WO2016157550A1

WO2016157550A1 - Absorbent article

Info

Publication number: WO2016157550A1
Application number: PCT/JP2015/064258
Authority: WO
Inventors: 工藤　淳; 望寺杣; 健太谷口; 紗恵子秋山; 雅史北川
Original assignee: ユニ・チャーム株式会社
Priority date: 2015-03-31
Filing date: 2015-05-19
Publication date: 2016-10-06
Also published as: JP6155296B2; JP2016189852A

Abstract

An absorbent article having a thickness direction, a widthwise direction and a lengthwise direction which are perpendicular to one another, wherein an absorbent body (10) thereof has liquid-absorbing fibers. The absorbent body (10) has a folding guide line (LB) that guides in a manner such that folding occurs, projects toward the skin-side in the thickness direction, and is oriented in the lengthwise direction. The absorbent body (10) has a section (10p1) containing the folding guide line (LB) and sections (10p2) that do not contain the folding guide line (LB) and are positioned on both sides of the folding guide line (LB) in the widthwise direction. When measuring stiffness using a Gurley method stipulated by JIS L1085, the stiffness of the sections (10p2) not containing the folding guide line (LB) is 1.64 mN or higher, and the stiffness when applying the pendulum of the Gurley tester to the section (10p1) containing the folding guide line (LB) from the non-skin side in the thickness direction is 1.36 mN or higher.

Description

Absorbent articles

The present invention relates to an absorbent article such as a sanitary napkin.

Sanitary napkins are known as absorbent articles that absorb excreted fluid such as menstrual blood. The napkin has a longitudinal direction, a width direction, and a thickness direction orthogonal to each other. The napkin has an absorbent body mainly composed of liquid absorbent fibers between a liquid-permeable top sheet and a liquid-impermeable back sheet.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-157459

Here, as an example of such a sanitary napkin, the following can be considered. That is, a napkin 1 ′ having a fold line LB as an example of a folding guide line extending in the longitudinal direction and bent so as to protrude toward the skin side in the thickness direction along the fold line LB can be considered. According to such a napkin 1 ′, when it is attached to the crotch 201K as shown in the schematic front view of FIG. 1, the portion protruding to the skin side along the broken line LB is the labia where the excretory opening 201He such as the vaginal opening exists. It can be made to contact | abut to this and a favorable fitting property can be show | played by this.

However, in order to attach the sanitary napkin 1 ′ to the crotch 201K, when pulling up an underwear (not shown) such as a short with the napkin 1 ′ placed and fixed on the crotch portion toward the crotch 201K, depending on circumstances. There is a possibility that the shape of the napkin 1 ′ may change from the shape protruding toward the skin as described above to another shape. Further, when the napkin 1 'is worn, an external force directed inward in the width direction such as a crotch tightening force from the wearer 201 acts on the napkin 1'. There is a possibility of changing from a shape protruding to the skin side to another shape.
And when a shape changes in this way, it will become difficult to make the part which protruded to the said skin side of napkin 1 'contact | abuts to a labia appropriately, and as a result, fitting property will worsen. .

This invention is made | formed in view of the said subject, The objective makes it easy to maintain stably the shape of an absorbent article in the bending shape which protrudes to the skin side along a fold guide line. There is.

The main invention for achieving the above object is:
An absorbent article having a longitudinal direction, a width direction, and a thickness direction orthogonal to each other,
Having an absorbent body with liquid absorbent fibers;
The absorbent body has a folding guide line along the longitudinal direction for guiding it to bend and protrude toward the skin side in the thickness direction,
The absorber includes a portion including the folding guide line, and a portion not including the folding guide line located on both sides of the folding guide line in the width direction,
When the bending resistance is measured by the Gurley method defined in JIS L1085,
The bending resistance of the portion not including the folding guide line is 1.64 mN or more,
An absorbent article having a bending resistance of 1.36 mN or more when a pendulum of a Gurley tester is applied to the portion including the folding guide line from the non-skin side in the thickness direction. is there.
Other features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

According to the present invention, it becomes easy to stably maintain the shape of the absorbent article in a bent shape that protrudes toward the skin along the folding guide line.

It is a schematic diagram of the front view for demonstrating that the napkin 1 'bent so that it may protrude to the skin side of the thickness direction along the broken line LB has favorable fitting property. It is the schematic plan view which looked at the sanitary napkin 1 as an example of the absorbent article of this embodiment from the skin side of the thickness direction. It is the schematic plan view which looked at the napkin 1 from the non-skin side of the thickness direction. FIG. 4 is a schematic exploded view taken along arrows IV-IV in FIG. 2. It is the schematic plan view which looked at the absorber 10 from the non-skin side of the thickness direction. 6A is a schematic diagram showing the bent state of the absorbent body 10 as viewed from the arrow VI-VI in FIG. 2, and FIG. 6B is a schematic diagram showing the bent state of the napkin 1 as seen from the arrow VI-VI in FIG. It is. It is Table 1 which shows the item of experiment and the experimental result which obtain | require the preferable numerical range of the bending resistance of the broken line non-containing part 10p2. 8A is a schematic plan view of a test piece for measuring bending resistance, and FIG. 8B is a view taken along the line BB in FIG. 8A. It is a schematic front view which shows a mode that a bending resistance is measured with a Gurley type | mold flexibility tester. FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B are explanatory diagrams of an experiment for examining an evaluation index of the maintenance stability of a bent shape. It is a photograph which shows the test piece used for examination of an evaluation parameter | index. It is a figure which shows a mode that the test piece was set to the autograph testing machine. It is an example of a load-displacement curve when having a peak load, measured by an autograph tester. It is the graph which plotted the measurement result of the convex width, and the measurement result of the peak load. It is the graph which plotted the measurement result of the bending resistance C of the broken line non-containing part 10p2, and the measurement result of the peak load. 7 is a table 2 showing specifications and experimental results of an experiment for obtaining a preferable numerical range of the bending resistance when the broken line-containing portion 10p1 is bent so as to protrude toward the non-skin side. It is a schematic plan view of the test piece for measuring bending resistance. It is the graph which plotted the measurement result of the bending resistance D when the broken line containing part 10p1 bends so that it may protrude to the non-skin side, and the measurement result of the peak load. A subtraction value F obtained by subtracting the bending resistance E when the broken line-containing portion 10p1 protrudes toward the skin side from the bending resistance D when the bending line-containing portion 10p1 protrudes toward the non-skin side and the peak load It is the graph which plotted the measurement result. A subtraction value G obtained by subtracting the bending resistance E when the broken line containing portion 10p1 protrudes toward the skin and bends from the bending resistance A when the test piece of the bending line non-containing portion 10p2 protrudes toward the skin and bends; It is Table 3 which matches and shows the measurement result of a peak load. It is the graph which plotted the said subtraction value G and the measurement result of peak load.

At least the following matters will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.
An absorbent article having a longitudinal direction, a width direction, and a thickness direction orthogonal to each other,
Having an absorbent body with liquid absorbent fibers;
The absorbent body has a folding guide line along the longitudinal direction for guiding it to bend and protrude toward the skin side in the thickness direction,
The absorber includes a portion including the folding guide line, and a portion not including the folding guide line located on both sides of the folding guide line in the width direction,
When the bending resistance is measured by the Gurley method defined in JIS L1085,
The bending resistance of the portion not including the folding guide line is 1.64 mN or more,
An absorbent article having a bending resistance of 1.36 mN or more when a pendulum of a Gurley tester is applied to the portion including the folding guide line from the non-skin side in the thickness direction. is there.

According to such an absorbent article, the portion that does not include the folding guide line is prevented from being bent unnecessarily, and the portion that includes the folding guide line is also prevented from being bent so as to protrude to the non-skin side. Therefore, it becomes easy to stably maintain the shape of the absorbent article in a bent shape that protrudes to the skin side along the folding guide line.

Such an absorbent article,
From the bending resistance when the pendulum is applied to the part including the folding guide line from the non-skin side in the thickness direction, the pendulum is applied to the part including the folding guide line in the thickness direction. The subtraction value obtained by subtracting the bending resistance when applied from the side is preferably 0.48 mN or more.

According to such an absorbent article, the shape of the absorbent article can be more stably maintained in a bent shape that protrudes toward the skin along the folding guide line.

Such an absorbent article,
From the bending resistance when the pendulum is applied from the skin side in the thickness direction to the portion not including the folding guide line, the skin in the thickness direction is applied to the portion including the folding guide line. The subtraction value obtained by subtracting the bending resistance when applied from the side is preferably 0.64 mN or more.

Such an absorbent article,
The folding guide line is a broken line;
It is desirable that the absorber is bent so as to protrude toward the skin side in the thickness direction along the broken line.

According to such an absorbent article, since the absorbent body is bent along the broken line, the shape of the absorbent article is more stably maintained in a bent shape that protrudes along the broken line to the skin side. It becomes easy to do.

Such an absorbent article,
A liquid-permeable sheet is arranged on the skin side in the thickness direction from the absorber,
The liquid-permeable sheet and the absorbent body are joined and integrated by a point-like compressed portion formed by pressing from the skin side in the thickness direction,
The absorbent body has an excretion opening facing region where the excretion opening of the wearer faces.
When the absorbent article is viewed from the skin side in the thickness direction, it is desirable that the squeezed portion does not overlap the folding guide line in the excretory opening facing region.

According to such an absorbent article, the squeezed portion having an effect of increasing the rigidity of the formed portion does not overlap the folding guide line in the excretory opening facing region. Therefore, while the rigidity of the absorbent body is generally increased and unnecessary deformation such as so-called kinking that can be caused by the absorbent body is prevented, the region facing the excretion opening projects toward the skin side along the folding guide line. It does not hinder the bent shape. And thereby, in the excretory opening facing region, the absorbent body can be bent flexibly in the direction protruding to the skin side according to the external force facing the inside in the width direction such as the crotch tightening force, and as a result The portion protruding to the skin side can be surely brought into contact with the labia where there is an excretory opening such as the vaginal opening.

Such an absorbent article,
The absorbent body has an excretion opening facing region where the excretion opening of the wearer faces.
A folding line for folding the absorbent article in the longitudinal direction so as to reduce the dimension in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent article along the width direction;
When viewed from the thickness direction, it is desirable that the intersection of the fold line and the fold guide line is not located in the excretory opening facing region.

According to such an absorbent article, since the intersection of the fold line and the fold guide line is not located in the excretory opening facing area, the fold line is the fold guide in the excretion opening facing area. It does not hinder the bent shape from projecting to the skin side along the line. Therefore, in the region opposite to the excretion opening, the absorbent body can bend flexibly in the direction of protruding to the skin side according to the external force facing the width direction such as the crotch tightening force, and as a result, the skin side The protruding portion can be reliably brought into contact with the labia in which an excretory opening such as the vaginal opening exists.

Such an absorbent article,
Having an adhesive part for fixing the absorbent article to underwear on the non-skin side of the absorbent article,
When viewed from the thickness direction, it is desirable that the adhesive portion does not overlap the folding guide line.

According to such an absorbent article, the adhesive portion does not overlap the folding induction line, and therefore does not hinder the bent shape from projecting to the skin side along the folding induction line. Therefore, according to the external force acting on the absorbent article, such as crotch tightening force, the absorbent body can bend flexibly in the direction of protruding to the skin side. It is possible to reliably contact the labia where the excretion opening exists.

Such an absorbent article,
It is desirable that the folding guide line extends over the entire length of the absorbent body in the longitudinal direction.

According to such an absorbent article, since the folding guide line extends over the entire length in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent body, the shape of the absorbent article is changed to the skin side along the folding guide line. It becomes easier to maintain a bent shape that protrudes into a more stable manner.

Such an absorbent article,
The portion not including the folding guide line and the portion including the folding guide line when the bending resistance is measured by the Gurley method tester are each 38 mm in length in the width direction from the absorbent article. And cut into a rectangular shape with a length of 25 mm in the longitudinal direction,
When the direction of the length of 38 mm is the vertical direction and the direction of the length of 25 mm is the horizontal direction,
The bending resistance of the portion that does not include the folding guide line is such that the one end in the vertical direction of the portion that does not include is fixed to the chuck of the movable arm of the testing machine, and the vertical direction of the portion that does not include the bending guide line. Measured with the pendulum of the testing machine in contact with the other end,
The bending resistance of the portion including the folding guide line is determined so that the position of the folding guide line is located at a position separated from the chuck of the movable arm by 4.7 mm in the vertical direction. It is preferable that the measurement is performed in a state where one end portion in the direction is fixed to the chuck and the pendulum of the testing machine is in contact with the other end portion in the longitudinal direction of the included portion.

According to such an absorbent article, it is more reliably suppressed that the portion not including the folding guide line is bent unnecessarily, and the portion including the folding guide line may be bent so as to protrude to the non-skin side. , More reliably suppressed. Therefore, the shape of the absorbent article can be more stably maintained in a bent shape that protrudes toward the skin along the folding guide line.

=== This Embodiment ===
FIG. 2 thru | or FIG. 6B is explanatory drawing of the sanitary napkin 1 as an example of the absorbent article of this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the napkin 1 viewed from the skin side in the thickness direction, and FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of the napkin 1 viewed from the non-skin side in the thickness direction. FIG. 4 is a schematic exploded view taken along arrows IV-IV in FIG. Furthermore, FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view of the absorber 10 as seen from the non-skin side in the thickness direction. FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram showing the bent state of the absorbent body 10 as viewed in the direction of arrows VI-VI in FIG. 2, and FIG. 6B shows the folded state of the napkin 1 as seen in the direction of arrows VI-VI in FIG. It is a schematic diagram.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the napkin 1 is a sheet-like member that is vertically long in plan view and has a longitudinal direction, a width direction, and a thickness direction. Moreover, in the napkin 1, the liquid-permeable top sheet 20, the liquid-absorbent absorber 10, and the liquid-impermeable back sheet 30 are sequentially formed from the skin side in the thickness direction to the non-skin side. And are stacked. Each of these

members

20, 10, and 30 is joined to a member adjacent in the thickness direction with an adhesive HMA such as a hot melt adhesive. Examples of the application pattern of the adhesive HMA include an Ω pattern, a spiral pattern, a stripe pattern, and the like, and the same applies to other adhesives HMA that appear later. Hereinafter, the direction corresponding to the abdomen side of the wearer 201 in the longitudinal direction is also referred to as “front side”, and the direction corresponding to the same back side is also referred to as “rear side”.

As shown in FIG. 2, the planar size of the top sheet 20 and the back sheet 30 is larger than the planar size of the absorbent body 10. Therefore, the outer

peripheral edge portions

20e and 30e (see the dot pattern portion in FIG. 2) of both the

sheets

20 and 30 protrude from the absorber 10 outward in the longitudinal direction and outward in the width direction, respectively. And the absorber 10 is hold | maintained between these both

sheets

20 and 30 by joining the said outer

peripheral edge parts

20e and 30e by adhesion | attachment or welding.

In this example, the planar shapes of both

sheets

20 and 30 are the same. The

sheets

20 and 30 have a shape in which a substantially central portion in the longitudinal direction protrudes on both sides in the width direction, and the protruding

portions

20w and 30w mount the napkin 1 on an undergarment (not shown). It functions as so-called

wing portions

1w and 1w provided when the device is fixed. That is, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, on the non-skin side surface of the portion 30 w corresponding to each wing portion 1 w in the back sheet 30, an adhesive portion 40 w for fixing the napkin 1 to the underwear is an appropriate adhesive. It is formed in a substantially rectangular shape. In addition, a plurality of adhesive portions 40c having the same purpose are also formed in a strip shape along the longitudinal direction with an appropriate adhesive in a portion 30c between the

wing portions

1w and 1w on the non-skin side surface of the back sheet 30. However, the arrangement pattern of the

adhesive portions

40w and 40c is not limited to this.

As an example of the material of the top sheet 20, an appropriate non-woven fabric such as an air-through non-woven fabric can be mentioned. In this example, an air-through non-woven fabric is used. However, it is not limited to this. That is, any other sheet may be used as long as it is a liquid-permeable flexible sheet. Moreover, as an example of the raw material of the back sheet 30, an appropriate resin film such as polyethylene (PE) can be cited. In this example, a PE film is used. However, it is not limited to this. That is, other sheets may be used as long as they are flexible liquid-impermeable sheets.

Moreover, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of pressing parts EM, EM... Are formed on the skin side surface of the top sheet 20 from the skin side, whereby the top sheet 20 and the absorbent body 10 are thick together. It is squeezed in the vertical direction and joined and integrated. And in this example, two types of pressing parts EML and EMD are formed as this pressing part EM. One pressing part EM is a linear pressing part EML. And the said linear pressing part EML, EML ... is formed in multiple numbers along the outer periphery part of the absorber 10, and has comprised the substantially cyclic | annular form long in the longitudinal direction as a whole by this. On the other hand, the other pressing part EM is a dot-like pressing part EMD. And the said dotted | punctate pressing parts EMD, EMD ... are discretely formed in the substantially closed area | region AEML which the above-mentioned several linear pressing parts EML, EML ... partition on the top sheet 20. FIG. In this example, the planar shape of each squeezed compressed part EMD is a circle having a diameter of 1 mm, and the arrangement pattern of the compressed parts EMD, EMD... Is a staggered arrangement pattern. Not limited to. Furthermore, these point-like pressing parts EMD and linear pressing parts EML may be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 5, the absorbent body 10 has the same absorbent core 11 in which a liquid absorbent fiber or the like is formed into a vertically long shape in plan view as an example of a predetermined shape and covers the skin side surface of the core 11. The core 11 has a skin-side sheet 12 that is substantially the same in planar shape, and the core 11 and a non-skin-side sheet 13 that is substantially the same in planar shape so as to cover the core 11 from the non-skin side surface. And as shown in FIG. 4, each sheet |

seat

12,13 is each joined and integrated with the absorbent core 11 with adhesive HMA, such as a hot-melt-adhesive agent, Thereby, each sheet |

seat

12,13 is Unnecessary deformation such as so-called twisting or collapsing of the absorbent core 11 is prevented.

The absorbent core 11 has, for example, cellulosic water-absorbing fibers and thermoplastic resin fibers as liquid absorbent fibers in a basis weight range of 100 (g / m ² ) to 400 (g / m ² ). Are mixed with each other. In this example, pulp fibers are used as an example of the former, and as an example of the latter, a so-called sheath core structure composite fiber having a sheath of polyethylene (PE) and a core of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is used at a fiber length of 30 mm. There is no limitation to this. For example, rayon fiber may be used as the former, and single fiber of polyethylene (PP) or single fiber of PE may be used as the latter. Furthermore, the latter thermoplastic resin fiber may be omitted.
In this example, the core 11 is made of, for example, a superabsorbent polymer (so-called SAP) as an example of a liquid-absorbing granular material in addition to the liquid-absorbing fiber, for example, a basis weight of 5 (g / m ² ) to 50 (g / m ² ). m ² ), but this SAP can also be omitted.
Furthermore, in this example, an air-through nonwoven fabric having a basis weight in the range of 10 (g / m ² ) to 70 (g / m ² ), for example, is used as the skin-side sheet 12, but it is a liquid-permeable and flexible sheet. If there is, it is not limited to this. That is, other types of non-woven fabrics may be used, or some tissue paper or the like may be used. Furthermore, the skin side sheet 12 may be omitted. Further, as the non-skin side sheet 13, for example, an SMS (spunbond / meltblown / spunbond) nonwoven fabric having a basis weight in the range of 10 (g / m ² ) to 50 (g / m ² ) is used. The sheet is not limited to this, that is, other types of non-woven fabrics may be used, or tissue paper or the like may be used. Can also be omitted.

In such an absorbent body 10, as shown in FIG. 5, a point-like compressed portion ED 10 is formed by pressing from the non-skin side. That is, in this example, since the absorbent body 10 has the skin side sheet 12, the absorbent core 11, and the non-skin side sheet 13, when these three are squeezed together in the thickness direction, Said pressing part ED10 is formed. As a result, the rigidity is enhanced, and as a result, unnecessary deformation such as twisting can be suppressed. In this example, the planar shape of the pressing part ED10 is a circle having a diameter of 1.2 mm, and the arrangement pattern of the pressing parts ED10, ED10... Is a staggered pattern, but is not limited to this. Further, the maximum value of the thickness of the absorbent body 10 on which the compressed portion ED10 and the compressed portions EML and EMD are formed is, for example, in the range of 0.5 mm to 5 mm, but is not limited thereto.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6A, the absorbent body 10 has a fold line LB as an example of a fold guide line at a central position in the width direction, extending in a straight line along the longitudinal direction over the entire length in the longitudinal direction. Thus, as shown in FIG. 6A, the absorbent body 10 is guided to protrude and bend along the folding line LB toward the skin side in the thickness direction. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 6B, the napkin 1 is also guided so that the center position in the width direction protrudes toward the skin and bends. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, when the wearer 201 pulls up the shorts (not shown) in which the napkin is placed and fixed on the crotch part toward the crotch 201K in order to attach the napkin 1 to the crotch 201K, The portion protruding to the skin side comes into contact with the labia where the excretory opening 201He such as the vaginal opening is present, whereby the napkin 1 can exhibit good fit.

However, as explained at the beginning, the shape in which the center position in the width direction protrudes to the skin side can change during the pulling process of the shorts or during wearing of the napkin 1, and if it changes, the napkin 1 Becomes difficult to come into contact with the labia, resulting in poor fit.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the shape bent so as to protrude toward the skin side is devised so as to be stably maintained. Hereinafter, although this device will be described, two parts 10p1 and 10p2 are defined on the absorber 10 before that. That is, as indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 2, the portion 10p1 including the broken line LB in the absorber 10 is referred to as a “folded line-containing portion 10p1”, and on the other hand, as indicated by a three-dot chain line in FIG. In addition, the portions 10p2 and 10p2 located on both sides of the broken line LB in the absorber 10 and the portions 10p2 not including the broken line LB are referred to as “folded line non-containing portion 10p2”.
And in this embodiment, as said device, the bending softness of the broken line non-containing part 10p2 measured by the Gurley method (Japanese Industrial Standard JIS L1085) is set to 1.64 mN or more, and the broken line containing part For 10p1, the bending resistance when the portion 10p1 is bent so as to protrude to the non-skin side is set to 1.36 mN or more.

Therefore, it is possible to suppress the bending line non-containing portion 10p2 from being bent based on the setting of the former bending resistance, and the bending line containing portion 10p1 is bent to protrude toward the non-skin side based on the setting of the latter bending resistance. This can be suppressed. As a result, as a whole, the shape of the napkin 1 is easily maintained stably in a bent shape that protrudes toward the skin as shown in FIG. 6B.

Note that the numerical ranges of these two bending resistances are obtained by experiments. Hereinafter, this experiment will be described.

<<< Experiment for Finding a Preferred Numerical Range of Bending Softness of Polygonal Line-Free Part 10p2 >>>
First, a plurality of samples made of pulp fibers simulating the absorbent body 10 were formed at a plurality of basis weight levels as shown in Table 1 of FIG. Then, by forming a plurality of point-like compressed parts in each sample discretely, the thicknesses of all the samples are within the range of 1.3 to 1.75 mm, and are almost equal to each other. The bending resistance was varied for each sample at five experimental levels as shown. Then, 5 or 10 test pieces for measuring the bending resistance were cut out from each sample into a rectangular shape of 38 mm long × 25 mm wide.

FIG. 8A shows a schematic plan view of the test piece, and FIG. 8B shows a BB arrow view in FIG. 8A. As can be seen from FIGS. 8A and 8B, when the test piece is cut out, the vertical direction, which is the length direction of 38 mm, is set along the width direction of the sample, while the length direction is 25 mm. The transverse direction was along the longitudinal direction of the sample. In addition, the width direction of the sample is aligned with the width direction of the napkin 1, and the longitudinal direction of the sample is aligned with the longitudinal direction of the napkin 1. Hereinafter, it is also simply referred to as “width direction” and “longitudinal direction”.
In this experiment, for the purpose of preventing the test piece from collapsing, an acrylic adhesive tape having a thickness of 46 μm was applied to the skin side surface and the non-skin side surface of the upper end portion in the longitudinal direction of the test piece. However, for the purpose of preventing the adhesive tape from affecting the measurement accuracy of the bending resistance, the adhesive tape is affixed to the test piece so that it does not protrude below the chuck of the Gurley type flexibility tester described later. It was.

The measurement of the bending resistance of each test piece was performed using the Gurley type flexibility tester (manufactured by Yasuda Seiki Seisakusyo Co., Ltd.) of FIG. The measurement procedure was in accordance with JIS L1085. In the measurement, the upper end of the test piece in the vertical direction is fixed to the chuck of the movable arm of the tester with a length of 6.3 mm in the vertical direction, while the lower end of the test piece is set to 6.3 mm in the vertical direction. The length was brought into contact with the upper end of the pendulum 85 of the testing machine. Then, move the movable arm so that the test piece protrudes in the thickness direction and bends, reads the scale of the movement position of the pendulum when the lower end of the test piece is separated from the upper end of the pendulum, and reads this value Based on this, the bending resistance was obtained. Such measurement is performed for each test piece for both the bending resistance A when bent so as to protrude toward the skin side and the bending resistance B when bending so as to protrude toward the non-skin side. The average value C (= (A + B) / 2) of the softness A and the bending resistance B was defined as the average bending resistance C of the test piece. Since 5 or 10 test pieces are cut out for each basis weight and prepared as described above, the measurement of the bending resistance A and the bending resistance B is performed 5 times for each basis weight level. Or, 10 times each, and the average value of 5 times or 10 times was set as the softness A and the softness B of the basis weight level.

On the other hand, whether or not samples of each basis weight level are easily maintained stably in a bent shape so as to protrude toward the skin side was evaluated as follows.

First, an evaluation index indicating the maintenance stability of a bent shape was examined. That is, the sample of each basis weight level was bent at the center position in the width direction, thereby forming a fold line LB along the longitudinal direction at the same position. Then, 5 or 10 pieces were cut out from each sample into a rectangular shape of 65 mm in the width direction and 30 mm in the longitudinal direction, and test pieces for evaluating this evaluation index were prepared. In addition, when cutting out, the broken line LB was located in the center position of said 65 mm length.

And as shown to FIG. 10A, the test piece was folded by the said broken line LB, and, thereby, the test piece was made into the mountain fold shape which protruded to the skin side. Moreover, at this time, it adjusted so that the space | interval between a pair of slope concerning a mountain fold shape might be set to 40 mm in the lower end. And each said lower end was fixed on the above-mentioned horizontal table surface, maintaining the space | interval between each lower end of said pair of slopes at said 40 mm. Then, although the mountain fold shape of the test piece is rounded as shown in FIG. 10B due to the weight of the test piece, the maintenance stability of the bent shape was primarily evaluated based on the difficulty of rounding. Specifically, primary evaluation was performed using an evaluation index called convex width. Specifically, the convex width is the size of the test piece in the width direction at a position 5 mm below the lower surface of the test piece at the position of the broken line LB, and can be seen by looking at the photograph in FIG. Thus, there is a correlation between the convex width (see the numerical value described in the photograph) and the degree of roundness of the bent shape. For example, the smaller the convex width, the smaller the degree of roundness. Therefore, it was considered that the maintenance stability of the bent shape can be evaluated based on the convex width. And since 5 or 10 test pieces are cut out and prepared for each basis weight as described above, this convex width is measured 5 times or 10 times for each basis weight level, and 5 times. Or the average value of 10 times was made into the convex width of the basic weight level.

On the other hand, such a convex width is considered to have a correlation with the peak value (hereinafter also referred to as peak load) of the load (N) when the mountain-folded test piece is pushed downward at the position of the polygonal line LB. Specifically, this relationship was also examined for the purpose of using this peak load as an evaluation index for the maintenance stability of the bent shape.

First, as shown in FIG. 12, a mountain-folded test piece was set in an autograph tester (manufactured by Shimadzu Corporation). That is, the test piece is placed on the table surface while the lower end of the pair of slopes in the mountain fold shape is in contact with the horizontal table surface of the test machine while the fold line LB of the test piece is positioned upward. I put it. However, at the time of this placement, the lower ends of the pair of slopes are positioned inside the pair of ribs provided at an interval of 40 mm on the table surface, whereby the lower ends are arranged in the width direction. Restricted to immovable.

Next, the horizontal lower surface of the pressing member provided on the lifting head of the testing machine is brought into contact with the broken line LB from above, and the test piece is moved downward at a constant lowering speed of 20 (mm / min) by the pressing member. The peak load (N) in this pressing process was measured with the load cell of the same testing machine. This peak load is obtained as the apex of the measured load-displacement curve as shown in FIG. Moreover, since 5 or 10 test pieces are cut out and prepared for each basis weight as described above, the peak load is measured 5 or 10 times for each basis weight level. The average value of 10 times or 10 times was defined as the peak load at the basis weight level.

Table 1 in FIG. 7 shows the measurement result of the convex width and the measurement result of the peak load in correspondence with each other. Further, the measurement result of Table 1 is plotted in the graph of FIG. From the graph, it can be seen that when the peak load is 0.33 N or more, the convex width, which has been in a decreasing tendency, is much less likely to decrease from 11.7 mm, that is, the decreasing tendency is almost saturated. In addition, as shown in the photograph of FIG. 11, the test piece having a convex width of 11.7 mm or less is generally round and has a very sharp bent shape, and the bent shape is stably maintained. It is thought that there is. Therefore, it is considered that the peak load can be used as an evaluation index for the maintenance stability of the bent shape. Here, the peak load is used as the evaluation index.

On the other hand, Table 1 in FIG. 7 shows the measurement results of the bending resistance C of the above-described test pieces and the measurement results of the above-described peak load in correspondence with each other. In the graph of FIG. 15, the measurement result is plotted with the horizontal axis representing the peak load and the vertical axis representing the bending resistance C. Further, in the graph, the plot points are linearly approximated by the method of least squares or the like. The approximate straight line is also shown.

As described above, when the peak load is 0.33 N or more, the bending shape maintenance stability is increased. Therefore, the bending resistance C corresponding to the peak load of 0.33 N is seen in the approximate straight line of this graph. And 1.64 mN. Therefore, it is considered that the maintenance stability of the bent shape can be reliably improved by setting the bending resistance C of the portion 10p2 not including the broken line to 1.64 mN or more. And from this, in this embodiment, the bending resistance C of the broken line non-containing portion 10p2 is set to 1.64 mN or more.

<<< Experiment for Finding a Preferred Numerical Range of Bending Softness When Bending Line Containing Part 10p1 Bends to Project to Non-Skin Side >>>
First, the same sample as that used for examining the above-described evaluation index was prepared. That is, as shown in Table 2 of FIG. 16, a sample was prepared in a state in which a broken line LB having the same basis weight level and the same specifications as described above was formed.
Then, from each sample in which the broken line LB is formed, five test pieces for measuring the bending resistance are cut into rectangular shapes of 38 mm in length and 25 mm in width, and these are taken as test pieces of the broken line-containing portion 10p1. did. FIG. 17 shows a schematic plan view of the test piece. When the test piece is cut out, the vertical direction is set along the width direction of the sample, while the horizontal direction is set as the sample. Along the longitudinal direction. Moreover, the test piece was cut out so that the broken line LB was positioned along the horizontal direction at a position of 11 mm from the upper end in the vertical direction of the test piece. Further, an acrylic adhesive tape was attached to the upper end of the test piece in the longitudinal direction for the same purpose and with the same specifications as described above.

Also in this experiment, the bending resistance of each test piece was measured according to JIS L1085 using the Gurley type flexibility testing machine shown in FIG. That is, the upper end of the test piece in the vertical direction is fixed to the chuck of the movable arm of the tester with a length of 6.3 mm, while the lower end of the test piece is tested with a length of 6.3 mm in the vertical direction. It was made to contact the upper end of the pendulum of the machine. At this time, the upper end of the pendulum was brought into contact with the test piece from the non-skin side of the test piece so that the bending resistance when the test piece was bent so as to protrude toward the non-skin side could be measured. . Then, moving the movable arm so that the test piece protrudes and bends on the non-skin side in the thickness direction, reads the scale of the movement position of the pendulum when the lower end of the test piece is separated from the upper end of the pendulum, Based on this reading, the bending resistance D was determined. Moreover, since five test pieces are cut out and prepared for each basis weight level as described above, the above-mentioned bending resistance D is measured five times for each basis weight level and averaged five times. The value was defined as the bending resistance D of the basis weight level.

In Table 2 of FIG. 16, the measurement result of the bending resistance D and the measurement result of the peak load are shown as corresponding to the experimental result. In addition, since the sample used for the test piece for measuring the bending resistance is the same as the sample for examining the evaluation index, the measurement result of the peak load is the same as that measured previously. In the graph of FIG. 18, the measurement result is plotted by plotting the horizontal axis as the peak load and the vertical axis as the bending resistance D. Further, in the graph of FIG. An approximate straight line approximated by is also shown.

Here, as described above, when the peak load is 0.33 N or more, the bent shape maintenance stability becomes high. Therefore, in the approximate straight line of this graph, the bending resistance corresponding to the above-described peak load of 0.33 N is obtained. Looking at degree D, it is 1.36 mN. Therefore, it is considered that the maintenance stability of the bent shape can be reliably increased by setting the bending resistance of the bent line-containing portion 10p1 to 1.36 mN or more. From this, in this embodiment, the bending resistance D when the bent line-containing portion 10p1 is bent so as to protrude to the non-skin side is set to 1.36 mN or more.

In this experiment, in addition to the above measurement, the bending resistance E when the test piece of the broken line-containing portion 10p1 is bent so as to protrude toward the skin side was also measured, and Table 2 in FIG. Shows the measurement results. Table 2 also shows the bending resistance D when bending so as to protrude toward the non-skin side described earlier. Further, in Table 2, the latter bending resistance D is calculated based on the former bending resistance D. A subtraction value F obtained by subtracting the bending resistance E is also shown.

In the graph of FIG. 19, each subtraction value F is plotted in association with the above-described peak load measurement result. Here, the plotted points in FIG. In the approximated approximate line, the subtraction value F corresponding to the aforementioned peak load of 0.33 N is 0.48 mN. Therefore, it is considered that the maintenance stability of the bent shape can be reliably increased by setting the subtraction value F to 0.48 mN or more. Therefore, desirably, from the subtraction value F, that is, the bending softness D when the bent line-containing portion 10p1 is bent so as to protrude toward the non-skin side, the bent line-containing portion 10p1 is bent so as to protrude toward the skin side. A subtraction value F obtained by subtracting the bending resistance E is preferably set to 0.48 mN or more.

By the way, the measurement procedure of the bending resistance E when the test piece of the broken line-containing portion 10p1 is bent so as to protrude toward the skin side is as described above, the bending resistance when the test piece is bent so as to protrude toward the non-skin side as described above. It is almost the same as the measurement procedure of degree D. That is, in the measurement procedure described above, the pendulum of the Gurley type flexibility tester was brought into contact with the test piece from the non-skin side, but instead, if the pendulum was brought into contact with the test piece from the skin side. The bending resistance E in the case where the test piece of the above-described broken line-containing portion 10p1 is bent so as to protrude to the skin side can be measured.

On the other hand, in Table 1 of FIG. 7 described above, the measurement result of the bending resistance A when the test piece of the broken line-free portion 10p2 is bent so as to protrude toward the skin side is also shown. Table 2 shows the measurement results of the bending resistance E when the bent line-containing portion 10p1 is bent so as to protrude to the skin side. Table 3 in FIG. 20 shows a subtraction value G obtained by subtracting the latter bending resistance E from the former bending resistance A in association with the above-described peak load measurement result. In the graph of FIG. 21, the measurement results in Table 3 are plotted with the horizontal axis representing the peak load and the vertical axis representing the subtraction value G.

Here, when the subtraction value G corresponding to the above-mentioned peak load of 0.33 N is seen in the approximate straight line obtained by linear approximation of the plotted points in FIG. 21 by the least square method or the like, it is 0.64 mN. Therefore, it is considered that the maintenance stability of the bent shape can be reliably improved by setting the subtraction value G to 0.64 mN or more. Therefore, desirably, the subtraction value G, that is, the stiffness when the bent line-containing portion 10p1 is bent so that the bent line-containing portion 10p1 protrudes to the skin side from the bending resistance A when the bent line non-containing portion 10p2 protrudes to the skin side. A subtraction value G obtained by subtracting the softness E is preferably set to 0.64 mN or more.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 2, the absorption body 10 of this napkin 1 assumes the excretion opening | mouth opposing area | region A201He which excretion opening | mouth 201He, such as a wearer's vaginal opening, opposes. The region A201He is defined as a region A201He separated from the foremost end P1fe of the napkin 1 in the longitudinal direction by 50 mm to 200 mm rearward in the longitudinal direction. Here, preferably, from the skin side in the thickness direction. When the napkin 1 is viewed, in the excretion opening facing area A201He, it is preferable that the above-described dot-shaped compressed portion EMD does not overlap the polygonal line LB.
And if it becomes like this, in the said excretion mouth opposing field A201He, while improving the rigidity of absorber 10 whole and preventing unnecessary deformation, such as so-called kinking which the absorber 10 can raise, The dotted squeezed portion EMD does not inhibit the bent shape that protrudes to the skin side along the broken line LB. And by this, in the excretion mouth facing area A201He, the absorbent body 10 can be bent flexibly in the direction of protruding to the skin side according to the external force facing inward in the width direction such as crotch tightening force, As a result, the portion protruding to the skin side can be reliably brought into contact with the labia where the excretory opening 201He exists, and as a result, good fit can be achieved.

On the other hand, the unused napkin 1 is individually packaged for each napkin 1 by a packaging sheet (not shown). In this individual packaging state, the napkin 1 is folded in the longitudinal direction so that the dimension in the longitudinal direction is reduced. It is in the state. For example, two fold lines LR1 and LR2 are provided along the width direction so as to be folded in three in the example of FIG.

In this case, desirably, the intersections PC1 and PC2 between the two fold lines LR1 and LR2 and the fold line LB are not located in the excretory opening facing area A201He.
For example, in this example, as shown in FIG. 3, each of the intersections PC1 and PC2 is located on the outer side in the longitudinal direction from the adhesive portion 40w of the wing portion 1w that is located at substantially the same position as the excretory opening facing region A201He in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, the intersections PC1 and PC2 are deviated forward or backward from the excretion opening facing area A201He, respectively.
Therefore, in the excretion opening facing area A201He, the bent shape that protrudes toward the skin along the bent line LB is not hindered by these folded lines LR1 and LR2. Therefore, in the excretion mouth facing area A201He, the absorbent body 10 can be flexibly bent in the direction of protruding to the skin side according to the external force facing the inner side in the width direction such as the crotch tightening force. The part protruding to the skin side can be more reliably brought into contact with the labia.

Further, desirably, when the back sheet 30 is viewed from the non-skin side in the thickness direction as shown in FIG. 3, the above-mentioned

adhesive portions

40c, 40c... Provided on the non-skin side of the back sheet 30 are broken lines. It should be not overlapped with LB. That is, in this example, each

adhesive part

40c, 40c ... is formed of an adhesive applied in a strip shape along the longitudinal direction, and each of these

adhesive parts

40c, 40c ... is provided side by side in the width direction. ing. And the said broken line LB is located in the adhesive agent unapplication area | region 30na between a pair of

adhesion parts

40c and 40c located in the most center side of those width directions.
Therefore, the bent shape that protrudes to the skin side along the broken line LB is not hindered by the rigidity factor of the adhesive portion 40c. And according to external force which acts on the napkin 1 such as crotch tightening force, the absorbent body 10 can be bent flexibly in a direction protruding to the skin side, and as a result, the portion protruding to the skin side can be obtained. It is possible to reliably contact the labia.
Incidentally, each of the

adhesive portions

40c, 40c,..., In the unfolded state where the napkin 1 is not bent at the broken line LB, is preferably spaced from the broken line LB by 2 mm or more, more desirably 4.5 mm or more. If it does in this way, the inhibition which concerns on the above-mentioned bending shape can be prevented effectively.

=== Other Embodiments ===
As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, said embodiment is for making an understanding of this invention easy, and is not for limiting and interpreting this invention. Further, the present invention can be changed or improved without departing from the gist thereof, and needless to say, the present invention includes equivalents thereof. For example, the following modifications are possible.

In the above-described embodiment, the sanitary napkin 1 is exemplified as the absorbent article, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the absorbent article may be a panty liner.

In the above-described embodiment, the sanitary napkin 1 as an example of the absorbent article has the pair of

wing portions

1w and 1w, but is not limited thereto. That is, the wing portion 1w may not be provided.

In the above-described embodiment, the broken line LB is formed at the center position in the width direction of the absorbent body 10, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the broken line LB may be formed at a position slightly shifted from the center position in the width direction. However, since the absorber 10 and the napkin 1 are basically designed symmetrically with respect to the center position in the width direction, it is desirable to form the polygonal line LB at the center position.

In the above-described embodiment, the absorbent core 11 is covered with the two sheets of the skin-side sheet 12 and the non-skin-side sheet 13, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the skin side and non-skin side of the absorbent core 11 may be covered so as to be wrapped with a single sheet.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, since the broken line LB as a folding induction line was formed in the skin side sheet 12, the non-skin side sheet 13, and the absorptive core 11, what has such three is used as the absorber 10. However, it is not limited to this. That is, what does not have the skin side sheet | seat 12 and the non-skin side sheet | seat 13, and the broken line LB is formed only in the absorptive core 11 is also contained in the concept of the absorber 10 of this invention.

In the above-described embodiment, the broken line LB is exemplified as the folding guide line. However, the broken line LB can be formed as follows, for example. First, the absorber 10 is folded in half in the width direction, and the portions facing each other are overlapped in the thickness direction. Then, by passing the absorbent body 10 between a pair of upper and lower press rolls (not shown) in this bi-folded state, the bi-folded absorbent body 10 is pressed in the thickness direction with these press rolls. Then, after the pressing, if the bi-folded absorbent body 10 is developed in the width direction to release the bi-fold state, a fold line LB along the longitudinal direction is formed at the center position in the width direction. Incidentally, in the manufacturing process of the absorbent body 10, the absorbent body 10 is basically in the state of a continuous body that is continuous in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, the above-described breath treatment is also performed on the continuous body of the absorbent body 10. . Therefore, the said press process can be performed continuously, As a result, it becomes possible to manufacture the absorber 10 with high productivity.

In the above-described embodiment, the broken line LB is exemplified as the folding guide line, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, as long as the absorber 10 is guided so as to have a bent shape that protrudes toward the skin, the folding guide line may have a form other than the bent line LB. For example, the folding guide line may be formed by a pressing portion formed by pressing the absorbent body 10 from one or both of the skin side and the non-skin side at the center position in the width direction of the absorbent body 10. More specifically, a linear compressed portion extending in the longitudinal direction of the napkin 1 may be used as a folding guide line, or a plurality of dotted compressed portions formed discretely along the longitudinal direction. The assembly may be a folding guide line. Further, by forming a low basis weight portion having a lower basis weight (g / m ² ) of the liquid absorbent fiber than the surrounding portion in the absorbent core 11 along the longitudinal direction, the folding guide line is formed. It may be formed.

In the above-described embodiment, the upper limit value of the bending resistance so that the bending line-containing portion 10p1 is bent so that the bending line-containing portion 10p1 protrudes to the non-skin side has not been described. Each of these bending resistances is desirably set to 8 mN or less. And if it sets in this way, it can control the excessive hardness of the napkin 1 resulting from excessively high bending resistance, and can maintain the feeling of wearing of the napkin 1 in a favorable state as a result. Become.

In the above-described embodiment, the broken line LB as the folding guide line is formed over the entire length in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent body 10, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, if the absorbent body 10 is guided to protrude and bend toward the skin, the broken line LB may be formed in a part of the longitudinal direction of the absorbent body 10. For example, the broken line LB may be provided only in the excretion opening facing area A201He in the absorbent body 10.

1 sanitary napkin (absorbent article), 1w wing part, 10 absorber, 10p1 broken line containing part, 10p2 broken line non-containing part, 11 absorbent core, 12 skin side sheet, 13 non skin side sheet, 20 top sheet, 20e Outer peripheral edge part, 20w part, 30 back sheet, 30c part, 30na adhesive uncoated area, 30w part, 40c adhesive part, 40w adhesive part, EM pressing part, EMD point-like pressing part, EML linear pressing part, ED10 pressing part, LB broken line (folding induction line), P1fe foremost end, 201 wearer, 201K crotch, 201He excretion opening, AEML area,

Claims

An absorbent article having a longitudinal direction, a width direction, and a thickness direction orthogonal to each other,
Having an absorbent body with liquid absorbent fibers;
The absorbent body has a folding guide line along the longitudinal direction for guiding it to bend and protrude toward the skin side in the thickness direction,
The absorber includes a portion including the folding guide line, and a portion not including the folding guide line located on both sides of the folding guide line in the width direction,
When the bending resistance is measured by the Gurley method defined in JIS L1085,
The bending resistance of the portion not including the folding guide line is 1.64 mN or more,
An absorbent article having a bending resistance of 1.36 mN or more when a pendulum of a Gurley tester is applied from a non-skin side in the thickness direction to a portion including the folding guide line.
The absorbent article according to claim 1,
From the bending resistance when the pendulum is applied to the part including the folding guide line from the non-skin side in the thickness direction, the pendulum is applied to the part including the folding guide line in the thickness direction. An absorbent article, wherein a subtraction value obtained by subtracting the bending resistance when applied from the side is 0.48 mN or more.
The absorbent article according to claim 1 or 2,
From the bending resistance when the pendulum is applied from the skin side in the thickness direction to the portion not including the folding guide line, the skin in the thickness direction is applied to the portion including the folding guide line. An absorbent article, wherein a subtraction value obtained by subtracting the bending resistance when applied from the side is 0.64 mN or more.
The absorbent article according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The folding guide line is a broken line;
The absorbent article, wherein the absorbent body is bent so as to protrude toward the skin side in the thickness direction along the broken line.
The absorbent article according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A liquid-permeable sheet is arranged on the skin side in the thickness direction from the absorber,
The liquid-permeable sheet and the absorbent body are joined and integrated by a point-like compressed portion formed by pressing from the skin side in the thickness direction,
The absorbent body has an excretion opening facing region where the excretion opening of the wearer faces.
When the absorbent article is viewed from the skin side in the thickness direction, the compressed article does not overlap the folding guide line in the excretory opening facing region.
The absorbent article according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The absorbent body has an excretion opening facing region where the excretion opening of the wearer faces.
A folding line for folding the absorbent article in the longitudinal direction so as to reduce the dimension in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent article along the width direction;
When viewed from the thickness direction, the intersection of the fold line and the fold guide line is not located in the excretory opening facing region.
The absorbent article according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
Having an adhesive part for fixing the absorbent article to underwear on the non-skin side of the absorbent article,
The absorbent article, wherein the adhesive portion does not overlap the folding guide line when viewed from the thickness direction.
The absorbent article according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
The absorbent article, wherein the folding guide line extends over the entire length of the absorbent body in the longitudinal direction.
The absorbent article according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
The portion not including the folding guide line and the portion including the folding guide line when the bending resistance is measured by the Gurley method tester are each 38 mm in length in the width direction from the absorbent article. And cut into a rectangular shape with a length of 25 mm in the longitudinal direction,
When the direction of the length of 38 mm is the vertical direction and the direction of the length of 25 mm is the horizontal direction,
The bending resistance of the portion that does not include the folding guide line is such that the one end in the vertical direction of the portion that does not include is fixed to the chuck of the movable arm of the testing machine, and the vertical direction of the portion that does not include the bending guide line. Measured with the pendulum of the testing machine in contact with the other end,
The bending resistance of the portion including the folding guide line is determined so that the position of the folding guide line is located at a position separated from the chuck of the movable arm by 4.7 mm in the vertical direction. The absorbent article is measured in a state in which one end portion in the direction is fixed to the chuck and the pendulum of the testing machine is in contact with the other end portion in the longitudinal direction of the included portion.