Which Diaper Core Is Superior? An Article Examining The Evolution of Diaper Core Structures

Changes in demographics have spawned a huge development potential for the diaper market: changes in childcare concepts have all greatly stimulated the development of the baby diaper market; at the same time, the phenomenon of population aging is becoming more and more serious, and the curtain of the adult diaper market has also been pulled back and entered a period of rapid growth.

There is a wide range of diaper products on the market, but they are mainly composed of skin-friendly surface layer, flow layer, absorbent core, back layer of these four parts. Among them, the absorbent core is the most important structural component of the diaper, which, as the main absorbent layer, is required to quickly absorb urine, and the use of infusion and core suction will quickly spread urine to the entire absorbent core, and then by the highly absorbent resin (SAP) to quickly absorb and lock the urine, and so that it does not reverse osmosis.

History of Absorption Core Development

• 1960, the U.S. Procter & Gamble will be non-woven materials and fluff pulp composite and used as an absorbent core for diapers, which makes the diaper has been applied to a certain extent.

• 1980, Japan Unicharm added SAP on the basis of the original absorbent core, which makes the diapers have a certain liquid absorption performance and liquid retention performance, which is known as the first generation of absorbent core; but the absorbent core body internal neither layering nor partitioning, the liquid will appear after the absorption of lumps of unevenness, which will lead to the lateral diffusion of urine is blocked, a certain region of the absorption of liquid volume is too large, and then affect the diaper The reverse osmosis performance of the diaper.

• the second generation of absorbent core in the first generation of absorbent core on the basis of a partition, can be fixed to a certain extent fluff pulp and SAP, to alleviate the problem of diapers easy to pile up uneven after absorbing liquid.

• with the dry papermaking technology that is the development of dustless paper technology, dustless paper and porous fluffy non-woven materials, SAP combined with the birth of the third generation of absorbent core that is composite absorbent core. The absorbent core body between each layer of material using hot melt adhesive bonding, diapers become thinner; absorbent core body contains a large number of SAP, diapers become more absorbent; in addition, porous fluffy non-woven material grid structure can be well fixed SAP, absorbent core body absorbent uniformity, and absorbent longitudinal and transverse expansion of the whole, the surface of the diaper becomes more flat. Currently, most domestic diapers use the third generation of absorbent core.

• the fourth generation of absorbent core is in the third generation of absorbent core body inside to do further partitioning, and better fixed the layers, absorbent core body becomes more thin, but the technology is still in the process of improvement.

Structural analysis of the absorption core

According to the different ways of fluff pulp compounding, the absorption core can be divided into two categories: traditional fluff pulp absorption core and new composite absorption core.

Traditional fluffy pulp absorbing core

The traditional fluff pulp absorbent core mainly consists of covering layer, SAP, fluff pulp, SAP and fluff pulp mixed according to a certain ratio to form SAP/fluff pulp absorbent body; the covering layer is made of tissue paper or non-woven material or multi-layer composite material, in which the upper covering layer should usually have the function of infusion, breathability, etc., and the lower covering layer should usually have the function of anti-reverse osmosis and barrier.

Containing traditional fluff pulp absorbent core diapers absorb urine, fluff pulp by virtue of its natural fiber advantage diffusion and conduction of urine, at the same time, SAP will quickly absorb, expansion and lock urine; absorbent core SAP and fluff pulp mixed looser, absorbent core body internal space can be enough breathable, so that this kind of diapers, although the thickness of the relatively thick but better breathability after absorbing liquids; In addition, the fluff pulp can play the role of fixing SAP to a certain extent, and the fluff pulp can play the role of fixing SAP to a certain extent. In addition, the fluff pulp can to a certain extent play a role in fixing SAP, can prevent SAP movement and accumulation, to maintain the flatness and softness of the surface of the diaper; also, the core absorption of the fluff pulp can be a good solution to the problem of gel clogging after SAP absorption, weakening the phenomenon of easy to pile up after the absorption of liquid diapers, to improve the comfort of wearing; however, when wearing this kind of diaper, the wearer should avoid substantial movement or flip lead to SAP slippage, which will cause its uneven distribution. However, when wearing this kind of diaper, the wearer should avoid moving or turning the diaper significantly, which will cause the SAP to slip, and then cause its distribution to be uneven, and the place where the SAP is distributed more will rapidly absorb the liquid and expand to hinder the diffusion of urine, which will ultimately lead to breakage and lumping, affecting the multi-absorbent nature of the diaper, and the more serious case will lead to the tearing of the surface film, the urine will ooze out, and irritate the wearer's skin.

New composite absorption core

As diaper products become thinner and lighter, and as people demand more and more absorbent performance, new composite absorbent cores continue to emerge. It is usually wrapped with a cover layer to cover the dust-free paper and porous fluffy nonwoven material, and then sprinkle SAP between the porous fluffy nonwoven material, and then utilize hot melt adhesive to bond the layers together.

In the new composite absorbent core, the porous fluffy non-woven material is a hydrophilic material, and its grid structure can store and fix a large amount of SAP, so that SAP is uniformly distributed, so the new composite absorbent core will expand as a whole after absorbing urine, avoiding faults and lumps in the absorbent core after absorbing liquid, and the overall flatness of the diaper is good. At the same time, because there is no added fluff pulp, so the new composite absorbent core containing diapers become very thin, the wearer's sense of weight reduction, and SAP will increase the amount of additions accordingly, the diaper absorbent amount to improve.

However, there are some shortcomings of this absorbent core, for example: there is no fluff pulp support, SAP will form a gel after absorbing urine, diapers become harder to the touch, breathability deterioration; between each layer of material using hot melt adhesive bonding to fix the SAP, and more SAP requires more hot melt adhesive, which leads to a harder feel of the diaper, poorer permeability, the speed of the liquid absorption is affected, and the liquid absorption of the odor is heavy; Ultra-thin composite absorbent core generally exists in the first absorbent speed faster, after the absorbent speed decline serious defects, while the traditional fluff pulp absorbent core shows a more balanced absorbent speed; complex structure, the number of layers is more, compared to the traditional fluff pulp absorbent core production speed is low, the production cost is high.

As people's requirements for thin, breathable, liquid-absorbing, hygienic, non-irritating diaper products continue to improve, the diaper absorbent core will move towards the direction of functional diversification, integrated development, the structure of the absorbent core in the continuous improvement. Among them, the structure of the composite absorbent core research will bring new breakthroughs in the field of hygiene products, which is conducive to grasping the needs of consumers, develop better new products, play the potential of China's diaper market, improve market penetration, expanding market share.

Which core is the better diaper?

In fact, regardless of which core structure, have their own advantages and disadvantages and characteristics, the choice of which core diapers mainly depends on the customer's needs. Some customers pay more attention to the absorption performance and cost, and comfort is not so important, the general traditional core will be able to accept. While some customers not only require the absorbency of the diaper, but also require the surface layer to be soft, absorbent core, absorbency should be large, reverse osmosis should be small, breathable and so on. There is no doubt that the lightweight composite paper core diapers will be more comfortable.

The current diaper core has entered the era of composite core, composite core using multi-layer design, the process is also more complex than the traditional core, can take into account the thin and light and absorbent needs, but also less prone to faults and lumps, compared to the traditional core structure, can achieve better results.

Take Noda diapers and pull-up pants core, not only using the composite core structure, and the use of absorbent materials layered design, the upper layer of the core body to join the absorbent beads, you can achieve rapid seepage, no leakage; and the lower layer of foreign imports of polymer SAP magic absorbent beads, strong locking of water; the middle of the fast seepage of fast-absorbing high-quality fiber layer, which makes the core at the same time has a rapid Capture and lock the urine and anti-reverse osmosis excellent performance.

reach a verdict

The use or non-use of fluff pulp and how you pick your core design depends on your brand promise and manufacturing capabilities, and as a diaper supplier, Noda, we can't provide the only answers. However, if we look at a few elements of consumer perception, we may be able to draw inspiration from them.

Thickness of the diaper: The use of fluff pulp increases the thickness of the diaper, however, if the amount of fluff pulp is low and the design is correct, the core will be thinner, which will affect the consumer's perception of comfort and fit when using the diaper.

Speed of Absorption: While fluff pulp typically absorbs liquids faster, some SAPs have this ability as well, and ADL materials can speed up the transfer of liquids to the core.

Moisture absorption and core utilization: Fluff pulp has unmatched moisture absorption and can improve core utilization, but ADL materials and infusion channel configurations can improve this without fluff.

Manufacturing and Supply Chain: Removing the fluff pulp simplifies the supply chain, and there is more weight variation in diapers when fluff pulp is present.

If you want to explore new core options, we highly recommend involving Noda's core experts in the early stages of development. With our expertise, we can help you quickly identify the solution that best meets your design needs.