GB2227174A

GB2227174A - Sanitary article

Info

Publication number: GB2227174A
Application number: GB8926841A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Yumiko Aramaki; Akiko Itoh; Takatoshi Kobayashi; Hisanobu Tanaka; Susumu Tohhei; Hiromi Baba
Original assignee: Kao Corp
Current assignee: Kao Corp
Priority date: 1988-11-28
Filing date: 1989-11-28
Publication date: 1990-07-25
Anticipated expiration: 2009-11-28
Also published as: GB2227174B; GB2260708B; MY104483A; HK60294A; GB9222141D0; HK88694A; GB2260708A; GB8926841D0

Abstract

The sanitary article 1 comprises a liquid-permeable surface material, a liquid-retaining absorbent and a liquid- impermeable anti-leakage material, being substantially in a rectangular form, being provided with flexible flaps 2 extending from both ends in the lateral direction at a position deviated lengthwise. The article is particularly suitable for use as a sanitary napkin, and provides marked lowering of leakage along the buttock depression, especially when the user is asleep. <IMAGE>

Description

SANITARI ARTICLE : This invention relates to an absorbent absorbent article having high antileakage properties. nor particularly, it relates to an absorbent article such as a sanitary napkin where the leakage along the depression of buttock of a user can be remarkably lowered.

Conventional absorbent articles, for example. sanitary napkins and disposable diapers basically comprise an absorber such a. a cotton pulp or an absorbent paper sheet, an antileakage material provided at the bottom and sides of said absorber and a surface material placed thereon.

Recently, an absorbent article wherein a lengthwise side of an absorber is cut so as to form a dent to thereby allow the absorbent article to closely adhere to the crotch and thus prevent the leakage of a body fluid has been proposed. Further a process for inhibiting the leakage of a body fluid from the crotch has been proposed. These techniques produce certain results.

However, it is impossible by these methods to prevent the leakage of a body fluid along the depression of buttocks which is frequently observed during sleeping.

Thus there have been proposed various techniques to form a raised portion at the rear centre of an absorbent article to thereby improve the adhesion of the absorbent article to the depression of buttocks thus solving the abo xentioned problem.

For example, one such technique comprises curving the rear part of an absorber so as to form a raised portion. However, this method essentially requires a highly complicated production process. In addition, it is unavoidable that the raised portion comprising a highly rigid material such as pulp or paper would give a serious feeling of physical discomfort to a user.

On the other hand, another proposed technique comprises placing a flexible material at the rear centre of an absorber so as to form a raised portion. In this method, a highly flexible raised portion would cause no feeling of physical discomfort. Once a compression stress caused by the body weight or motion of a user is applied to the raised portion, however, the raised portion is broken and shows no recovery any more even when the compression stress is removed. Therefore this product has a poor adhesiveness. The substantial disappearance of the raised portion as described above is particularly obvious when a body fluid is excreted and the raised portion is in a moist state.

As a result, the desired inhibition of the leakage along the depression of the buttocks can be hardly achieved.

Thus there has been no process which makes it possible to effeetively inhibit the leakage of a body fluid along the depression of the buttock by improving the adhesion of an absorbent article to the buttocks without deteriorating the feel at the use. Thus it has been impossible to overcome hygienic and psychological unpleasantness of users and helpers, in particular,during sleeping which causes a serious problem.

Under these circumstances, the present inventors have conducted extensive studios in order to develop an absorbent article wherein the leakage of a body fluid along the depression of the buttocks can be effectively inhibited by improving the adhesion thereof to the buttocks without deteriorating the feel at the use, thus completing the present invention.

The sanitary article of the invention comprises a liquidpermeable surface material, a liquid-retaining absorbent and d liquid-impermeable anti-leakage material, being aubstantially in a rectangular form, being provided with flexible flaps extending from both ends in the lateral direction at a position deviated lengthwise.

It is preferred that a dry compreseion recovery extent of the central part of the rear part is 25 percent or above; the elastic material is provided exclusively at the central part of the rear part; or the flaps are hydrophilic on the front surface to contact the skin of a user and then hydrophobic on the rear surface to be connected vith a tape fastener.

It is preferred that the hydrophilic surface of the flaps ban a water-absorbing rate of 200 seconds or less and the hydrophobic surface of the flaps has c water-absorbing rate of 500 seconds or more The invention provides another embodiment of the sanitary article being provided at a central part in the widthwise direction of the rear part of the article between the surface material and the absorbent with an elastic ember, said central part having a modulus of compression rigidity of 15 to 38 percent, said central part having a dry compression recovery extent of 25 percent or norm.

The invention provides a third embodiment of the sanitary article having a structure such that folded portions of the flaps gets located below the absorbent when the article in used by a wearer.

( Brief Description of Drawing ) Fig. 1 is a plan view of an example of the absorbent article of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the article of Fig. 1 along line C - C', Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional views corresponding to Fig. 2 of other examples of the absorbent article of the present invention, Fig. 5 shows a process for fixing the absorbent article of the present invention to the clothing, Fig. 6 is a plan view of a conventional absorbent article, Fig. 7 is a sectional view of the article of Fig. 6 along line - At, and Fig. 8 shows a process for fixing the Game to the clothing.

1: absorbent article, 2: lug, 3: antileakage material, 4: liquid-per:naable part of surface material, 5: liquid-impermeable part of surface matert 6 : absorber, and 7: clothing.

Figs.1l to14 show each a schematic plan view of an example of the absorbent article of the present invention. Fig.15 shows load/displaceirient curves to be used in the determination of physical properties including modulus of compression rigidity. Fig.16 shows a sanitary napkin simulation supple used in the Examples of the present invention, wherein (a) is a plan view, (b) is a sectional view of (a) along line A - A' and (a) is a sectional view thereof along line B - B', Fig.17 is a schematic sectional view of a device for the determination of physical properties such as modulus of compression rigidity.

F1g.18 is a perspective view of a female hip model to be used in the determination of absorption in supine position.

11: absorbent article 11': sanitary napkin simulation sample, 12: elastic material, 13 : surface material, 14: absorber, 15: antileakage material, 16: cell, 17 : pressure-sensing plate, sample stand, 19.. female hip model, and 20 : tube.

The invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to its parts: (A) th flexible flaps, (B) the flaps having one hydrophillic surface and the other hydrophobic surface, (C) the elastic member and (D) the folded portions of the flops.

Flexible flaps Accordingly, the present invention provides an absorbent article which is produced by successively laminating a liquid-permeable surface material, a liquid-retaining absorber and a liquidimpermeable anti leakage material and is substantially slender, characterized in that flexible lugs are extended from both lateral sideA of said absorbent article at a position deviated lengthwise. The lug is the flap.

Now the present invention will be described in detail by reference to the attached drawings.

rig. 1 is an elevational view of an example of the embodiment of the absorbent article of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the absorbent article of Fig. 1 along lint C - C', while Fig. 5 shows a process for fixing said absorbent article to the clothing.Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional views corresponding to Fig. 2 of other examples of the embodiment of the present invention Different from a conventional absorbent article shown in Fig 6, the absorbent article of the present invention involves flexible lugi 2 extended from the lateral sides at a position deviated lengthw4sc Thus the length of the rear part of the absorbent material starting from the lug, which roughly corresponds to the point of the excretion of a body fluid, is longer than that of the front part thereof.

In the conventional article of Fig. 6. namely, the lateral center line of the absorbent article 1 is substantially in line with the lateral center line A - of of the lugs 2 In contrast thereto, the lateral center line B - B' of the absorbent article 1 of the present invention of Fig. 1 is not substantially in line with the lateral center line C - C' of the lugs 2. Accordingly the area of the part covering the nates is relatively larder than that of the part covering the public part. As a result, the leakage from the notes can be remarkably suppressed in the latter case, even when the length of the absorber is the same or somewhat smaller than that of a conventional absorbent article.In the present invention, it is preferable that the lateral center line B - BL of the absorbent article is apart from the lateral center line C - C' of the lugs at least by 10 am.

Furthermore, rig. 3 shows a preferable example of the embodiment of the absorbent article of the present invention. In this embodiment, one surface of the absorber 6 to be opposed to the skin of a user and the other surface to be opposed to the clothing of the user are coated respectively with surface materials 4 and 5. The surface material 4 on the surface to be opposed to the skin of the user is liquid-pernieable, while the surface material 5 on the surface to be opposed to the clothing of the user is substantially liquid-impermeable. In this article, the lugs 2 and the liquid-impermeable part 5 would doubly cut off the exhausted liquid, thus achieving highly excellent antileakage properties, Any surface material such as paper, nonwoven fabric, film, net and laminate thereof may be used in the present invention Among these materials, films, nets and laminates thereof with nonwoven fabrics are particularly preferable from the viewpoint of stickiness of the surface. When a film or a net is to be used, it is possible, as shown inFig. 2, to provide pores on both of the surfaces to be opposed to the skin and the clothing of a user so as to @achieve liquid-permeability. However it is highly desirable, as shown in Fig. 3, to make the surface to be opposed to the clothing of the user substantially liquid-impermeable by forming no pore thereon so as -1.

to improve the antileakage properties.

In the present invention, any lug 2 may be used so long as it is sufficiently flexible for ready bending so as to be fixed to the clothing 7 as shown in Fig. 5. However it is preferable to use a liquid-impermeable lug from the viewpoint of antileakage properties. As Fig. 4 shows, the lug 2 may also be constituted of an assembly of an antileakage material 3, a surface material 4 and an absorber 6. However it is preferable to extend the antileakage material 3 from both lateral sides of the absorbent article to thereby form lugs, since a simple structure cAn be achieved in this case.

The si2e of the lug 2 according to the present invention is not restricted but may vary depending on the siz of the absorbent article. In the case of an overnight sanitary napkin of 250 mm in length and 70 mm in width, the length and width of the lug may preferably range respectively from 30 to 70 mm and from 25 to 50 mm, by taking the stability and the easiness in the procedure of fixing the napkin to the clothing into consideration. The lug may be preferably deviated upward by 20 to 40 am from the lateral center line of the absorbent article.

Examples of the absorber to be used in the present invention include known ones such as aggregates of pulp, rayon or synthetic fibers, polymer absorbers and foamed materials. It is preferable to use a mixture of a hydrophilic fiber such as rayon with a synthetic fiber such as polyester for the surface to be opposed to the skin of a user so as to lower the stickiness.

Any antileakage material may be used in the present invention so long as it is liquid-impermeable.

Examples thereof include films, nonwoven fabrics, water-repellent papers and laminates thereof. Among these materials, a laminate of a film and a nonwoven fabric is preferable from the viewpoint of texture.

Zt is still preferable, as shown in Fig. 3, that a laminate of a flm and a nonwoven fabric is used in such a manner that the nonwoven fabric is opposed to the body of a user.

In order to more firmly fix the absorbent material to the clothing, it is preferable to add a tackif icr or a non-slip agent to the lugs or the absorbent material per so.

The absorbent article of the present invention is not restricted by the examples described in detail above but various modification may be done within the above-mentionede scope.

T:he absorbent article of the present invention shows a considerable decrease in leakage from the natal, when compared with conventional ones. Zn particular, the article of Example 2 which involves a liquid impermeable part in the surface material opposed to the clothing show. a remarkable decrease in leakage from the crotch, which suggests that it is an ideal absorbent article.

Flspe having one hydrophilic surface and the other hydrophobic surface The auricle of the invention is preferred to have flexible flaps having one hydrophilic surface and the other hydrophobic surface and eventually is improved in view of absorption of a high viscosity-having liquid.

The flap. may be produced from non-woven fabric, film or a foamed material.

It is preferred that the front surface to contact the skin of a wearer of the article is made of a porous nonwoven fabric The front surface may be alternatively made of a hest-fused nonwoven fabric of synthetic resin fibers, such as polyester fibers and a conjugated fibers of polyester and another material. The fibers are preferred to have 2 or aPre denier. especially from 3 to 6 denier.The front surface may be further treated with a surfactant. Heating adhesion of the fibers is conducted with blowing of hot air. After the blowing, it is better to heat the surface.

It is preferred that the tea: surface to contact the cloths of the wearer- is made of a non-porous synthetic resin film, such as a sheet of polyethylene having a density of 30 to 50 gim: and a laminate of some different resin layers.

The front surface layer and the rear one are bonded with each other by melting. Between them, an absorbent paper may be inserted.

elastic material Accordingly, the present invention provides an absorbent article which comprises a liquid-permeable surface material, a liquid-retaining absorber and a liquid-impermeable antileakage material and is substantially slender, characterized in that an elastic material is provided between said surface material and said absorber at least at a central part in the widthwise direction of the rear part of said absorbent article, that the modulus of compression rigidity of said central part of the rear part is 15 to 38% and that the dry compressing recovery rate thereof is 258 or above.

The present inventors have found out that the above-mentioned problem, namely, mutually inconsistent requirements of improving the adhesion of an absorbent article to the nates and preventing the deterioration of the feel at the use can be satisfied by providing an elastic material having a high flexibility and a high compression recovery between a surface material and an absorber at least at a central part in the widthwise direction of the rear part of the absorbent article.

As described above, the elastic material should have a flexibility of a certain extent in order to avoid the deterioration of the feel at the use. This flexibility can be expressed numerically as a modulus of compression rigidity which will be described in detail in Examples hereinafter. The modulus of compression rigidity may be calculated by multiplying the ratio of the compression work done practically measured in a compression test at the rear center of the absorbent article under given conditions (corresponding to the area of the figure ADBC in Fig.15) to the compression work done when the absorbent article is assumed to be completely elastic (corresponding to the area of the triangle ABC in Fig./5) by 100. A lower modulus of compression rigidity indicates that the elastic material is more flexible.In order to impart an appropriate flexibility to the absorbent article, the modulus of compression rigidity should be 38% or below, preferably 32% or below. When the adhesion is taken into consideration, the modulus of compression regidity should be 15% or above, preferably 20% or above.

When it is lower than 15%, the rise is too flexible and thus it is difficult to maintain the shape of the rise. In this case, therefore, the poor adhesion makes it difficult to achieve the object of the present invention. Thus it is required in the present invention that the modulus of compression rigidity rangesfrom 15 to 39%, preferably from 20 to 32%.

On the other hand, the elastic material should show a high compression recovery, at least in a dry state, in order to prevent the substantial disappearance of the rise as described above, This compression recovery can be expressed numerically as a dry compression recovery rate which will be described in detail in the Examples hereinafter. The dry compression recovery rate can be calculated by multiplying the ratio of the compression recovery work done practically measured in a compression recovery test under given conditions (corresponding to the area of the figure AEBC in Fig.f 5) to the compression work done (corresponding to the figure ADBC in Fig.15) by 100. A higher dry compression recovery rate indicates that the elastic material shows the higher compression recovery. In order to impart an appropriate compression recovery to the absorbent article, the dry compression recovery rate should be 25% or above, preferably 28% or above.

When a fluid is exhausted and the rise is moist, the leakage of the fluid along the depression of nates can be more effectively inhibited by providing an excellent adhesion of the absorbent article to the depression. Thus it is preferable that the elastic material also has a high wet compression recovery rate. The compression recovery in a wet state can be expressed numerically as a wet compression recovery rate which will be described in detail in the Examples hereinafter. In order to impart an appropriate compression recovery to the elastic material, the wet compression recovery rate should be 25% or above, preferably 28% or above.

In the present invention, it is required that an elastic material having a flexibility and a compression recovery, each as described above, is provided between a surface material and an absorber at least at a central part in the widthwise direction of the rear part.

Figs. to to14 show each an embodiment of the absorbent article of the present invention.

As Fig.tl shows, the absorbent article of the present invention should comprise an elastic material 2 having a flexibility and a compression recovery, each as described above, at a central part in the widthwise direction of the rear part of the absorbent article. As Figs.12 tol4 show, it is also possible to provide said elastic material!2 at other part(s) in addition to the rear central part. However it is undesirable to provide the elastic material/2 at the both sides in the widthwise direction of the front part, since the adhesion of the absorbent article to the depression of nates might be lowered in this case.Furthermore, it is preferable that no elastic material 12 is present in the front part of the absorbent article | 1 in order to achieve close adhesion, as shown in Figs.fl and82. Namely, it is preferable that the elastic material 12 be provided exclusively at the central part in the widthwise direction of the rear part of the absorbent material, as shown in Fig. 11. However, an absorbent article showing considerably high antileakage properties and a good feel at the use can be obtained even when the elastic materially is provided in the manner as shown in Fig.-i2 orl3, so long as both of the flexibility and compression recovery of said elastic material fall each within a desirable range.That is to say, the position of the elastic material can be widely varied by taking the flexibility and compression recovery thereof into consideration.

In the present invention, the size of the elastic material is not particularly specified, since it may vary depending on the size of the absorbent article and the properties of'the elastic material. In an absorbent article of approximately 2iO mm in length and 75 mm in width to use over night, however, a length width and thickness of the elastic material preferably range respectively from 20 to 250 mm, from 10 to 60 mm and from S to 50 mm, still preferably from 50 to 150 mm, from 20 to 40. mm and from 20 to 40 mm.

In the present invention any elastic material may be used so long as it has a modulus of compression rigidity of 15 to 38% and a dry compression recovery rate of 25% or above. Namely, neither its shape nor composition is particularly restricted. It may be made of, for example, fibrous or foamed material.

From the viewpoints of productivity and cost, fiber aggregates may be preferably employed. Among these materials, a so-called web where short fibers slightly interlock together is particularly preferable. Fibers constituting said web may preferably have a fineness of 2 to 8 denier (d), still preferably 3 to 6 d, and a fiber length of 5 to 7 mm, still preferably 10 to 20 mm. The sectional view of the fiber is preferably hollow or odd-shaped, by taking the compression recovery into consideration.

The elastic material may comprise, for example, a hydrophilic material such as a cellulose polymer, a hydrophobic material such as a polyolefin polymer or a polyester polymer or a mixture of a hydorphilic material with a hydrophobic material. It may preferably comprise polyester fibers from the viewpoint of compression recovery. Furthermore, the elastic material may preferably has appropriate hydrophilic properties from the viewpoint of absorptivity.

Namely, it is preferable that the elastic material be a mixture of a hydrophilic material with a hydrophobic material. A web comprising polyester fibers and rayon fibers at a ratio by weight ranging from 40/60 to 80/20 is particularly preferable.

When the surface of the hydrophobic material is hydrophilically treated in this case, the hydrophilic properties of the whole elastic material can be more delicately controlledz Thus it is highly desirable to use such a material.

The elastic material of the present invention is not restricted by the examples cited above, but various modifications may be done ithot departing from tfie above-mentioned scope.

The surface material, absorber and anti-leakage material of the absorbent article according to the present invention are not particularly specified but any materials used in the preparation of known conventional absorbent articles may be used herein.

folded portions of the flaps The sanitary article of the invention may have a structure such that folded portions of the flaps gets located below the absorbent when the article is used by a wearer.

This will prevent the wearied sanitary article from Slipping out of fitting.

The article shows an excellent feeling at the use and is superior in antileakage properties in the supine position.

In particular, the samples of Examples 2 to 5, each having an elastic material exclusively at the central part in the widthwise direction of the rear part and showing a wet compression recovery rate higher than 25%, showed excellent antileakage properties.

On the other hand, the sample of Comparative Example 1 having no elastic material showed poor antileakage properties. The sample of Comparative Example 2 having an elastic material of a modulus of compression rigidity exceeding 38% was inferior not only in feeling at the use but also in antileakage properties because of the low dry and wet compression recovery rates. Further, the sample of Comparative Example 3 showing a modulus of compression rigidity lower than 15% showed poor antileakage properties.

Thus it is concluded that the comparative samples are unsatisfactory as absorbent materials.

Examples To further illustrate the usefulness of the present invention, and not by way of linitation, the following Examples will be given.

Examples 1 to 3 and Comparative Example 1 Sanitary napkins of the present invention comprising the following surface material, absorber and antileakage material shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 and a conventional one shown in Fig. 7 were prepared.

Each lug was 50 mm in length and 35 mm in width.

In the case of the sanitary napkins of the present invention, the line B - B' was 30 mm apart from the line C - C' (cf. Fig. 1).

Surface material: A polyethylene film was laminated on a heat-bonded nonwoven fabric mainly comprising polyolefin and the obtained integral material was embossed so as to form pores. This surface material was provided in such a manner that the film was present on the surface to be opposed to the skin.

Absorber An absorbent paper, a cotton pulp and a polymer absorber were successively laminated so as to give a sheet of 250 mm in length and 70 mm in width.

Antileakage material A polyethylene film was laminated onto a heat-bonded nonwoven fabric comprising a polyester fiber. The integral material thus obtained was provided in such a manner that the film was opposed to the clothing.

The amounts of a test liquid absorbed by each sanitary napkin thus obtained until leakage was observed from the crotch (in orthostatic position) or from the nates (in supine position) were measured by using a manikin.

Table 1 shows the results. A larger value indicates the higher anti leakage properties at the crotch or nates.

Table 1

------------------------------------------------------------------ Structure Absorption (g) Absorption (g) plan view sectional (orthostatic) (supine) view Fig. 1 Fig. 2 7.61 do. 2 do. Fig. 3 9 .88 11.45 Ex. 3 do. Fig. 4 5 38 6.34 Comp. Ex. 1 Fig. 6 Fig. 7 5.36 3.28 Examples 4 to 18 and Comparative Examples 2 to 4 From a commercially available sanitary napkin (Laurier Overnight of Kao Corporation) having an absorber of 250 mm in length and 75 am in width, a surface material and an antileakabe material were removed, Then an elastic material 12 of the composition shown in Table was laminated on the given position of an absorberl4 shown in Fig.16 in such a manner that the lower end of the elastic material was always in line with the lower end of the absorber 14 while the elastic material was arranged so as to be always Symmetric in the widthwise direction.Further, a surface material/3 comprising a heat-bonded polyester nonwoven fabric and an antileakage material/5 comprising a laminate of wet polyester nonwoven fabric and ant ionomer resin film were provided to thereby give a sanitary napkin simulation samplell'. In Fig.

11, (a) is a plan view of the sanitary napkin simulation sample 11', (b) is a sectional view of (a) along A - A', while (c) is the sectional view thereof along line B The physical properties and performance of the sanitary napkin simulation sample thus obtained were determined by the following methods. Table t shows the results.

(1) Modulus of compression rigidity, dry compression recovery rate and wet compression recovery rate Procedure A Tensilon type RTM-25 (mfd. by Toyo Baldwin Co.) was employed. First, a pressure-sensing plate 17 of 30 mm in diameter was attached to the tip of a compression lead cell/6 shown in Fig.11, which will be referred to merely as the cell hereinafter. This cell was slowly lowered and gently contacted with a sample stand in such a manner that the distance between the pressure-sensing plate and the sample stand was assumed to be zero when a load of 5 kg was recorded.

Next, the cell 16 was raised by 20 mm and the simulation samples' was placed on the sample stand 18 in such a manner that the surface of the sample to be opposed to the skin was directed upward. Then the celll6 was lowered. When a load of 5 kg was recorded, the cell was raised up to the starting position. The load/displacement curve thus obtained was recorded.

The determination was conducted under the following conditlons: rate of cell lowering and rise: 10 mm/min full scale of recording sheet: 10 kg scanning rate of recording sheet: 100 mm/min.

Calculation Fig.S shows the load/displacement curve recorded on the sheet. Curves ADB and AES are load/displacement curves recorded respectivels during lowering and rise of the cell. The former is generally located above the latter.The area of the triangle ABC and that of the figure AEBC in this sheet were measured and the modulus of compress ion rigidity and the dry compression recovery rate were calculated according to the following equations: modulus of compression rigidity (8) = ADBC/ABC x 100 dry compression recovery rate (%) AEBC/ADBC x 100 (2) Wet compression recovery rate 10 cc of deionized water was pipetted onto the central part in the widthwise direction of the rear part of the sanitary napkin simulation sample and rapidly absorbed thereby. Immediately after the absorption, the same test as the one described in the above item (1) was conducted and the wet compression recovery rate was calculated according to the following equation: wet compression recovery rate (r) = AEBC/ADBC x 100.

(3) Absorption period The time required for the absorption of a given amount of a test liquid by the central part in the widthwise direction of the rear part of the sanitary napkin simulation sample was defined as the absorption period.

(4) Absorption in supine position A female hip model/9 in the supine position was provided with the sanitary napkin simulation model/I' in the manner as shown in Fig./8. A test liquid was fed to the model/l' via a tube 10 and absorbed by the sample /1'. The amount of the test liquid absorbed until the leakage became discernible was defined as the absorption in supine position.

(5) Feeling of physical disorder Healthy female adults were let to wear the sanitary napkin simulation samples and the feeling of physical disorder thereof was organoleptically evaluated according to the following criteria 1: feeling of considerable physical discomfort 2: feeling of somewhat physical discomfort 3: feeling of little physical discomfort Table 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elastic naterial physical properties Parformance --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Basis Modulus of Abuorption Commposition (ratio) weight Length width compression Ory compression Wet compression Absorption in suplne Feeling of (g/m2) (mm) (mm) rigidity recovery rate recovery rate period position physical (%) (%) (%) (sec.) (g) disorder ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ex. 4 Ray (100@) 130 80 30 37.6 29.5 24.5 7 29 2 5 Ray/PET (70%/30@) " " " 32.6 30.4 26.5 8 41 2 6 Ray/PET (50%/50@) " " " 31.1 31.0 27.6 10 50 3 7 Ray/PET (30%/70%) " " " 29.2 31.9 29.7 13 72 3 8 PET (100%) " " " 26.4 36.1 32.4 10 55 3 9 Ray/PET (30%/70) 65 " " 33.0 30.5 26.7 8 50 3 10 " 200 " " 25.8 33.4 31.9 15 62 2 11 " 130 40 " 30.0 31.7 29.8 12 60 3 12 - - 120 " 29.4 32.1 30.0 13 59 3 13 " " 250 " 30.5 31.8 30.5 14 54 2 14 " " 80 25 29.1 32.0 30.4 12 56 2 15 " " " 75 28.8 32.3 29.8 15 57 2 16 " " 250 " 29.0 31.9 30.2 17 27 2 17 Ray (100%) " 250 30 37.9 30.0 23.4 7 25 2 18 " " 80 75 37.6 29.7 23.0 8 27 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Comp. Ex. 2 none " - - 44.7 24.8 17.3 5 12 3 4 kraft pulp (100%) 130 80 30 40.9 23.2 16.7 6 20 1 5 pp (100%) " " " 13.6 26.0 24.5 22 23 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note) Ray : rayon fiber (@d x 15 mm).

pp: polypropylene Eiber (1.5 d x 15 mm).

PET: polyezter fiber (@ d x 15 mm).

Claims

CLAIMS :

1. A sanitary article comprising a liquid-permeable aurface material, a liquid-retaining absorbent and a liquid-impermeable anti-leakage material, being substantially in a rectangular form, being provided with flexible flaps extending from both ends in the lateral direction at a position deviated lengthwise.

2. A sanitary article according to claim 1, in which the dry compression recovery extent of the central part of the rear part is 25 percent or above.

3. A sanitary article according to claim 1 and 2 in which no elastic material is provided in the front part of the article.

4. A sanitary article according to claim 1, 2, or 3 in which the elastic material is provided exclusively at the central part of the rear part.

5. A sanitary article according to any preceding claim in which the flaps are hydrophillic on the front surface to contact the skin of a user and then hydrophobic on the rear surface to be connected with a tape fastener.

6. A sanitary article according to claim 5, in which the hydrophillic surface of the flaps has a water-absorbing rate of 200 seconds or less and the hydrophobic surface of the flaps has a water-absorbing rate of 500 seconds or more.

7. A sanitary article according to any preceding claim which is provided at a central part it, the widthwise direction of the rear part of the article between the surface material and the absorbent with an elastic member, said central part having a modulus of compression rigidity of 1 to 38 percent, said central I part having a dry compression recovery extent of 25 percent or more.

8. The sanitary article according to any preceding claim which has a structure such that folded portions of the flaps gets located below the absorbent when the article is used by a wearer.

9. A sanitary article substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.