Engineered structures for use in disposable incontinence products

The background and evolution of absorbent disposable hygiene products is discussed. The current technology used to produce disposable hygiene products such as baby diapers, feminine hygiene products and adult incontinence management products is shown to have a number of manufacturing and in-use problems. Alternative technologies, such as multilayer composite webs offer the opportunity to achieve better product weight control, and therefore better control over the other related properties, reduced raw material waste and improved functional characteristics. There are still problems to be resolved when using such composite materials, but the potential of these new technologies has now been established.