Thermoplastic absorbent material having increased absorption and retention capacity for proteinaceous or serous body fluids

Abstract

A thermoplastic absorbent material for the absorption of proteinaceous or serous body fluids. The thermoplastic absorbent material has a better handling towards such fluids, both in terms of retention capacity and absorption rate, comprising a thermoplastic base material and a selected polyacrylate based material.

Description

Claims

1. A thermoplastic absorbent material comprising a thermoplastic polymeric base material and particles of a polyacrylate based material dispersed therein, wherein said polyacrylate based material has an extractable fraction of at least about 15% by weight, evaluated according to the Extractables test method described herein.

2. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 1, wherein said polyacrylate based material has an extractable fraction between about 20% and about 60% by weight.

3. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 1, wherein said extractable fraction has an average molecular weight of at least about 30,000 Dalton.

4. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 1, wherein said polyacrylate based material has an average particle size in a dry state from about 0.1 μm to about 500 μm.

5. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 1, wherein said polyacrylate based material comprises less than about 0.03 mole % of a crosslinking agent.

6. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 1, wherein said polyacrylate based material is a sodium polyacrylate.

7. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 1, wherein said thermoplastic absorbent material comprises from about 20% to about 99% by weight a thermoplastic polymeric base material and from about 1% to about 80% by weight particles of polyacrylate based material.

8. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 7, wherein said thermoplastic polymeric base material has a water absorption greater than about 30%.

9. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 1, wherein said thermoplastic polymeric base material comprises a thermoplastic polymer or a mixture of thermoplastic polymers; and a plasticiser or a blend of plasticisers.

10. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 9, wherein said thermoplastic polymeric base material comprises from about 5% to about 99% by weight of said thermoplastic polymer or mixture of polymers, and from about 5% to about 90% by weight of said plasticiser or blend of plasticisers.

11. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 1, wherein said thermoplastic polymeric base material is a hot melt adhesive.

12. A thermoplastic absorbent material comprising a thermoplastic polymeric base material and particles of a polyacrylate based material dispersed therein, wherein said polyacrylate based material has an extractable fraction of at least about 5% by weight, evaluated according to the Extractables test method described herein, and a retention capacity of at least about 30 g/g, said retention capacity evaluated according to the Centrifuge Retention Capacity Test for the polyacrylate based material described herein.

13. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 12, wherein said polyacrylate based material has a retention capacity of at least about 35 g/g.

14. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 12, wherein said polyacrylate based material has an extractable fraction between about 5% and about 15% by weight.

15. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 12, wherein said extractable fraction has an average molecular weight of at least about 30,000 Dalton.

16. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 12, wherein said polyacrylate based material has an average particle size in dry state from about 0.1 μm to about 500 μm.

17. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 12, wherein said polyacrylate based material comprises less than about 0.03 mole of a crosslinking agent.

18. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 12, wherein said polyacrylate based material is a sodium polyacrylate.

19. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 12, wherein said thermoplastic absorbent material comprises from about 20% to about 99% by weight a thermoplastic polymeric base material and from about 1% to about 80% by weight particles of polyacrylate based material.

20. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 19, wherein said thermoplastic polymeric base material has a water absorption greater than about 30%.

21. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 12, wherein said thermoplastic polymeric base material comprises a thermoplastic polymer or mixture of thermoplastic polymers; and a plasticiser or a blend of plasticisers.

22. The thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 21, wherein said thermoplastic polymeric base material comprises from about 5% to about 99% by weight of said thermoplastic polymer or mixture of polymers, and from about 5% to about 90 by weight of said plasticiser or blend of plasticisers.

23. A thermoplastic absorbent material according to claim 12, wherein said thermoplastic polymeric base material is a hot melt adhesive.

24. A thermoplastic absorbent material comprising a thermoplastic polymeric base material and particles of a polyacrylate based material dispersed therein, wherein said thermoplastic absorbent material has a retention capacity towards Artificial Menstrual Fluid (AMF) of at least about 9 g/g, when said polyacrylate based material is in an amount of not more than about 50% by weight of said thermoplastic absorbent material, said retention capacity evaluated according to the Centrifuge Retention Capacity Test for the thermoplastic absorbent material described herein.

25. An absorbent article for absorption of proteinaceous or serous body fluids, comprising the thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 1.

26. An absorbent article for absorption of proteinaceous or serous body fluids, comprising the thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 12.

27. An absorbent article for absorption of proteinaceous or serous body fluids, comprising the thermoplastic absorbent material of claim 24.