the desired softness is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a composite laminate where the nonwoven substrate provides softness through its construction and the elastomeric film layer provides breathability and elasticity. This composite structure allows both softness and breathability to coexist by distributing these functions across different material layers rather than relying on basis weight alone.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The resulting laminates exhibit increased rugosity, loft, and aesthetic appeal, providing robustness, softness, and breathability, while minimizing skin irritation and noise, thus meeting consumer preferences for absorbent products.
Implementation Method 1
joining an elastomeric film to at least one nonwoven substrate by means of point-bonding to create bond sites
Implementation Method 2
stretching the laminate by means of cross-directional intermeshing to create an intermeshed laminate
Data Source
AI summary
Elastomeric laminates and methods of making elastomeric laminates comprising an elastomeric film point-bonded to an carded, spunbond or bicomponent nonwoven substrate to create bond sites, wherein each bond site is from about 3 mm to about 10 mm from each adjacent bond site, and further wherein the laminate comprises rugosities, optionally having a height of greater than 2 mm.