Non-woven fabric comprising staple fibers and an absorbent article using the same

Abstract

A non-woven fabric comprising staple fibers, having a fiber length of 3 to 25 mm and a single fiber fineness of 1 to 100 denier, and is produced by the fibers being dropped while being dispersed to be accumulated and adhered at the intersection point of the staple fibers. The non-woven fabric has a specific volume of 40 to 200 cm 3 /g, and the number of fiber lumps having a volume of not less than 1 mm 3 is not more than 5 lumps per 20 g of the non-woven fabric. The bulky non-woven fabric of the present invention in which the sufficient contribution to bulkiness by fibers is exhibited is suitable for sanitary materials, such as disposable diapers, sanitary napkins, incontinence pads, nursing pads or the like, or wipes etc.

1 . A non-woven fabric comprising staple fibers, which comprises at least one kind of staple fiber having a fiber length of 3 to 25 mm and a single fiber fineness of 1 to 100 denier, and is produced by said fibers being dropped while being dispersed to be accumulated and adhered at the intersection point of the staple fibers; said non-woven fabric has a specific volume of 40 to 200 cm 3 /g, a number of fiber lumps having a volume of not less than 1 mm 3  is not more than 5 lumps per 20 g of said non-woven fabric.  
     
     
         2 . The non-woven fabric comprising staple fibers according to  claim 1 , wherein the fiber length of the staple fiber is in the range of 5 to 10 mm.  
     
     
         3 . The non-woven fabric comprising staple fibers according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one kind of staple fiber is a staple fibers having 3 to 20 crimps/inch (2.54 cm) of spiral type crimps.  
     
     
         4 . The non-woven fabric comprising staple fibers according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one kind of staple fiber in the fabric is a thermoplastic fiber.  
     
     
         5 . The non-woven fabric comprising staple fibers according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one kind of staple fiber is olefin thermoplastic fiber or polyester thermoplastic fiber.  
     
     
         6 . The non-woven fabric comprising staple fibers according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one kind of staple fiber is a thermoplastic conjugated staple fiber having a component which is capable of a thermal adhesion to said fiber.  
     
     
         7 . The non-woven fabric comprising staple fibers according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one staple fiber is a staple fiber having an eccentric core and sheath type structure comprising high crystalline polypropylene as a core component and high density polyethylene as a sheath component.  
     
     
         8 . An absorbent article using a non-woven fabric comprising staple fibers according to any one of  claims 1  to  7 .