Absorbent products having improved packaging efficiency

Abstract

A package comprising an interior space and an exterior surface may have a plurality of disposable absorbent articles disposed within the interior space of the package. Each of the disposable absorbent articles may have a topsheet; a backsheet; an absorbent core located between the topsheet and the backsheet. The absorbent products may exhibit an In-Bag Stack Height of less about 80 mm as measured according to an In-Bag Stack Height Test.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An absorbent product comprising:
 a package having height, width and depth dimensions, an interior space and an exterior surface, the package comprising a film;   a plurality of disposable pants preformed with refastenable bonds, wherein the disposable pants are bi-folded and arranged to form a stack of disposable pants, wherein the stack of disposable pants is compressed along a compression axis and disposed within the interior space of the package such that the compression axis of the stack of disposable pants is oriented substantially along the width dimension of the package, each of the folded disposable pants comprising a topsheet, a liquid impervious backsheet, a substantially cellulose free absorbent core located between the topsheet and the backsheet, a first waist region, a second waist region, and a crotch region extending longitudinally between the first and second waist regions;   wherein the backsheet comprises a thermoplastic film having an inner facing surface and an outer facing surface;   wherein the absorbent core comprises a first nonwoven substrate and a second nonwoven substrate, absorbent material comprising an absorbent particulate polymer material disposed between the first nonwoven substrate and the second nonwoven substrate, and a thermoplastic composition associated with the absorbent particulate polymer material and between the absorbent particulate polymer material, wherein the first nonwoven substrate faces the inner facing surface of the thermoplastic film;   wherein the thermoplastic composition is present in the form of fibers immobilizing the absorbent particulate polymer material; and   wherein the disposable pants exhibit a longitudinal bending stiffness of less than 355 N/m upon removal from the package.   
     
     
         2 . The absorbent product of  claim 1 , wherein absorbent particulate polymer material is immobilized in both a dry state and a wet state. 
     
     
         3 . The absorbent product of  claim 1 , wherein the fibers comprise a thickness of from about 1 to about 50 micrometers. 
     
     
         4 . The absorbent product of  claim 1 , wherein the fibers comprise an average length of from about 5 mm to about 50 mm. 
     
     
         5 . The absorbent product of  claim 1 , wherein a level of absorbent particulate polymer material is greater than about 80% by weight of the absorbent core. 
     
     
         6 . The absorbent product of  claim 5 , wherein a level of particulate polymer material is greater than about 90% by weight of the absorbent core. 
     
     
         7 . The absorbent product of  claim 6 , wherein a level of particulate polymer material is greater than about 95% by weight of the absorbent core. 
     
     
         8 . The absorbent product of  claim 1 , wherein the absorbent product exhibits an In-Bag Stack Height from 72 mm to 80 mm wherein the In-Bag Stack Height is the width of the package divided by the number of the disposable articles per stack and then multiplied by ten. 
     
     
         9 . The absorbent product of  claim 1 , wherein the absorbent material comprises less than 10% by weight cellulosic fibers. 
     
     
         10 . The absorbent product of  claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic composition forms a fibrous network within the absorbent particulate polymer material. 
     
     
         11 . The absorbent product of  claim 1 , wherein the absorbent core comprises an auxiliary adhesive. 
     
     
         12 . The absorbent product of  claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic composition has a softening point in the range between 50° C. and 300° C. 
     
     
         13 . The absorbent product of  claim 1 , wherein more than 60% of the absorbent particulate polymer is disposed in a front half of each of the absorbent articles.