Absorbent article including a formed fibrous article

Abstract

The present invention generally relates to a method and apparatus for a making a formed fibrous article and more specifically to method and apparatus for making a formed fibrous article useful as an absorbent core structure in a disposable sanitary article such as a sanitary napkin, panty liner, diaper or the like. The present invention also relates to a disposable sanitary article including a formed fibrous article according to the present invention as a core structure thereof.

We claim: 
     
         1 . An absorbent article comprising:
 a liquid permeable cover layer;   a liquid impermeable barrier layer;   an absorbent core arranged between the cover layer and barrier layer;   wherein the absorbent core comprises a pin-calendered fibrous formed by way of a pin-calendering process that does not use a carrier layer during the pin-calendering step.   
     
     
         2 . The absorbent article according to  claim 1 , further comprising a transfer layer arranged between the cover layer and the absorbent core. 
     
     
         3 . The absorbent article according to clam  1 , wherein the pin calendering process comprises conveying the fibrous article through a nip defined between a first roll and a second roll without the use of a carrier layer. 
     
     
         4 . The absorbent article according to  claim 3 , wherein the first roll comprises a vacuum roll and the second roll comprises a pin calender roll. 
     
     
         5 . The absorbent article according to  claim 4 , wherein a surface of the vacuum roll includes a plurality of holes and the pin calender roll includes a plurality of pins extending outwardly from a surface of the roll. 
     
     
         6 . The absorbent article according to  claim 5 , wherein each one of the plurality of pins is arranged such that it does not overlap with any of the plurality of holes. 
     
     
         7 . The absorbent article according to  claim 1 , wherein the absorbent core includes a first region and a plurality of second regions. 
     
     
         8 . The absorbent article according to  claim 7 , wherein the first region has a thickness in the range of from about 0.5 mm to about 3.5 mm and a density in the range of about 0.06 g/cc and 0.5 g/cc and each of the plurality of second regions has a thickness in the range of about 0.15 mm to about 0.7 mm and a density in the range of about 0.1 g/cc and 0.9 g/cc. 
     
     
         9 . The absorbent article according to  claim 8 , wherein the absorbent core includes between about 8 and 10 of the second regions per square centimeter. 
     
     
         10 . The absorbent article according to  claim 9 , wherein each of the second regions preferably has an individual size ranging from about 0.8 mm 2  to about 1.2 mm 2 .