专利摘要:
The present invention relates to sanitary tissue products which have, after measuring according to the free fiber test method described herein, new free fiber numbers from known toilet tissue products, as well as methods for making them. .
公开号:FR3015216A1
申请号:FR1462793
申请日:2014-12-18
公开日:2015-06-26
发明作者:Ryan Dominic Maladen；John Allen Manifold；Ward William Ostendorf；Jeffrey Glen Sheehan
申请人:Procter and Gamble Co；
IPC主号:

专利说明:

[0001] The present invention relates to hygienic tissue products which have, according to the free fiber test method described herein, new fiber numbers compared to sanitary tissue products. known, as well as methods for making them. A market study has shown that "sweetness" is a property of paper-based consumer products, such as facial tissues, toilet wipes, paper towels, paper towels and the like, as well as other consumer products not based on paper. It has been determined that softness is an important criterion for consumers when it comes to selecting and assessing the quality and attractiveness of these products. Therefore, it is advantageous to be able to show the consumer the sweetness of such a consumer product as a means to make the product more attractive. One method of quantifying softness has been to determine parameters that describe fibers that emanate from the surface of a strip substrate. Although the configuration of the fibers emanating from the surface of a strip substrate can exist in many forms (for example, "loops" of fibers in which the two ends of a fiber are attached to the surface and the middle portion is not fixed, "free fibers" in which one end of the fiber is attached to the surface and the distal end is not fixed, or other configurations of "free fibers" in which the central portion of the fiber is fixed to the surface and the two ends are not fixed, etc.), it may be advantageous to understand the parameters that characterize the "free fibers" in question. This understanding of "free fibers" generally refers to fibers attached to the underlying strip substrate at one end while the distal end or portion of the fiber is removed from the surface, or to fibers in which a portion The center of these fibers is fixed to the surface and one or both ends are not fixed. These parameters are sometimes known to those skilled in the art as the number of "free fiber ends" or the so-called "fuzz-on-edge" value. One method of determining the number of free fiber ends involves manually (i.e., optical) counting of the number of free fibers whose one end is visible and not attached to a surface of the substrate. Although this subjective method may be sufficient in some circumstances, the total number of free fiber ends may vary depending on who is counting (eg, random error, fatigue, etc.) and the need for value judgments on what is supposed to contain the image. In addition, experience has shown that a single analysis using this manual method can take 60 to 90 minutes. Although the process itself can produce reasonable data, it can be difficult to achieve adequate quality assurance to verify the generated data. Another method used to quantify free fibers is to estimate the ratio of the length of the profile that surrounds the free fibers to the width of the samples tested to provide an average value of the fluffed edge or the amount of free fiber. Such a process is described in US Patent No. 6,585,855 B2. A significant disadvantage of the above mentioned assays is that these methods can provide only one parameter for free fibers on a sample.
[0002] These methods are difficult to adjust to provide other parameters related to the sample. In other words, it is necessary to perform different tests using different test techniques, and possibly different devices, to provide a more complete picture of the parameters associated with a particular sample or product. In addition, having a more dynamic method of demonstrating the sweetness of a consumer product using easy-to-understand methods and familiar test materials is particularly desirable. The compressibility and the free fibers contribute to the softness of the product, but they are very different properties of the substrate. However, a significant disadvantage of using the compressibility measure to express softness is that the results of the scientific compressibility tests, which are probably easy to understand by a person skilled in materials testing or mathematics, might not be understood by the average consumer regarding the subjective perception of gentleness. An ideal process for highlighting sweetness would use the consumer product in a way that is easy for consumers to understand and associate.
[0003] Such a process could be filmed or photographed and then used in advertisements; it could also be implemented in the presence of consumers as a live demonstration in a store or other public place.
[0004] Accordingly, a problem encountered by manufacturers of toilet tissue products is how to improve (ie, increase) the "softness" properties of toilet tissue products as the number of toilet tissue products increases. free fiber measured according to the free fiber test method described herein without significantly increasing the lint measured according to the fluff test method described herein to better meet the expectations of consumers seeking more luxurious toilet tissue products, softer and more like fabric. Accordingly, there is a need for sanitary tissue products, such as toilet tissue products, which exhibit improved "softness" properties based on an increase in the number of free fibers measured according to the test method of the invention. free fiber described herein to provide consumers with sanitary tissue products that meet their wishes and expectations for more comfortable and / or more luxurious toilet tissue products, as well as processes for making such products. The present invention satisfies the need described above by providing sanitary tissue products, for example toilet tissue products, which have a greater number of free fibers (by "free fiber number" means the average number of free fibers / cm) than the known sanitary tissue products after measurement by the free fiber test method described herein, as well as methods of making such sanitary tissue products.An object of the present invention is a sanitary tissue product comprising a three dimensional patterned fibrous structure layer comprising a plurality of dough fibers, characterized in that the sanitary tissue product has a number of free fibers greater than 26 after measurement according to the method of test of free fibers. According to one embodiment, the sanitary tissue product has a lint less than 15 after measurement according to the lint test method.
[0005] In one embodiment, the dough fibers comprise wood pulp fibers.
[0006] According to one embodiment, the dough fibers comprise non-wood pulp fibers. According to one embodiment, the three-dimensional patterned fibrous structure layer is a three-dimensional embossed fibrous structure layer.
[0007] According to one embodiment, the three-dimensional patterned fiber structure layer is a through-air dried fibrous structure layer. According to one embodiment, the three-dimensional patterned fiber structure layer is a cross-air dried creped fibrous structure layer. According to one embodiment, the three-dimensional patterned fibrous structure layer is a layer of uncured air dried crepe fibrous structure. According to one embodiment, the three-dimensional patterned fibrous structure layer is a layer of fibrous structure creped by canvas. According to one embodiment, the three-dimensional patterned fiber structure layer is a through-air dried belt creped fibrous structure layer. According to one embodiment, the sanitary tissue product comprises a fibrous structure layer obtained by conventional wet pressing. According to one embodiment, the sanitary tissue product comprises a user side that has the number of free fibers. According to one embodiment, the sanitary tissue product has a number of free fibers equal to or greater than 27 after measurement according to the free fiber test method. According to one embodiment, the sanitary tissue product has less than 10 lint after measurement according to the lint test method. A second object of the invention is a method of manufacturing a sanitary tissue product according to any one of the preceding claims, the method comprising the steps of: a. contacting a patterned molding member with a fibrous structure comprising a plurality of pulp fibers to form a three dimensional patterned fibrous structure layer having a number of free fibers greater than 26 after measurement according to the test method free fibers; and B. manufacturing the sanitary tissue product comprising the three dimensional patterned fibrous structure layer.
[0008] A solution to the above problem is obtained by making sanitary tissue products, or at least one fibrous structure layer used in sanitary tissue products, on patterned molding elements that add three dimensional (3D) patterns. ) the sanitary tissue products and / or fibrous structure layers therein, the patterned molding elements being designed such that the resulting sanitary tissue products, for example toilet tissue products, obtained by the patterned molding elements, have a greater number of free fibers (eg greater than 26 and / or 27 and / or 29 and / or 30 and / or 35 or more) than known sanitary tissue products. after measurement according to the free fiber test method described herein.
[0009] In the example, this increase in the number of free fibers is obtained without significantly increasing the fluffing (for example, maintaining fluffing at a value less than 15 and / or less than 12 and / or less than 10 and / or lower at 9 and / or less than 8) of the sanitary tissue product and / or the fibrous structure layer after measurement according to the lint test method described herein. Non-limiting examples of such patterned molding elements include patterned felts, patterned forming webs, patterned rolls, patterned webs, and patterned belts used in conventional wet press papermaking processes. , air papermaking processes and / or wet papermaking processes that produce three-dimensional patterned toilet paper products and / or three-dimensional patterned fiber structure layers used in type toilet paper. Other non-limiting examples of such patterned molding elements include through air drying webs and through air drying belts used in the through air drying paper manufacturing processes which produce sanitary tissue products. air-dried dried paper products, such as three-dimensional pattern air-dried bathroom tissue products and / or air-air-dried fibrous structure layers, for example three-dimensional pattern air-dried fibrous structure layers employed in hygienic paper products. An example of the present invention relates to a sanitary tissue product comprising a plurality of dough fibers, characterized in that the sanitary tissue product has a number of free fibers greater than 26 after measurement according to the test method of US Pat. free fibers described here. Another example of the present invention relates to a sanitary tissue product comprising at least one three dimensional patterned fibrous structure layer comprising a plurality of dough fibers, characterized in that the sanitary tissue product has a number of free fibers. greater than 26 after measurement according to the free fiber test method described herein. Another example of the present invention relates to a sanitary tissue product, for example a toilet tissue product, comprising at least one through air creped fibrous structure layer comprising a plurality of dough fibers, characterized in that that the sanitary tissue product has a number of free fibers greater than 26 after measurement according to the free fiber test method described herein. Another example of the present invention relates to a multilayer sanitary tissue product, for example comprising two layers, for example a toilet tissue product, comprising a plurality of dough fibers, characterized in that the paper type product Multilayer hygienic material has a number of free fibers greater than 26 after measurement according to the free fiber test method described herein. Another example of the present invention relates to a multilayer sanitary paper product, for example comprising two layers, for example a toilet tissue product, comprising at least one layer with a three dimensional pattern of fibrous structure, for example a three-dimensional patterned air-dried fibrous structure comprising a plurality of pulp fibers, characterized in that the multilayer sanitary tissue product 30 has a number of free fibers greater than 26 after measurement according to the free fiber test method described here.
[0010] Another example of the present invention is a multilayer sanitary tissue product comprising at least one through air creped fibrous structure layer comprising a plurality of dough fibers, characterized in that the sanitary tissue product has a number of fibers. free fibers greater than 26 after measurement according to the free fiber test method described herein. Another example of the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a single layer or multilayer sanitary tissue product according to the present invention, characterized in that the method comprises the steps of: a. contacting a patterned molding member with a fibrous structure comprising a plurality of dough fibers so as to form a three dimensional patterned fibrous structure layer having a number of free fibers greater than 26; and B. manufacturing a monolayer or multilayer sanitary tissue product according to the present invention comprising the three dimensional patterned fibrous structure layer. Accordingly, the present invention provides sanitary tissue products, such as toilet tissue products, which have higher fiber counts than known sanitary tissue products, for example toilet tissue products. , after measurement according to the free fiber test method described herein, as well as methods for making them. Figure 1A is a schematic representation of an example of a molding member according to the present invention; Fig. 1B is another schematic representation of a portion of the molding member of Fig. 1A; Figure 1C is a sectional view of Figure 1B along line 1C-1C; Fig. 2A is a schematic representation of a sanitary tissue product made using the molding element of Fig. 1A. Fig. 2B is a sectional view of Fig. 2A taken along the line 2B-2B; Figure 2C is a MikroCAD image of a sanitary tissue product manufactured using the molding element of Figure 1A; Figure 2D is an enlarged portion of the MikroCAD image of Figure 2C; Figure 3 is a schematic representation of an example of a through air drying paper manufacturing method for making a sanitary tissue product according to the present invention; Fig. 4 is a schematic representation of an example of a non-creped through air drying paper manufacturing method for making a sanitary tissue product according to the present invention; Figure 5 is a schematic representation of an example of a web creped through air drying paper manufacturing method for making a sanitary tissue product according to the present invention; Fig. 6 is a schematic representation of another example of a web creped through air drying paper manufacturing method for making a sanitary tissue product according to the present invention; Figure 7 is a schematic representation of an example of a belt creped through air drying paper making process for making a sanitary tissue product according to the present invention; Fig. 8 is an exemplary rendering of an apparatus suitable for generating an image file adapted for use with the present invention; Fig. 9 is an exemplary rendering of a frame and removable support suitable for holding a product such as a strip substrate suitable for use with the present invention; Fig. 10 is an exemplary rendering of a mount for maintaining a holder suitable for use with the present invention; Fig. 11 is an exemplary rendering of the mount of Fig. 10 with an exemplary support adapted for use with the present invention; Fig. 12 is an exemplary rendering of the mount and holder of Fig. 11 containing a sample according to the present invention, being prepared for the imaging operation; Fig. 13 is an exemplary rendering of the support portion of Fig. 12 containing a sample according to the present invention; Fig. 14 is a photomicrograph of an exemplary sanitary tissue product showing free fibers emanating from a surface of the product; Fig. 15 is a photomicrograph of an exemplary sanitary tissue product showing free fibers emanating from a product surface with a selected region of interest; Fig. 16 is a photomicrograph of an exemplary sanitary tissue product showing free fibers emanating from a product surface and a selected region of interest as well as a filtered reference using an example of a Butterworth filter. , presenting, by way of example, a cutoff frequency of 30 Hz and an order of 5; Fig. 17 is a photomicrograph of an exemplary sanitary tissue product showing free fibers emanating from a surface of the product with selection of a region of interest and determining a filtered overall profile by means of an example of a Butterworth filter having, for example, a cutoff frequency of 30 Hz and an order of 5; Fig. 18 is a photomicrograph of an exemplary sanitary tissue product showing free fibers emanating from a surface of the product and a selected region of interest suitable for determining the area delimited by the desired line profiles, filtered by means of an example of a Butterworth filter having, by way of example, a cutoff frequency of 30 Hz and an order of 5; Fig. 19 is a photomicrograph of an exemplary sanitary tissue product showing free fibers emanating from a surface of the product with selection of a region of interest suitable for determining the number of free fibers counted at the product profile. successive lines spaced apart by fixed inter-layer distance (ILD); and, Figure 20 is a graphical representation of the number of free fibers determined at successive line profiles spaced apart by a fixed inter-layer distance (ILD). As used herein, the term "sanitary tissue product" refers to a flexible article of low density (i.e., about 3) comprising one or more layers of fibrous structure according to the present invention, wherein the sanitary tissue product is useful as a wiping aid for cleaning after urination and defecation (toilet paper), for otorhinolaryngological flows (tissue) and multifunctional uses requiring absorption and cleaning properties (absorbent towels) ). The sanitary tissue product may be wound on itself around a mandrel or without a mandrel to form a roll of sanitary tissue product. The sanitary tissue products and / or fibrous structures of the present invention may have a basis weight of from about 15 g / m 2 to about 120 g / m 2 and / or from about 15 g / m 2 to about 110 g / m 2 and / or inclusive. between 20 g / m2 and 100 g / m2 and / or between 30 and 90 g / m2. In addition, the sanitary tissue products and / or fibrous structures of the present invention may have a basis weight of from about 40 g / m 2 to about 120 g / m 2 and / or from about 50 g / m 2 to about 110 g / m 2 and or between 55 g / m2 and 105 g / m2 and / or between 60 and 100 g / m2. The sanitary tissue products of the present invention can have a cumulative dry tensile strength in the machine direction and in the cross direction greater than about 0.58 N / cm (150 g / cm 2). )) and / or between about 0.77 N / cm and about 3.87 N / cm and / or between about 0.96 N / cm and about 3.29 N / cm (between 78 g / cm approximately and 394 N / cm). g / cm approximately and / or between about 98 g / cm and about 335 g / cm). In addition, the sanitary tissue products of the present invention may have a cumulative dry tensile strength in the machine direction and in the cross direction greater than about 1.92 N / cm and / or between 1 About 92 N / cm and about 3.87 N / cm and / or between about 2.12 N / cm and about 3.29 N / cm and / or between about 2.32 N / cm and 3.09 N / cm. Approximately N / cm (greater than about 196 g / cm and / or between about 196 g / cm and about 394 g / cm and / or between about 216 g / cm and about 335 g / cm and / or between about 236 g / cm2. about cm and about 315 g / cm). In one example, the sanitary tissue product has a cumulative dry tensile strength in the machine direction and in the cross direction less than about 3.87 N / cm (394 g / cm) and / or less than 3.29 N / cm (335 g / cm) approximately. In another example, the sanitary tissue products of the present invention can have a cumulative dry tensile strength in the machine direction and in the cross direction greater than about 1.92 N / cm and / or higher. at about 2.32 N / cm and / or greater than about 2.71 N / cm and / or greater than about 3.09 N / cm and / or greater than about 3.47 N / cm and / or greater than 3 , About 87 N / cm and / or between about 3.09 N / cm and about 19.31 N / cm and / or between about 3.47 N / cm and about 11.59 N / cm and / or between 3 , About 47 N / cm and about 9.87 N / cm and / or between about 3.87 N / cm and about 7.72 N / cm (greater than about 196 g / cm and / or greater than 236 g / cm about and / or greater than about 276 g / cm and / or greater than about 315 g / cm and / or greater than about 354 g / cm and / or greater than about 394 g / cm and / or between 315 g / cm about and about 1968 g / cm and / or between about 354 g / cm and about 1,181 g / cm and / or between About 354 g / cm and about 984 g / cm and / or about 394 g / cm and about 787 g / cm).
[0011] The sanitary tissue products of the present invention can have an initial cumulative wet and dry tensile strength value in the machine direction and in the cross direction less than about 0.77 N / cm and / or less than 0 , About 58 N / cm and / or less than about 0.38 N / cm and / or less than about 0.28 N / cm (less than about 78 g / cm and / or less than about 59 g / cm and / or less than about 39 g / cm and / or less than about 29 g / cm). The sanitary tissue products of the present invention can have an initial cumulative wet and dry tensile strength value in the machine direction and in the cross direction greater than about 1.16 N / cm and / or greater than 1 , About 54 N / cm and / or greater than about 1.92 N / cm and / or greater than about 2.32 N / cm and / or greater than about 2.71 N / cm and / or greater than 3.09 About N / cm and / or greater than about 3.47 N / cm and / or greater than about 3.87 N / cm and / or between about 1.16 N / cm and about 19.31 N / cm; or between about 1.54 N / cm and about 11.59 N / cm and / or between about 1.92 N / cm and about 9.65 N / cm and / or between about 1.92 N / cm and 7, About 72 N / cm and / or between about 1.92 N / cm and about 5.80 N / cm (greater than about 118 g / cm and / or greater than about 157 g / cm and / or greater than 196 g / cm about and / or greater than about 236 g / cm and / or greater than about 276 g / cm and / or greater than about 315 g / cm and / or greater than about 354 g / cm and / or greater than about 394 g / cm and / or about 118 g / cm to about 1,968 g / cm and / or about 157 g / cm to about 1,181 g / cm and / or between about 196 g / cm and about 984 g / cm and / or between about 196 g / cm and about 787 g / cm and / or between about 196 g / cm and about 591 g / cm). The sanitary tissue products of the present invention may have a density (measured at 95 g / in 2) of less than about 0.60 g / cm 3 and / or less than about 0.30 g / cm 3 and / or less than 0 About 20 g / cm3 and / or less than about 0.10 g / cm3 and / or less than about 0.07 g / cm3 and / or less than about 0.05 g / cm3 and / or less than 0, 0.1 g / cm3 up to about 0.20 g / cm3 and / or between about 0.02 g / cm3 and about 0.10 g / cm3.
[0012] The sanitary tissue products of the present invention may be in the form of sanitary tissue product rolls. Such sanitary tissue product rolls may comprise a plurality of interconnected fibrous structure sheets, which are separately distributable from adjacent sheets. In another example, the sanitary tissue products may be in the form of discrete sheets that are stacked in a container, such as a box, and dispensed therefrom. The fibrous structures and / or sanitary tissue products of the present invention may include additives such as surface softening agents, for example silicones, quaternary ammonium compounds, aminosilicones, lotions and mixtures thereof, temporary wet strength agents, permanent wet strength agents, overall softening agents, wetting agents, latices, in particular latexes applied as surface patterns, such as carboxymethylcellulose and starch and other types of additives suitable for inclusion in and / or hygienic paper products.
[0013] As used herein, the term "fibrous structure" refers to a structure that includes a plurality of dough fibers. In one example, the fibrous structure may comprise a plurality of wood pulp fibers. In another example, the fibrous structure may comprise a plurality of non-wood pulp fibers, for example vegetable fibers, cut synthetic fibers, and mixtures thereof. In another example, in addition to the pulp fibers, the fibrous structure may comprise a plurality of filaments, such as polymeric filaments, for example thermoplastic filaments such as polyolefin filaments (i.e., filaments polypropylene) and / or hydroxyl polymer filaments, for example polyvinyl alcohol filaments and / or polysaccharide filaments such as starch filaments. In one example, a fibrous structure according to the present invention refers to an ordered arrangement of fibers alone and with filaments within a structure to perform a function. Non-limiting examples of fibrous structures of the present invention include paper.
[0014] Non-limiting examples of methods of making fibrous structures include known methods of making wet paper, for example conventional wet press papermaking processes, through air drying paper manufacturing processes, fabric creped paper manufacturing, belt crepe manufacturing processes and air jet paper making processes. Such methods typically include the steps of preparing a fiber composition in the form of a suspension in a humid medium, more specifically an aqueous medium, or in a dry, more specifically gaseous medium, i.e. the middle is the air. The aqueous medium used for wet processes is often referred to as a fiber suspension. The fiber suspension is then used to deposit a plurality of fibers on a forming wire, web, or belt to form an embryonic fibrous structure, after which the drying and / or gluing of the fibers together produces a fibrous structure. . Subsequent processing of the fibrous structure may be performed to form a finished fibrous structure. For example, in typical papermaking processes, the finished fibrous structure, often referred to as the parent coil, is the fibrous structure that is wound on the reel at the end of papermaking and can then be converted into a finished product. for example a product of the type of toilet paper monolayer or multilayer. The fibrous structures of the present invention may be homogeneous or layered. In the latter case, the fibrous structures may comprise at least two and / or at least three and / or at least four and / or at least five layers of fibers and / or filament compositions. In one example, the fibrous structure of the present invention consists essentially of fibers, for example dough fibers, such as cellulose pulp fibers, and more particularly wood pulp fibers. In another example, the fibrous structure of the present invention comprises fibers and is devoid of filaments. In another example, the fibrous structures of the present invention comprise filaments and fibers, which constitutes a coformed fibrous structure.
[0015] As used herein, the term "coformed fibrous structure" refers to a fibrous structure which comprises a mixture of at least two different materials in which at least one of the materials comprises a filament, such as a filament polypropylene, and at least one other material, different from the first material, comprises a solid additive, such as fiber and / or particulate material. In one example, a coformed fibrous structure comprises solid additives, such as fibers, such as wood pulp fibers, and filaments, such as polypropylene filaments.
[0016] As used herein, the terms "fiber" and / or "filament" refer to an elongated particulate material having an apparent length substantially exceeding its apparent width, i.e., a length to diameter ratio of at least About 10. In one example, a "fiber" is an elongated particulate material as previously described which is less than 5.08 cm (2 inches) long and a "filament" is an elongated particulate material as described above which is of greater length than or equal to 5.08 cm (2 inches). Fibers are typically considered discontinuous by nature. Non-limiting examples of fibers include pulp fibers, such as wood pulp fibers, and cut synthetic fibers such as polyester fibers.
[0017] Filaments are typically considered continuous or essentially continuous by nature. The filaments are relatively longer than the fibers. Non-limiting examples of filaments include meltblown and / or spunbonded filaments. Non-limiting examples of filamentable materials include natural polymers, such as starch, starch derivatives, cellulose and cellulose derivatives, hemicellulose, hemicellulose derivatives, and polymers. including, but not limited to, polyvinyl alcohol filaments and / or polyvinyl alcohol derivative filaments, and thermoplastic polymer filaments, such as polyesters, nylons, polyolefins such as filaments polypropylene, polyethylene filaments, and biodegradable or compostable thermoplastic fibers such as polylactic acid filaments, polyhydroxyalkanoate filaments and polycaprolactone filaments. The filaments may be monocomponent or multi-component, such as bicomponent filaments. In one example of the present invention, the term "fiber" refers to fibers for papermaking. Fibers for papermaking useful in the present invention include cellulosic fibers commonly known as wood pulp fibers. Applicable wood pulp includes chemical pulps, such as Kraft, sulphite and sulphate pulps, as well as mechanical pulps, including, for example, grated pulp, thermo-mechanical pulp and chemically modified thermomechanical pulp. . Chemical pulps, however, may be preferred because they impart a greater tactile feel than the absorbent paper sheets made therefrom. Pasta derived from both deciduous (hereinafter referred to as "hardwood") and coniferous trees (hereinafter referred to as "coniferous wood") may be used. The hardwood and coniferous wood fibers may be mixed, or alternatively may be layered to provide a laminated fibrous structure. U.S. Patent No. 4,300,981 and U.S. Patent No. 3,994,771 describe the layered superimposition of hardwood and coniferous wood fibers. Also applicable to the present invention are fibers derived from recycled paper, which may contain any or all of the foregoing, as well as other non-fibrous materials such as fillers and adhesives used to facilitate papermaking. original. In one example, the wood pulp fibers are selected from the group consisting of hardwood pulp fibers, coniferous pulp fibers and mixtures thereof. The hardwood pulp fibers may be selected from the group consisting of: tropical wood pulp fibers, Nordic hardwood pulp fibers and mixtures thereof. The tropical hardwood pulp fibers may be selected from the group consisting of: eucalyptus fibers, acacia fibers and mixtures thereof. The Nordic hardwood pulp fibers may be selected from the group consisting of: cedar fibers, maple fibers, and mixtures thereof. In addition to the various wood pulp fibers, other cellulosic fibers such as cotton linters, rayon, lyocell, trichomes, duvets and bagasse may be used in the present invention. Other sources of cellulose in the form of fiber or which can be spun into fiber include herbs and cereal sources. As used herein, the terms "trichome" or "trichome fiber" refer to an epidermal element of variable form, a structure and / or function of a part of a plant different from the seeds. In one example, a trichome is an excrescence of the epidermis of a non-seed part of a plant.
[0018] The outgrowth can extend from an epidermal cell. In one embodiment, the outgrowth is a trichome fiber. The outgrowth may be a growth of hair type or silk type from the epidermis of a plant.
[0019] Trichome fibers are different from down fibers in that they are not attached to seed parts of a plant. For example, trichome fibers, unlike down fibers, are not attached to the epidermis of a seed or pod. Cotton, kapok, milkweed and coconut fiber are non-limiting examples of down fibers.
[0020] In addition, the trichome fibers are different from the liber and / or woodfree core fibers in that they are not attached to the liber parts, also known as phloem, or core, also known as the name of lignin parts of a stem of a woodless dicotyledonous plant. Non-limiting examples of plants that have been used to provide woodfree release fibers and / or woodfree core fibers include amber, jute, flax, ramie and hemp. In addition, trichome fibers are different from fibers derived from monocotyledonous plants such as those derived from cereal straws (wheat, rye, barley, oats, etc.), stalks (maize, cotton, sorghum, Hesperaloe fttnifera, etc.). ), rushes (bamboo, bagasse, etc.), herbs (alfa, lemon, sabai, switchgrass, etc.), since such fibers derived from monocotyledonous plants are not attached to an epidermis of plant. In addition, the trichome fibers are different from the leaf fibers in that they do not come from the structure of the sheet. Sisal and abaca are sometimes released as leaf fibers. Finally, the trichome fibers are different from the wood pulp fibers since the wood pulp fibers are not growths of the epidermis of a plant; namely, a tree. The wood pulp fibers come rather from the secondary lignin portion of the tree stem. As used herein, the term "basis weight" refers to the weight per unit area of a sample in pounds / 3000 sq. Ft. Or g / m 2 and is measured according to the grammage test method described herein. As used herein, the term "machine direction" or "SM" refers to the direction parallel to the flow of the fibrous structure through the fibrous structure manufacturing machine and / or the product manufacturing equipment. of the toilet paper type. As used herein, the term "cross-machine direction" or "ST" refers to the direction parallel to the width of the fibrous structure manufacturing machine and / or the manufacturing equipment of the product of type toilet paper and perpendicular to the machine direction.
[0021] As used herein, the term "layer" refers to an individual fibrous structure, in one piece. As used herein, the term "layers" refers to two or more single, single fibrous structures arranged in a face-to-face relationship substantially contiguous with each other, forming a multilayer fibrous structure and / or or a multilayer sanitary tissue product. It is also contemplated that an individual fibrous structure in one piece can effectively form a multilayer fibrous structure, for example by being folded on itself. As used herein, the term "differential density" refers to a fibrous structure and / or a sanitary tissue product which comprises one or more regions having a relatively low fiber density, referred to as pad regions, and a or more regions with relatively high fiber density, called join regions. As used herein, the term "densified" refers to a portion of a fibrous structure and / or a sanitary tissue product that is characterized by regions having a relatively high fiber density (joining regions). . As used herein, the term "non-densified" refers to a portion of a fibrous structure and / or sanitary tissue product having a lower density (one or more regions of relatively higher fiber density). weak) (pad regions) than another part (e.g. a seam region) of the fibrous structure and / or the sanitary tissue product. The expression "three-dimensional pattern" in relation to a fibrous structure and / or a sanitary tissue product according to the present invention, here designates a pattern which is present on at least one surface of the fibrous structure and / or the product of the type toilet paper. The three-dimensional pattern texturizes the surface of the fibrous structure and / or the sanitary tissue product, for example by imparting protruding portions and / or depressions to the surface. The three-dimensional pattern is manufactured on the surface of the fibrous structure and / or the sanitary tissue product by producing the sanitary tissue product or at least one fibrous structure layer employed in the sanitary tissue die product on a sanitary tissue member. pattern molding which communicates the three-dimensional pattern to the sanitary tissue type products and / or fibrous structure layers made thereon. For example, the three-dimensional pattern may comprise a series of line elements, such as a series of line elements that are essentially oriented in the cross-direction of the fibrous structure and / or the sanitary tissue product. As used herein, the term "line element" refers to a portion of a fibrous structure surface that is in the form of a line, which may be a continuous, distinct, interrupted line and / or partial to a fibrous structure on which it is present. The line element may be of any suitable form such as linear, folded, twisted, curly, curvilinear, sinuous, sinusoidal, and mixtures thereof, which may form a regular or irregular, periodic or non-periodic network of structures characterized by the line element has a length along its path of at least 2 mm and / or at least 4 mm and / or at least 6 mm and / or at least about 1 cm to 30 cm and / or about 27 cm and / or about 20 cm and / or about 15 cm and / or about 10.16 cm and / or about 8 cm and / or about 6 cm and / or about 4 cm. In one example, the line element may comprise a plurality of distinct elements, such as dots and / or lines, for example, which are jointly oriented to form a line element of the present invention. In another example, the line element may comprise a combination of line segments and discrete elements, such as dots and / or lines, for example, which are jointly oriented to form a line element. the present invention. In another example, the line element may be formed by a plurality of discrete shapes that together form a line element. In one example, the line element may comprise discrete forms selected from the group consisting of: dots, dashes, triangles, squares, ellipses, and mixtures thereof.
[0022] The line element may have an aspect ratio greater than 1.5: 1 and / or greater than 1.75: 1 and / or greater than 2: 1 and / or greater than 5: 1 along the path of the line element. In one example, the line element has a length along its path of at least 2 mm and / or at least 4 mm and / or at least 6 mm and / or at least 1 cm to 30 mm. cm about and / or about 27 cm and / or about 20 cm and / or about 15 cm and / or about 10.16 cm and / or about 8 cm and / or about 6 cm and / or about 4 cm.
[0023] Different line items may have different common intensive properties. For example, different line elements may have different densities and / or weights. In one example, the common intensive property is selected from the group consisting of density, grammage, elevation, opacity, crepe frequency, and combinations thereof. In one example, the common intensive property is the density. In another example, the common intensive property is elevation. In one example, a fibrous structure of the present invention includes a first series of line elements and a second series of line elements. For example, the line elements of the first series of line elements may have the same densities, which are lower than the densities of the line elements of the second series of line elements. In another example, the line elements of the first series of line elements may have the same elevations, which are higher than the elevations of the line elements of the second series of line elements. In another example, the line elements of the first series of line elements may have the same weights, which are smaller than the weights of the line elements of the second series of line elements. In one example, the line element is a rectilinear or essentially straight line element. In another example, the line element is a curvilinear line element, such as a sinusoidal line element. Unless otherwise indicated, the line elements of the present invention are present on a surface of a fibrous structure. In one example, the line element and / or component component is continuous or substantially continuous within a fibrous structure, for example in one case, one or more sheets of fibrous structure of 11 cm × 11 cm.
[0024] The line elements may have different widths on their lengths of their paths, between two or more different line elements and / or the line elements may have different lengths. Different line elements may have different widths and / or lengths along their respective paths. In one example, the surface pattern of the present invention comprises a plurality of parallel line elements. The plurality of parallel line elements may be a series of parallel line elements. In one example, the plurality of parallel line elements may comprise a plurality of parallel sinusoidal line elements.
[0025] As used herein in connection with a fibrous structure and / or a sanitary tissue product, the term "embossed" means that a fibrous structure and / or a sanitary tissue product has been subjected to a process which converts a fibrous structure and / or smooth surface sanitary tissue product into a decorative surface by replicating a pattern on one or more embossing rolls, which form a line of contact through which the fibrous structure and / or the product of type toilet paper pass. The term "embossed" does not include creping, micro-creping, printing or other processes that may impart a texture and / or decorative pattern to a fibrous structure and / or a sanitary tissue product.
[0026] In one example, the line elements of the present invention may comprise a wet texture, as formed by wet molding and / or through air drying via a web and / or a printed through air dryer fabric. . In one example, the wet texture line elements are water resistant. The term "water-resistant", in relation to a surface pattern or part thereof, means that a line element and / or pattern comprising the line element retains its structure and / or its integrity after being saturated with water and the line element and / or the pattern is always visible by a consumer. In one example, the line elements and / or the pattern may be water resistant. The term "distinct" in relation to a line element means that a line element has at least one immediate adjacent region of the fibrous structure which is different from the line element. In one example, a plurality of parallel line elements are distinct and / or separate from adjacent parallel line elements by a channel. The channel may have a shape complementary to the parallel line elements. In other words, if the plurality of parallel line elements were straight lines, then the channels separating the parallel line elements would be linear. Similarly, if the plurality of parallel line elements were sinusoidal lines, the channels separating the parallel line elements would be sinusoidal. The channels may have the same widths and / or lengths as the line elements. The term "machine-oriented" as used as a line element means that the line element has a primary direction that is at an angle of less than 45 ° and / or less than 30 ° and / or less at 15 ° and / or less than 5 ° and / or up to about 0 ° with respect to the machine direction of the three-dimensional patterned fiber structure layer and / or the sanitary tissue product comprising the patterned fibrous structure layer dimensional. The term "oriented substantially in the cross direction" as used for a line element and / or a series of line elements means that the line element and / or the series of line elements has a direction at an angle less than 20 ° and / or less than 15 ° and / or less than 10 ° and / or less than 5 ° and / or up to approximately 0 ° with respect to the cross direction of the fibrous structure layer three-dimensional pattern and / or sanitary tissue product comprising the three-dimensional patterned fibrous structure layer. In one example, the line element and / or the series of line elements has a primary direction that is at an angle of about 3 ° to about 0 ° to the cross direction of the patterned fibrous structure layer. three-dimensional and / or hygienic paper product comprising the three-dimensional patterned fiber structure layer. As used herein, the term "wet textured" means that a three-dimensional patterned fiber structure layer comprises a texture (e.g., three-dimensional topography) imparted to the fibrous structure and / or the surface of the fibrous structure during a fibrous structure manufacturing process. In one example, in a wet fibrous structure manufacturing method, the wet texture can be imparted to a fibrous structure when the fibers and / or filaments are collected on a collection device which has a three-dimensional (3D) surface that communicates a three-dimensional surface to the fibrous structure which is formed thereon and / or which is transferred to a web and / or a belt, such as a through-air drying cloth and / or a patterned drying belt, comprising a three-dimensional surface which communicates a three-dimensional surface to a fibrous structure which is formed thereon. In one example, the three-dimensional surface-collecting device comprises a patterned substrate, such as a patterned substrate formed by a polymer or resin that is deposited on a base substrate, such as a fabric, in a configuration. patterned. The wet texture imparted to a wet fibrous structure is formed in the fibrous structure before and / or during drying of the fibrous structure.
[0027] Non-limiting examples of a collection device and / or fabric and / or belts suitable for imparting a wet texture to a fibrous structure include webs and / or belts used in web creping and / or belt creping processes. for example, as described in US Pat. Nos. 7,820,008 and 7,789,995, coarse through air drying webs as used in non-creped through air drying processes, and air drying belts. patterned resin photocurable resin, for example as described in US Pat. No. 4,637,859. For the purposes of the present invention, the collection device used to impart wet texture to the fibrous structures would include patterns to provide the fibrous structures. comprising a surface pattern comprising a plurality of parallel line elements in which at least one, two, three, or more, for example, all the parallel line elements have a non-constant width along the length of the parallel line elements. This is different from a non-wet texture that is imparted to a fibrous structure after the fibrous structure has been dried, for example after the moisture content of the fibrous structure is less than 15% and / or less than 10% and / or less than 5%. An example of a non-wet texture includes embossings imparted to a fibrous structure by embossing rolls during conversion of the fibrous structure.
[0028] As used herein in connection with a fibrous structure and / or a sanitary tissue product of the present invention, the term "unwound" means that the fibrous structure and / or the sanitary tissue product is a individual sheet (e.g., not attached to adjacent sheets by perforation lines, however, two or more individual sheets may be intertwined) i.e. not concentrically wrapped around a mandrel or on themselves. For example, an unwound product includes a tissue. As used herein, the term "stack compressibility test method" refers to the method of compressibility testing of the stack described herein. As used herein, the term "slip-slip coefficient of friction test method" refers to the slip-slip test method described herein. As used herein, the term "plate rigidity test method" refers to the plate rigidity test method described herein. As used herein, the term "creped" means creped at the exit of a Yankee or similar roller and / or creped by web and / or creped by belt. Accelerated transfer alone of a fibrous structure does not produce a "creped" fibrous structure or "creped" sanitary tissue product for purposes of the present invention.
[0029] As used herein, the term "image file formats" (or "image files") refers to standard means of organizing and storing digital images. Image files are composed of pixels, vector (geometric) data, or a combination of both. Whatever the format, files are rasterized in pixels when they are displayed on most graphic screens. The pixels that make up an image are ordered as a grid (columns and lines); each pixel is composed of numbers representing magnitudes of intensity and color. The size of an image file, expressed in number of bytes, increases with the number of pixels that compose it and with the color depth of the pixels. The larger the number of rows and columns, the larger the image resolution for a fixed angular field and the image file size. The image files can be grayscale image files, can be oriented according to the needs of the end user and can be easily converted to other file formats by processing. High-resolution cameras and scanners can produce large image files ranging from hundreds of kilobytes to gigabytes, depending on the resolution of the camera and the capacity of the image storage format. For example, for an image recorded by a 12-megapixel camera; since each pixel uses three bytes to record in true color, the uncompressed image would occupy 36,000,000 bytes of memory, a large amount of digital storage for an image, since cameras need to record and store many images . Because of these large files, both for the camera and for the storage disk, image file formats have been developed to store these images. The following is an overview of the main graphic file formats, some of which use compression to reduce file size.
[0030] If you include proprietary types, there are hundreds of image file types. PNG, JPEG, TIFF and GIF formats are most often used to display images. These graphic formats can be separated into two main families of graphics: raster and vector. In addition to pure image formats, there are metafile formats that are portable intermediate formats that may include raster and vector information. Examples are provided by application-independent formats, such as WMF and EMF. Several known applications open the metafiles and save them in their own native format. Another format, the Page Description language (PDL), describes the layout of a printed page containing text, objects, and images in text or binary data streams. Examples include PostScript, PDF, and PCL.
[0031] As used herein, a "grayscale" image is one in which the value of each pixel is a single sample, i.e. it contains only intensity information. These images are exclusively composed of shades of gray ranging from black for the lowest intensity, to white for the strongest. Grayscale images are distinct from 1-bit bitonal bitonal black and white images (also referred to as 2-level or binary images) which, in the context of computer imaging, are two-color images only. black and white. Greyscale images are often the result of measuring the intensity of light at each pixel in a single band of the electromagnetic spectrum (eg infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, etc.), and in this case they are monochromatic when only one given frequency is captured. But they can also be synthesized from a color image (see the section on conversion to grayscale image). For grayscale images, the intensity of a pixel is expressed in a given range between a minimum and a maximum, including limits. This range is represented abstractly as a range from 0 (black, total absence of intensity) to 1 (white, maximum intensity), fractional values separating these two boundaries. This notation is used in scientific documents, but it should be noted that this does not define what is "black" or "white" in terms of colorimetry. Another convention is to use percentages, in which case the scale then ranges from 0% to 100%. This notation is used for a more intuitive approach, but if we use only integer values, the range includes only 101 intensities in all, which are insufficient to represent a large gray gradient. In computer science, although gray levels can be calculated using rational numbers, the pixels in the image are stored in a binary quantized form. Some of the first grayscale displays could display only sixteen different shades (4-bit), but current grayscale images (such as photos) for visual display (on-screen and print-on-paper) are commonly stored with 8 bits per sampled pixel, which can record 256 different intensities (shades of gray), typically on a nonlinear scale. The precision provided by this format is barely sufficient to avoid visible artifacts in the form of tapes, but is very practical in programming because a pixel occupies only one byte. Technical uses (eg in medical imaging or in remote sensing applications) often require more levels to take full advantage of sensor accuracy (typically 10 or 12 bits per sample) and to guard against errors in the accuracy of the sensor. rounded in calculations. Sixteen bits per sample (65,536 levels) is an interesting choice for such uses, as computers efficiently handle 16-bit words. TIFF and PNG image file formats (among others) generally natively support 16-bit gray levels, although browsers and many imaging programs tend to ignore the 8 least significant bits of each pixel. In any case, whatever the pixel depth used, with the binary representations, one skilled in the art will assume that 0 corresponds to black and the maximum value (255 to 8 bpp, 65 535 to 16 bpp, etc.). ) is white, unless otherwise indicated.
[0032] Converting a color image to grayscale is not unique; different weightings of the color channels effectively represent the effect of shooting using a black and white film with photographic filters of different colors on the camera and / or the scanner. A common strategy is to match the luminance of the grayscale image to the luminance of the color image.
[0033] To convert any color into a grayscale representation of its luminance, the values of its red, green, and blue (RGB) primary components must first be obtained in gamma expansion linear intensity coding. Then add 30% of the red value, 59% of the green value and 11% of the blue value (these values depend on the exact choice of the RGB primary components, but are typical). Regardless of the scale employed (0.0 to 1.0, 0 to 255, 0% to 100%, etc.), the resulting number is the value of the desired linear luminance; it is usually necessary to perform a gamma compression to return to a classic grayscale representation. As used herein, a "binary image" is a digital image that has only two possible values for each pixel. Generally, the two colors used for a binary image are black and white, even if any two colors can be used. The color used for the object or objects in the image is the foreground color while the rest of the image is the background color. In the document scanning sector, such an image is often called a bitonal. Binary images are also said at two levels. This means that each pixel is stored as a single bit (0 or 1). The terms "black and white", "black and white" and "monochrome" are often used for this concept, but can also refer to any image having only one sample per pixel, such as grayscale images. In Photoshop jargon, a binary image is called an image in bitmap mode. Binary images are often used in digital image processing, as masks or as a result of certain operations such as segmentation, thresholding and screening. A binary image is generally stored in memory in a bitmap form, i.e. a compressed set of bits. An image of 640 x 480 may require 37.5 KB of storage. Due to the small size of image files, fax machines and document management solutions typically use this format. The sanitary tissue products of the present invention may be single layer or multilayer bathroom tissue products. In other words, the sanitary tissue products of the present invention may comprise one or more fibrous structures. In one example, the fibrous structures and / or toilet tissue products of the present invention are made from a plurality of paper pulp fibers, for example, wood pulp fibers and / or other fibers. cellulosic pulp, for example, trichomes. In addition to paper pulp fibers, the fibrous structures and / or sanitary tissue products of the present invention may comprise synthetic fibers and / or filaments. In one example of the present invention, there is a sanitary tissue product comprising a plurality of dough fibers, wherein the sanitary tissue product has a number of free fibers greater than 26 and / or 27 and / or 29. and / or 30 and / or 35 after measurement according to the free fiber test method described herein. In another example of the present invention, there is a sanitary tissue product comprising at least one three dimensional patterned fibrous structure layer comprising a plurality of dough fibers, wherein the sanitary tissue product has a number of fibers. free above 26 and / or 27 and / or 29 and / or 30 and / or 35 after measurement according to the free fiber test method described herein.
[0034] In another example of the present invention, there is a sanitary tissue product, for example a toilet tissue product, comprising at least one through air creped fibrous structure layer comprising a plurality of pulp fibers, in which wherein the sanitary tissue product has a number of free fibers greater than 26 and / or 27 and / or 29 and / or 30 and / or 35 after measurement according to the free fiber test method described herein. In another example of the present invention, there is a multilayer sanitary tissue product, for example comprising two layers, for example a toilet tissue product, comprising a plurality of dough fibers, wherein the paper type product. Multilayer hygienic material has a number of free fibers greater than 26 and / or 27 and / or 29 and / or 30 and / or 35 or more) after measurement according to the free fiber test method described herein. In another example of the present invention, there is a multilayer sanitary tissue product, for example comprising two layers, for example a toilet tissue product, comprising at least one layer with a three dimensional pattern of fibrous structure, for example a a cross-air dried, three-dimensional patterned fibrous structure layer comprising a plurality of dough fibers, wherein the multilayer sanitary tissue product has a number of free fibers greater than 26 and / or 27 and / or 29 and / or 30 and / or 35 or more) after measurement according to the free fiber test method described herein. In another example of the present invention, there is a multilayer sanitary tissue product comprising at least one through air creped fibrous structure layer comprising a plurality of dough fibers, wherein the sanitary tissue product has a number of of free fibers greater than 26 and / or 27 and / or 29 and / or 30 and / or 35 after measurement according to the free fiber test method described herein. In one example, the fibrous structure and / or sanitary tissue product of the present invention has a number of free fibers of the present invention on both sides of the fibrous structure and / or sanitary tissue product. In another example, the fibrous structure and / or sanitary tissue product of the present invention has a number of free fibers of the present invention on the fabric side (the side which is in contact with the molding member (canvas and / or through-air drying belt)). In another example, the fibrous structure and / or sanitary tissue product of the present invention has a number of free fibers of the present invention on the fabric side (the side not in contact with the molding member). (cloth and / or air drying belt through). In another example, the fibrous structure and / or sanitary tissue product of the present invention has a number of free fibers of the present invention on the side used by the consumer (the side that is in contact with the skin of the consumer when using the product). Table 1 below shows the number of free fibers (FF / cm) for samples of the invention and samples of sanitary tissue products available and / or known commercially, for example wipe-type products. toilet. Product Presence of three-dimensional patterns 141-i / cm Plush Invention Yes 37.5 7.1 Invention Yes 27 8.5 Invention Yes 32 7.2 Charmin @ Ultra Soft Yes 12.15 8 Charmin® Super Yes 18 7.4 Premium Charmin ® Ultra Strong Yes 10.3 4.3 Charmin® Ultra Strong Yes 11 4 Charmin® Sensitive Yes 25.44 4 Charmin® Trichome- Yes 19.46 9.5 containing Charmin® Ultra Soft Yes 16 8 Charmin® Basic Yes 8 4 Scott® Extra Soft Yes 10.56 2.92 Cottonelle® Ultra Yes 18.19 3.64 Cottonelle® Yes 13 6.3 Scott® 1000 No 0.44 1.3 Quilted Northern® Ultra No 18 4.7 Soft & Strong Quilted Northern® Ultra No 26.5 5.3 Plush - 3P A Quilted Northern® Ultra No 13.2 6 Plush - 3P B Kirkland® Signature No 6.94 4.1 Table 1 Fibrous Structures and / or Paper Products Hygienic of the present invention may be creped or uncrimped.
[0035] The fibrous structures and / or sanitary tissue products of the present invention may be applied wet or air applied. The fibrous structures and / or sanitary tissue products of the present invention can be embossed. The fibrous structures and / or sanitary tissue products of the present invention may comprise a surface softening agent or be free of a surface softening agent. In one example, the sanitary tissue product is a toilet tissue product not impregnated with lotion. The fibrous structures and / or sanitary tissue products of the present invention may comprise trichome fibers and / or may be free of trichome fibers. The fibrous structures and / or sanitary tissue products of the present invention can exhibit the compressibility values alone or in combination with the plate stiffness values with or without the aid of surface softening agents. In other words, the sanitary tissue products of the present invention can exhibit the previously described compressibility values alone or in combination with the plate stiffness values when surface softening agents are not present on the surface. and / or in the sanitary tissue products, in other words, the sanitary tissue product is free of surface softening agents. This does not mean that the sanitary tissue products themselves can not include surface softening agents. This simply means that when making the sanitary tissue product without adding the surface softening agents, the sanitary tissue product exhibits the compressibility and plate stiffness values of the present invention. The addition of a surface softening agent to such a sanitary tissue product within the scope of the present invention (without the need for a surface softening agent or other chemical) can improve the compressibility and / or the plate stiffness of the sanitary tissue product to a certain extent. However, sanitary tissue products on or in which it is necessary to include surface softening agents to be within the scope of the present invention, in other words to obtain The compressibility and rigidity of the plate of the present invention are outside the scope of the present invention.
[0036] The sanitary tissue products of the present invention and / or the three dimensional patterned fibrous structure layers employed in the sanitary tissue products of the present invention are formed on patterned molding elements which produce the sanitary tissue products. of the present invention. In one example, the patterned molding element comprises a non-random repeating pattern. In another example, the patterned molding element comprises a resin pattern. A "reinforcing element" may be a desirable (but not necessary) element in some examples of the molding element, serving primarily to provide or facilitate the integrity, stability and durability of the molding element comprising, for example, for example, a resin-type material. The reinforcing member may be liquid permeable or partially liquid pervious, may have a variety of embodiments and weave patterns, and may include a variety of materials, such as, for example, a plurality of interlaced yarns (including including Jacquard woven patterns and the like), felt, plastic, other suitable synthetic material, or any combination thereof. As illustrated in FIGS. 1A to 1C, a non-limiting example of a patterned molding member suitable for use in the present invention includes a through air drying belt 10. The through air drying belt 10 comprises a plurality of semicontinuous seams 24 formed by semi-continuous resin line segments 26 arranged in a non-random repeating pattern, for example, a repeating pattern substantially in the cross direction of semi-continuous lines supported on a support fabric comprising In this case, the semi-continuous lines are curvilinear, for example, sinusoidal. The semi-continuous seams 24 are spaced from the adjacent semi-continuous seams 24 by semi-continuous bushings 28 which constitute deflection conduits in which portions of a fibrous structure layer formed on the through-air drying belt 10 deviate. Figures 1A to 1C. As illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B, a resultant toilet tissue product 18 made on the through air drying belt 10 of FIGS. 1A-1C includes semi-continuous bearing regions 30 communicated by the semi-continuous bushings 28 of FIGS. the air drying belt 10 of Figures 1A to 1C. The sanitary tissue product 18 further includes semi-continuous joint regions 32 communicated by the semi-continuous seams 24 of the air-flow drying belt 10 of Figs. 1A-1C. The semicontinuous pad regions 30 and the semicontinuous seam regions 32 may have different densities, for example one or more of the semicontinuous seam regions 32 may have a density that is greater than the density. of one or more semi-continuous bearing regions 30. Without being bound by theory, shrinkage (wet and dry creping, web creping, accelerated transfer, etc.) is an integral part of fibrous structure fabrication. and / or toilet paper, helping to produce the desired compromise of strength, elongation, softness, absorbency, etc. Supporting, transporting and molding elements of fibrous structure used in the papermaking process, such as rolls, webs, felts, belts, etc. have been variously shaped to interact with the narrowing so as to further control the properties of the fibrous structure and / or the sanitary tissue product. In the past, it has been thought that it is advantageous to avoid strongly dominant cross-seam designs that result in machine-direction oscillations of shrinkage forces. However, it has been unexpectedly found that the molding element of FIGS. 1A-1C provides a patterned molding element having dominant cross-directional semicontinuous joints which provide better control of the molding and the elongation of the mold. the fibrous structure while overcoming the negative aspects of the past. The sanitary tissue products of the present invention can be manufactured by any suitable papermaking process as long as a molding element of the present invention is used to make the sanitary tissue product or at least one a fibrous structure layer of the sanitary tissue product and the sanitary tissue product exhibits the compressibility and plate stiffness values of the present invention. The method may be a sanitary tissue product manufacturing method that uses a cylindrical dryer such as a Yankee (a Yankee process) or it may be a non-Yankee process as used for manufacture fibrous structures and / or hygienic tissue products of substantially uniform and / or uncrimped density. Alternatively, the fibrous structures and / or sanitary tissue products may be manufactured by an air jet process and / or melt blown and / or spunbond processes and any combination thereof. provided that the fibrous structures and / or sanitary tissue products of the present invention are made therefrom. As illustrated in FIG. 3, an example of a method and equipment, represented by 36 for making a sanitary tissue product according to the present invention includes providing an aqueous dispersion of fibers (a fibrous manufacturing composition). or a suspension of fibers) to an arrival box 38 which may be of any advantageous design. From the headbox 38, the aqueous fiber dispersion is delivered to a first porous member 40 which is typically a Fourdrinier web, to produce an embryonic fibrous structure 42. The first porous member 40 may be supported by a roll of head 44 and a plurality of return rollers 46 of which only two are shown. The first porous member 40 may be propelled in the direction indicated by the directional arrow 48 by drive means, not shown. Optional auxiliary units and / or devices commonly associated with fibrous structure-making machines and the first porous element 40, but not shown, include marbles, drips, suction boxes, tension rollers, support rollers, canvas cleaning showers and the like. After the aqueous dispersion of fibers is deposited on the first porous member 40, the embryonic fibrous structure 42 is formed, typically by removing a portion of the aqueous dispersion medium by techniques well known to those skilled in the art. art. Suction boxes, marbles, squeegees and the like are useful for effecting the removal of water. The embryonic fibrous structure 42 can move with the first porous member 40 around the return roller 46 and is brought into contact with a patterned molding member 50, such as a three-dimensional pattern through air drying belt. While in contact with the patterned molding member 50, the embryonic fibrous structure 42 will be deflected, rearranged and / or further dehydrated. This can be achieved by applying differential speeds and / or pressures. The patterned molding member 50 may be in the form of an endless belt. In this simplified representation, the patterned molding member 50 passes near and around return rolls of the patterned molding member 52 and the impression nip roll 54 and is movable in the direction indicated by the arrow. directional 56. Associated with the patterned molding member 50, but not illustrated, there may be various support rollers, other return rollers, cleaning means, drive means and the like well known to man of the art, which can be commonly used in fibrous structure manufacturing machines.
[0037] After the embryonic fibrous structure 42 has been associated with the patterned molding member 50, the fibers within the embryonic fibrous structure 42 are deflected into the pads and / or a network of pads ("deflection lines") present therein. in the patterned molding member 50. In one example of this process step, there is substantially no water removal from the embryonic fibrous structure 42 through the deflection conduits after the embryonic fibrous structure 42 has been associated with the patterned molding member 50 but prior to deflection of the fibers in the deflection conduits. Additional water removal from the embryonic fibrous structure 42 may occur during and / or after the moment the fibers are being deflected into the deflection conduits. The removal of water from the embryonic fibrous structure 42 may continue until the consistency of the embryonic fibrous structure 42 associated with the patterned molding member 50 is increased from about 25% to about 35%. Once this consistency of the embryonic fibrous structure 42 is obtained, the embryonic fibrous structure 42 may be referred to as the intermediate fibrous structure 58. During the process of forming the embryonic fibrous structure 42, sufficient water may be removed, as by an uncompressed method, the embryonic fibrous structure 42 before it associates with the patterned molding member 50 so that the consistency of the embryonic fibrous structure 42 can range from about 10% to about 30%. %. Although the applicants refuse to be bound to any particular theory of operation, it appears that the deflection of the fibers into the embryonic fibrous structure and the removal of water from the embryonic fibrous structure begin substantially at the same time. Embodiments may, however, be contemplated wherein the deflection and water removal are sequential operations. Under the influence of the applied fluid differential pressure, for example, the fibers may be deflected in the deflection conduit with joint reordering of the fibers. Water removal can occur with continued reordering of the fibers. The deflection of the fibers, and the embryonic fibrous structure, can cause an apparent increase in the area of the embryonic fibrous structure. In addition, the reordering of the fibers may appear to cause reordering in the spaces or capillaries existing between and / or among the fibers.
[0038] It is believed that fiber reordering may take one of two modes depending on a number of factors such as, for example, fiber length. The free ends of the long fibers can only be bent in the space defined by the deflection conduit while the opposite ends are constrained in the region of the ridges. The shorter fibers, on the other hand, can actually be transported from the peak region into the deflection conduit (the fibers in the deflection conduits will also be rearranged relative to each other). Of course, it is possible that both reordering modes occur simultaneously. As indicated, water removal occurs both during and after deflection; this removal of water can cause a decrease in mobility of the fibers in the embryonic fibrous structure. This decrease in fiber mobility may tend to fix and / or freeze fibers in place after they have been deflected and rearranged. Of course, drying the fibrous structure in a subsequent step of the process of the present invention serves to secure and / or more firmly freeze the fibers in position. Any advantageous means known in a conventional manner in the papermaking art can be used to dry the intermediate fibrous structure 58. Examples of such an appropriate drying method include subjecting the intermediate fibrous structure 58 to conventional and / or circulating dryers and / or scrubbers. In one example of a drying process, the intermediate fibrous structure 58 in association with the patterned molding member 50 passes around the return roller of the patterned molding member 52 and moves in the direction indicated by the directional arrow 56. The intermediate fibrous structure 58 can first pass through an optional forearse 60. This pre-dryer 60 may be a conventional circulation dryer (hot air dryer) well known to those skilled in the art. Optionally, the pre-dryer 60 may be a so-called capillary dewatering apparatus. In such an apparatus, the intermediate fibrous structure 58 passes over a sector of a cylinder having pores of preferential capillary size through its porous cylindrical cover. Optionally, the pre-dryer 60 may be a combination of a capillary dewatering apparatus and a circulation dryer. The amount of water removed in the pre-dryer 60 can be controlled so that a pre-dried fibrous structure 62 leaving the pre-dryer 60 has a consistency of from about 30% to about 98%. The pre-dried fibrous structure 62, which may still be associated with the patterned molding member 50, may pass around another return roll of the patterned molding member 52 as it moves toward a roll. As the pre-dried fibrous structure 62 passes through the nips formed between the printing nip roll 54 and a surface of a Yankee 64, the pattern formed by the upper surface 66 of the The patterned molding member 50 is printed into the pre-dried fiber structure 62 to form a three dimensional patterned fiber structure 68. It is then possible to adhere the labeled fiber structure 68 to the surface of the Yankee 64 where it can be dried at a consistency of at least about 95%. The three-dimensional patterned fibrous structure 68 may then be creped by shrinking the three-dimensional patterned fiber structure 68 with a crepe blade 70 to remove the three dimensional patterned fiber structure 68 from the surface of the Yankee 64 by driving the production of a structure. three-dimensional patterned creped fibrous material 72 according to the present invention. As used herein, the term shrinkage refers to the reduction in length of a dry fibrous structure (having a consistency of at least about 90% and / or at least about 95%) that occurs when energy is applied to the dry fibrous structure in such a way that the length of the fibrous structure is reduced and the fibers in the fibrous structure are rearranged with joint dislocation of the fiber-fiber bonds. Shrinkage can be accomplished in any of several well-known ways. A common method of shrinking is creping. The creped fibrous structure with three-dimensional patterns 72 may be subjected to post-processing steps such as calendering, tufting operations and / or embossing and / or conversion. Another example of a suitable papermaking process for making the sanitary tissue products of the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 4. FIG. 4 illustrates an uncrimped through air drying process. In this example, a multilayered headbox 74 deposits an aqueous suspension of papermaking fibers between forming webs 76 and 78 so as to form an embryonic fibrous structure 80. The embryonic fibrous structure 80 is transferred to a web of Slow motion transfer 82 with the aid of at least one suction box 84. The vacuum level used for fibrous structure transfers can range from about 10 to 50.8 kilopascals (about 3 to 15 inches of mercury ( 76 to 381 millimeters of mercury approximately)). Suction box 84 (negative pressure) can be supplemented or replaced by the use of a positive pressure on the opposite side of the embryonic fibrous structure 80 to blow the embryonic fibrous structure 80 onto the following web as a complement or replacement of his vacuum aspiration on the next canvas. In addition, one or more suction rollers may be used to replace the one or more suction boxes 84. The embryonic fibrous structure 80 is then transferred to a patterned molding member 50 of the present invention, such as an air drying cloth. passing therethrough, and passed to through air dryers 86 and 88 to dry the embryonic fibrous structure 80 to form a three-dimensional patterned fiber structure 90. While supported by the molding member 50, the fibrous structure at Three-dimensional patterns 90 is finally dried to a consistency of about 94% percent or more. After drying, the three-dimensional patterned fiber structure 90 is transferred from the patterned molding member 50 to the web 92 and then briefly interposed between the webs 92 and 94. The dried three-dimensional patterned fiber structure 90 remains with the web 94 until it is wound at the reel 96 ("mother reel") as a finished fiber structure. Subsequently, the finished three-dimensional patterned fiber structure 90 may be unwound, calendered, and converted to the sanitary tissue product of the present invention, such as a toilet towel roll, in any suitable manner.
[0039] Another example of a paper making process suitable for making the sanitary tissue products of the present invention is illustrated in Figure 5. Figure 5 illustrates a papermaking machine 98 having a conventional twin-wire forming section 100 , a felt passage section 102, a shoe press section 104, a molding member section 106, in this case a crepe fabric section, and a Yankee section 108 suitable for practicing the present invention. invention. The forming section 100 includes a pair of forming webs 110 and 112 supported by a plurality of rollers 114 and a forming roll 116. An arrival crate 118 provides a paper making composition at a nip 120 between the forming roll 116 and the roll 114 and the webs 110 and 112. The manufacturing composition forms an embryonic fibrous structure 122 which is dehydrated on the webs 110 and 112 with the assistance of vacuum, for example, by means of the suction box 124. The embryonic fibrous structure 122 is advanced to a paper making felt 126 which is supported by a plurality of rollers 114 and the felt 126 is in contact with a shoe press roll 128. The embryonic fibrous structure 122 is low consistency when transferred to felt 126. Transfer may be assisted by vacuum; as by a suction roll if desired or a grip or suction sole, as is known in the art. When the embryonic fibrous structure 122 reaches the shoe press roll 128, it can have a consistency of 10 to 25% when it enters the shoe press contact line 130 between the shoe press roll 128 and the roll 132. The transfer roller 132 may be a heated roller, if desired. Instead of a shoe press roll 128, it could be a conventional suction pressure roll. If a shoe press roll 128 is employed, it is desirable that the roll 114 immediately before the shoe press roll 128 is an effective suction roll to remove water from the felt 126 before the felt 126 enters the line. the shoe press contact 130 as the water from the manufacturing composition will be pressed into the felt 126 in the nip of the shoe press 130. In any case, the use of a The suction roller at the roller 114 is typically desirable for the embryonic fibrous structure 122 to remain in contact with the felt 126 during the change of direction, as will be realized by those skilled in the art from the diagram.
[0040] The embryonic fibrous structure 122 is wet pressed onto the felt 126 in the shoe press contact line 130 with the assistance of the pressing shoe 134. The embryonic fibrous structure 122 is thus dehydrated compactly at the nip shoe press 130, typically increasing the consistency of 15 points or more at this stage of the process. The configuration shown at the shoe press line 130 is generally referred to as a shoe press; in connection with the present invention, the transfer roller 132 is operative as a transfer cylinder which functions to transport the embryonic fibrous structure 122 at high speed, typically from 5.08 meters / second (m / s) to 30.5 m / s (1000 feet / minute to 6000 feet per minute) to the section of the patterned molding element 106 of the present invention, for example, a section of through air drying fabric, also referred to in this process by section of crepe cloth. The transfer roll 132 has a smooth transfer roll surface 136 which may be provided with adhesive and / or release agents as needed. The embryonic fibrous structure 122 adheres to the transfer roller surface 136 which rotates at a high angular velocity as the embryonic fibrous structure 122 continues to advance in the machine direction indicated by the arrows 138. On the transfer roller 132 the embryonic fibrous structure 122 has an apparent random distribution of fiber. The embryonic fibrous structure 122 enters the shoe press line 130 typically at 10 to 25% consistencies and is dehydrated and dried to consistencies ranging from about 70% to about 70% at the time it is transferred to the molding element 140 according to the present invention which, in this case, is a patterned creping fabric, as illustrated in the diagram. The molding member 140 is supported on a plurality of rolls 114 and a press nip roll 142 and forms a nip of the molding member 144, for example, a crepe nip, with the transfer roller 132, as illustrated.
[0041] The molding member 140 defines a crepe nip along the distance in which the molding member 140 is adapted to engage the transfer roller 132; i.e., apply significant pressure to the embryonic fibrous structure 122 against the transfer roller 132. For this purpose, a nip roll (or crepe) 142 may be provided with a flexible deformable surface which will increase the length of the crepe nip and increase the web crepe angle between the molding member 140 and the embryonic fibrous structure 122 and the contact point or a shoe press roll could be used as a roller press nipper 142 to increase effective contact with the embryonic fibrous structure 122 in a high impact molding member 144 where the embryonic fibrous structure 122 is transferred to the molding member 140 and driven in the machine direction 138. Using a different equipment at the contact line of the molding element 144, it is possible to adjust the creping angle by canvas or the angle of withdrawal of the molding element 144 In this way, it is possible to influence the nature and amount of fiber redistribution, delamination / delamination that may occur at the contact line of the molding member. 144 by adjusting these contact line parameters. In some embodiments, it may be desirable to restructure the inter-fiber characteristics in the z-direction, while in other cases it may be desired to influence the properties only in the plane of the fibrous structure. The spacing parameters of the molding element can influence the fiber distribution in the fiber structure in a variety of directions, including inducing changes in the z direction as well as in the machine direction and the cross direction. In any case, the transfer of the transfer roll to the molding member is a high impact in that the web moves more slowly than the fibrous structure and a significant change in velocity occurs. Typically, the fibrous structure is creped anywhere from 10 to 60% and even more during transfer of the transfer roll to the molding member. The nip of the molding element 144 generally extends a distance of about 0.32 cm from the molding element to about 5.1 cm (about 1/8 "to 2"). about), typically from 1.3 cm to 5.1 cm (1/2 "to 2"). For a molding member 140, for example, a crepe web, with 32 threads in the cross direction by 2.5 cm (per inch), the embryonic fibrous structure 122 will thus encounter from 4 to 64 weft filaments in the gap of the molding element 144. The contact pressure in the nip of the molding element 144, i.e. the loading between the roller 142 and the transfer roller 132 is suitably 3.5 to 17.5 kilonewtons per meter (kN / m) (20 to 100 pounds per linear inch (PLI)). After passing through the nip of the molding member 144 and, for example, a web creping of the embryonic fibrous structure 122, a three-dimensional patterned fibrous structure 146 continues to advance along the machine direction 138 where it is wet-pressed on a Yankee (dryer) 148 in the transfer contact line 150. The transfer to the nip 150 occurs at a consistency of the three-dimensional patterned fiber structure 146 generally ranging from about 25% to about 70%. % about. At these consistencies, it is difficult to adhere the three dimensional patterned fibrous structure 146 to the Yankee surface 152 sufficiently firmly to completely remove the three dimensional patterned fiber structure 146 from the molding member 140. This aspect of the process is important. particularly when it is desired to use a high speed drying cap, as well as maintain high impact creping conditions. In this regard, it is noted that conventional through air drying methods do not use high velocity copings since sufficient adhesion to the Yankee is not achieved. It has been found, according to the present invention, that the use of particular adhesives interacts with a moderately moist fibrous structure (25-70% consistency) to adhere it sufficiently to the Yankee to allow high speed operation of the system and high throughput contact air drying. In this regard, a polyvinyl alcohol / polyamide adhesive composition as set forth above is applied at 154, as needed. The three-dimensional patterned fibrous structure is dried on the Yankee cylinder 148 which is a heated cylinder and by high velocity jet contact air 30 in the Yankee hood 156. As the Yankee roller 148 rotates, the structure The three-dimensional patterned fibrous filament 146 is creped from the frothing roll 148 by the crepe squeegee 158 and is wound on a winding roll 160. The creping of the paper from a Yankee can be performed using an oscillating creping blade, such as that described in US Patent No. 5,690,788. It has been shown that the use of the oscillating creping blade provides several advantages when used in the production of absorbent paper products. In general, padded paper products creped with an oscillating blade have a greater thickness, increased elongation in the transverse direction, and a higher void volume than comparable paper towel products obtained at the same time. using classic crepe blades. All of these changes affected by the use of the oscillating blade tend to correlate with an improved perception of softness of the tissue paper products. When a wet creping process is employed, it is possible to use a contact air dryer, a through air dryer or a plurality of drum dryers in place of a Yankee. Contact air dryers are described in the following patents and applications: U.S. Patent No. 5,865,955 to Ilvespaaet et al., U.S. Patent No. 5,968,590 to Ahonen et al., U.S. Patent No. 6,001,421. Ahonen et al., U.S. Patent No. 6,119,362 to Sundqvist et al., U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 09 / 733,172, entitled Wet Crepe, Impingement-Air Dry Process for Absorbent Sheet Making, now US Patent No. 6,432,267. A circulating drying unit as is well known in the art and described in US Pat. No. 3,432,936 to Cole et al. as in U.S. Patent No. 5,851,353 which discloses a drum drying system. FIG. 6 shows a paper machine 98, similar to that of FIG. 6, to be used in connection with the present invention. Paper machine 98 is a machine with three fabric loops having a forming section 100, generally referred to in the art as crescent formers. The forming section 100 includes a forming wire 162 supported by a plurality of rollers such as the rollers 114. The forming section 100 also includes a forming roll 166, which supports the paper making felt 126, so that the embryonic fibrous structure 122 is formed directly on the felt 126. The felt passage 102 extends to a shoe press section 104 in which the wet embryonic fibrous structure 122 is deposited on a transfer roll 132 (also referred to as sometimes support roll), as previously described. Subsequently, the embryonic fibrous structure 122 is creped on the molding member 140, such as a crepe web, in the nip of the molding member 144 before being deposited on the Yankee 148 in a Another press contact line 150. The paper machine 98 may include an aspirating scroll roll in some embodiments; however, the three-loop system can be configured in various ways in which a rotating roll is not required. This feature is particularly important in connection with the reconstruction of a paper machine in that the expense of relocating the associated equipment, ie pulping or fiber processing equipment and / or bulky and expensive drying equipment, such as the Yankee or the plurality of drum dryers, would make the reconstruction cost prohibitive, unless the improvements could be designed to be compatible with the existing installation. Figure 7 shows another example of a suitable papermaking process for making the sanitary tissue products of the present invention. Figure 7 illustrates a paper machine 98 for use in connection with the present invention. Paper machine 98 is a machine with three fabric loops having a forming section 100, generally referred to in the art as crescent formers. The forming section 100 includes an end box 118 depositing a manufacturing composition on the forming wire 110 supported by a plurality of rollers 114. The forming section 100 also includes a forming roll 166, which supports the manufacturing felt of the paper 126, such that the embryonic fibrous structure 122 is formed directly on the felt 126. The felt passage 102 extends to a shoe press section 104 in which the wet embryonic fibrous structure 122 is deposited on a transfer roller 132 and undergoes wet pressing simultaneously with the transfer. Subsequently, the embryonic fibrous structure 122 is transferred to the section of the molding member 106, being transferred to and / or creped on the molding member 140 of the present invention, for example, a drying belt by passing through, in the nip of the molding element 144, for example, a belt crepe contact line, before being optionally drawn through the vacuum by the suction box 168, then deposited on the Yankee 148 in another line of contact of the press 150 using a creping adhesive, as indicated above. The transfer to a Yankee machine from the crepe belt differs from conventional transfers in a conventional wet press (CWP) ranging from a felt to a Yankee machine. In a CWP process, the pressures in the transfer contact line may be plus or minus 87.6 kN / meter (500 PLI), and the pressurized contact area between the Yankee surface and the fibrous structure is close to , or equal to, 100%. The pressure roller may be a suction roll which may have a P & J hardness of 25-30. On the other hand, a belt creping method of the present invention typically involves transferring to a Yankee machine with 4 to 40% pressurized contact area between the fibrous structure and the Yankee surface at a pressure of 43.8 ° C. 61.3 kN / meter (250 to 350 PLI). No suction is applied in the transfer contact line, and a softer pressure roll is used, hardness P & J 35-45. The paper machine may include a suction roll in some embodiments; however, the three-loop system can be configured in various ways in which a rotating roll is not required. This feature is particularly important in connection with the reconstruction of a paper machine in that the expense of relocating the associated equipment, ie the arrival crate, the pulping equipment or expensive and expensive fiber processing and / or drying equipment, such as the Yankee or the plurality of drum dryers, would make the cost of rebuilding prohibitive, unless the improvements could be designed to be compatible with the existing installation. Non-Limiting Examples of the Manufacture of Sanitary Paper Products Example 1 - Through Air Drying Belt The following example illustrates a non-limiting example for a preparation of a sanitary tissue product comprising a fibrous structure according to the present invention on a Fourdrinier fibrous structure manufacturing machine (paper manufacture) at preindustrial scale. An aqueous suspension of eucalyptus pulp fibers (Fibria Brazilian bleached hardwood kraft pulp) is prepared at about 3% fiber by weight using a conventional pulper and then transferred to the fiber feed box. hardwood. The eucalyptus fiber suspension from the hardwood box is pumped through a feed line to a hardwood mix pump where the consistency of the slurry is reduced by about 3% by weight. fiber to about 0.15% by weight of fiber. The 0.15% eucalyptus suspension is then pumped and evenly distributed in the upper and lower chambers of a three-chamber multilayer feed box of a Fourdrinier wet paper machine.
[0042] In addition, an aqueous suspension of NSK pulp fibers (Nordic Softwood Kraft) is prepared at about 3% fiber by weight using a conventional pulper and then transferred to the wood fiber feed box. conifers. The NSK fiber suspension from the coniferous wood supply box is pumped through a feed pipe to be refined to a Canadian Standardized Freeness Index (CSF) of about 630. NSK Fiber Suspension The refining is then directed to the NSK mixing pump where the consistency of the NSK slurry is reduced from about 3% by weight of fiber to about 0.15% by weight of fiber. The 0.15% eucalyptus suspension is then directed and distributed into the central chamber of a three-chambered multilayer feed box of a Fourdrinier wet paper machine. In order to impart temporary moisture resistance to the finished fiber structure, a 1% dispersion of temporary wet reinforcement additive (eg Parez® marketed by Kemira) is prepared and added to the fiber feed conduit. NSK at a rate sufficient to deliver 0.3% of temporary wet strength additive in dry weight of NSK fibers. Absorption of the temporary wet reinforcement additive is improved by passing the treated slurry through an in-line mixer. The wet-laid paper machine has a layered arrival box having an upper chamber, a central chamber, and a lower chamber 20 where the chambers feed directly onto the forming wire (Fourdrinier canvas). The suspension of eucalyptus fibers of 0.15% consistency is directed to the upper cash register and the lower cashier box. The NSK fiber suspension is directed to the central arrival cash box. The three fiber layers are simultaneously delivered in superimposed relationship to the Fourdrinier web to form a three-layered embryonic fibrous (band) structure, of which about 33% of the upper side is eucalyptus fibers, about 33%. % is made of eucalyptus fibers on the lower side and about 34% consists of NSK fibers in the center. The dehydration is carried out through the Fourdrinier canvas and is assisted by a baffle and suction cups table cloth. The canvas 30 Fourdrinier is a 84M (84 out of 76 5A, Albany International). The speed of the Fourdrinier canvas is approximately 4.06 meters per second (m / s) (800 feet per minute).
[0043] The wet embryonic fibrous structure is transferred from the Fourdrinier web at a fiber consistency of about 16 to 20% at the point of transfer onto a three-dimensional patterned through-air drying belt as shown in FIG. Figures 1A to 1C. The speed of the three-dimensional pattern through-air drying belt is identical to the speed of the Fourdrinier fabric. The three-dimensional patterned air drying belt is designed to provide a fibrous structure, as illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2D, comprising a pattern of semi-continuous low density pad regions and mass join regions. high volume semi-continuous. This three dimensional pattern through air dryer belt is formed by casting an impermeable resin surface onto a fiber mesh backing fabric as shown in FIGS. 1B and 1C. The support fabric is a fine double-layer lattice of 98 x 52 filaments. The thickness of the cast resin is about 0.33 millimeters (13 mils) above the support fabric. Further dehydration of the fibrous structure is accomplished by vacuum assisted drainage until the fibrous structure has a fiber consistency of about 20% to 30%. While remaining in contact with the three-dimensional pattern through-air drying belt, the fibrous structure is pre-dried by a blast of air through pre-dryers to a fiber consistency of about 50 to 65% by weight.
[0044] After the dryers, the semi-dry fibrous structure is transferred to the Yankee and adhere to the surface of the Yankee with a vaporized creping adhesive. The creping adhesive is an aqueous dispersion with the active ingredients consisting of about 80% polyvinyl alcohol (PVA 88-50), about 20% CREPETROL® 457T20. CREPETROL® 457T20 is marketed by Ashland (formerly Hercules Incorporated of Wilmington, DE). The creping adhesive is delivered to the Yankee surface at a rate of about 0.15% adhesive solids based on the dry weight of the fibrous structure. The fiber consistency is increased to about 97% before the fibrous structure is creped dry from the Yankee with a doctor blade. The doctor blade has a bevel angle of about 25 ° and is positioned relative to the Yankee to provide an impact angle of about 81 °. The Yankee is used at a temperature of about 135 ° C (275 ° F) and a speed of about 4.06 m / s (800 feet per minute). The fibrous structure is rolled into a roll (master roll) using a surface-driven reel drum having a peripheral speed of about 3.53 m / s (695 feet per minute). Two mother rolls of the fibrous structure are then converted to a sanitary tissue product by loading the fibrous structure roll into a unwinding support. The production speed is 2.03 m / s (400 ft / min). A stock reel of the fibrous structure is unwound and transported on an embossing support where the fibrous structure is contracted to form the embossing pattern in the fibrous structure and then combined with the fibrous structure from the other stock to produce a multilayer sanitary tissue product (2 layers). The multilayer sanitary tissue product is then transported on a slit extruder through which a surface chemical may be applied. The multilayer sanitary tissue product is then transported to a winder where it is wound on a mandrel to form a spool. The multilayer sanitary tissue product reel is then transported to a reel saw where the reel is cut into finished rolls of multilayer sanitary tissue product. The multilayer sanitary tissue product of this example has the inventive properties shown in Table 1 above. Test Methods Unless otherwise specified, all tests described herein including those described under the Definitions section and the following test methods are performed on samples that have been conditioned in a conditioned room at a temperature of 23 ° C. ± 1.0 ° C and a relative humidity of 50% ± 2% for a minimum of 2 hours before the test. The samples tested are "usable units". The term "usable units" as used herein refers to sheets, flats from a roll stock, pre-processed flats and / or single layer or multilayer products. All tests are carried out in such a conditioned room. Do not test samples that have defects such as creases, tears, holes and the like. All instruments are calibrated according to the manufacturer's specifications. Weight Test Method The grammage of a fibrous structure is measured on twelve-unit stacks that can be used with a top loading analytical balance with a resolution of ± 0.001 g. The scale is protected from drafts and other disturbances by means of a draft protection screen. A precision cutting tool measuring 8.89 cm ± 0.0089 cm by 8.89 cm ± 0.0089 cm (3,500 in ± 0,0035 in. By 3,500 in. ± .0035 in.) Is used to prepare all samples. With a precision die cut, cut the samples into squares. Combine the cut squares to form a stack with a thickness of twelve samples.
[0045] Measure the mass of the sample stack and record the result at plus or minus 0.001 g. The grammage is calculated in pounds / 3000 feet2 or g / m2 as follows: grammage = (mass of the stack) / [(area of a square of the stack) x (number of squares in the stack)] For example, Weight (pounds / 3000 feet2) = [[weight of the pile (g) / 453.6 (g / lb)] / [12.25 (pot) / 144 (po2 / foot2) x 12]] x 3000 OR, Weight (g / m2) = mass of the stack (g) / [79.032 (cm2) / 10,000 (cm2 / m2) x 12] 20 Indicate the result at plus or minus 0.1 lb / 3000 ft2 or 0.1 g / m2. The size of the sample can be varied or varied by using a precision cutter similar to the one previously mentioned to have at least 645.2 square centimeters (100 square inches) of sample area in the sample. the battery. Thickness Test Method The thickness of a fibrous structure and / or a sanitary tissue product is measured using a ProGage Tester Thickness Meter (Thwing-Albert Instrument Company, West Berlin, NJ) with a pressure foot diameter of 5.08 cm (2.00 inches) (surface area of 20.3 cm2 (3.14 square inches)) at a pressure of 1.44 l (13a (95 g square inch) Four (4) samples are prepared by cutting a usable unit such that each cut sample is at least 6.4 cm (2.5 inches) apart, avoiding wrinkles, creases and abrasions. Obvious defects: An individual test piece is placed on the anvil by centering it under the pressure foot.The foot is lowered to 0.08 cm / sec (0.03 inch / s) at an applied pressure of 1.44 kPa (95 g / sq. In.) The value is read after a residence time of 3 seconds, then the foot is taken in. The measurement is repeated in a similar way for the three remaining test pieces. the thickness as the average thickness of the four specimens and is expressed in mils (0.0025 inch) to 0.0025 mm (0.1 mil). Density Test Method The density of a fibrous structure and / or a sanitary tissue product is calculated by taking the quotient of the grammage of a fibrous structure or a sanitary tissue product expressed in lb / 3000 ft2 by the thickness (at 1.44 kPa (95 g / in2)) of the fibrous structure or the sanitary tissue product expressed in mils. The final density value is calculated in pounds / cubic foot and / or g / cm3 using the appropriate conversion factors. Fluff Test Method i. Sample preparation - Tappi # T4020M-88 is sampled and conditioned using sample strips (4 to test both sides, 2 to test one side only) of fibrous structures and / or type toilet paper free of eroded portions having a width of 11.43 cm (4.5 inches) and a length of between 30.48 cm and 40.64 cm (12 to 16 inches) so that each sample strip can be folded back on itself to form a rectangular accessory having a width of 11.43 cm (4.5 inches) (cross direction) and a length of 10.16 cm (4.0 inches) (machine direction) and a total grammage between 140 and 200 g / m2. For a test on both sides, make two rectangular accessories as described above with one side to the outside, then two rectangular accessories with the other side to the outside (take note of the configuration). For sanitary tissue products formed from multiple layers of fibrous structure, this test may be used to measure lint on the multilayer sanitary tissue product, or, if the layers can be separated without damaging the product of In the type of toilet paper, a measurement can be made on the individual layers constituting the sanitary tissue product. If a given sample differs from surface to surface, it is necessary to test both surfaces and average the measurements to obtain a composite lint value. In some cases, sanitary tissue products are made of several layers or fibrous structures and their outer surfaces are identical. In this case, it is necessary to test only one surface. Each sample is folded onto itself to form a sample of 11.4 cm (cross direction) x 10.2 cm (machine direction) (4.5 "(cross direction) x 4" (machine direction)). For a test on both surfaces, make 3 samples (11.4 cm (cross direction) x 10.2 cm (machine direction) (4.5 "(cross direction) x 4" (machine direction)) with a first surface outside and 3 samples (11.4 cm (cross direction) x 10.2 cm (machine direction) (4.5 "(cross direction) x 4" (machine direction)) with the second surface outside Take note of the configuration (first surface on the outside and second surface on the outside).
[0046] For a dry lint test, prepare a piece of 76.2 cm x 101.6 cm (30 "x 40") Crescent # 300 cardboard supplied by Cordage Inc. (800 E Ross Road, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45217). ) or equivalent. Using a paper cutter, cut out six pieces of cardboard measuring 6.35 cm x 15.24 cm (2.5 inches x 6 inches). Drill two holes in each of the six pieces of cardboard by squeezing the cardboard onto the holding pins of the Sutherland friction tester. Center and carefully place each of the pieces of cardboard on top of the previously folded samples, orienting the side to be tested. Be sure to place the 15.24 cm (6 inch) side of the carton parallel to the machine direction of each folded sample. Fold an edge of the exposed portion of the sample onto the back of the carton. Attach this edge to the cardboard with tape available from 3M Inc. (3/4 "wide, Scotch, St. Paul, Minn.) Or equivalent. overhang and fold it down perfectly on the back of the cardboard While maintaining a tight fit of the sample on the cardboard, attach this second edge to the back of the cardboard with adhesive tape.Repeat this procedure for each sample.Return each sample and attach the transverse sides of the sample to the cardboard with adhesive tape One half of the adhesive tape should be in contact with the sample and the other half adhere to the cardboard Repeat this procedure for each sample. sample breaks, tears or fray during this sample preparation procedure, discard the sample and prepare a new one with a sample strip ii) Preparation of felt and weight - Cut a slice black test felt (F-55 or equivalent New England Gasket, 550 Broad Street, Bristol, Connecticut 06 010) having the following dimensions: 5.72 cm x 18.4 cm (21/4 "x 71/4 "). The felt should be used with a weight. The weight may be a clamping device for attaching the felt / cardboard assembly to the weight. The total mass of the weight and / or clamping device is 2.3 kg (five (5) pounds). The weight is available from Danilee Company, San Antonio, Texas, and is associated with the Sutherland friction tester. A piece of 1/2 "(2.1 cm x 10.2 cm) (2" x 4 ") smooth surface foam, Poron Quick Recovery Foam, is attached to the surface of the weight. with adhesive back and firmness rating of 13. For the dry test, the felt is affixed directly to this foam surface providing an effective contact area of 51.6 cm2 (8 in2) and a contact pressure of approximately 4.309 kPa (0.625 psi) For the wet test, an additional 2.5 cm x 10.2 cm (1 "x 4") foam tape (same foam) is fixed and lengthwise as described above) on the top of the 5.1 cm x 10.2 cm (2 "x 4") foam web, in this way, after the felt is affixed to this surface, an effective contact surface 25.8 cm 2 (4 square inches) and a contact pressure of about 1.26 psi (8.62 kPa) were established, and for the wet test only, after fixing the felt to the weight apparatus , two strips of adhesive tape (Scotch brand, length 10.8 cm - 13.3 cm (4 1/4 "- 51/4"), width 1.91 cm (3/4 ")) along each edge of the felt (parallel to the long side of the felt) on the face of the felt that will be in contact with the sample. The felt not held by tape between the two strips of tape has a width of between 18 and 21 mm. Three markers are placed on one of the strips of 0, 4 and 10 cm tape along the flat test area of the felt being tested. iii. Performing the Dry Lint Test - The amount of dry fluff and / or dry pellet generated by a fibrous product according to the present invention is determined with a Sutherland friction tester (available from Danilee Company, San Antonio). , Texas). This tester uses a motor to rub 5 times (back and forth) a felt / weight assembly on the fibrous product while the fibrous product is held in a fixed position. First, turn on the Sutherland friction tester by pressing the reset button. Set the tester to perform 5 runs at the lower of the two speeds. A race is a single complete movement of the weight forward and backward. The end of the friction block shall be in the position closest to the operator at the beginning and at the end of each test. . Place the sample / cardboard assembly on the base plate of the tester by threading the cardboard holes onto the holding pins. The holding pins prevent any movement of the sample during the test. Hook the felt / weight assembly into the arm of the Sutherland friction tester and gently place it on the top of the sample / carton assembly. The felt must be level on the calibration sample and must be in 100% contact with the surface of the calibration sample (use a spirit level to check). Activate the Sutherland friction tester by pressing the "Start" button. Count the number of strokes and observe and hold the starting and stopping positions of the felt weight relative to the sample. If the total number of strokes equals five and the position of the felt-covered calibration weight is the same at the end of the test as at the beginning of the test, the test is conclusive. If the total number of strokes is different from five or if the beginning and end positions of the weight covered with felt are different, it may be necessary to carry out an operation of maintenance or calibration of the instrument.
[0047] When there is no movement in the instrument, remove the felt-covered weight from the instrument holding arm and remove the felt from the weight. Spread the test felt on a clean flat surface. The next step is to perform image capture, analysis, and calculations on the test felts as described below. vi. Image capture - Images of felt (not tested), sample (not tested) and felt (tested) are captured using a computer and scanner ( Microtek ArtixScan 1800f). Make sure the scanner glass is clear and clean. Place the pens centered on the scanner, face down. Adjust the image capture limits so that all pens are included in the captured image. Set the scanner to 600 dpi resolution, RGB mode, and 100% image size (no scaling). After scanning the pens, save the image as an 8-bit RGB TIFF image, remove the pens from the scanner, and repeat the process until all the fountain images are captured. It may be necessary to capture (in the same way) additional images from the sample (not tested) if they have a mean luminance (with Optimas software) significantly lower than 254 (less than 244) after conversion to an image 8-bit grayscale. Similarly, we take an image of a standard of known length (for example, a ruler) (the difference of exposure does not matter for this image). This image is used to calibrate the distance scale of the image analysis software. vii. Image Analysis - Captured images are scanned using the Optimas 6.5 image analysis software marketed by Media Cybernetics, LP It is necessary to strictly follow the imaging configuration parameters listed here in order to obtain comparative fluffing and pilling results. First, an image of a standard of known length (for example, a rule) is opened in Optimas and used to calibrate the units of length (millimeters in this case). For dry testing, the total area of interest (ROI) is approximately 4500 mm2 (90 mm x 50 mm), and the wet and mobile area of interest area is approximately 1500 mm2 ( 94mm x 16mm). We measure and record the exact area of the region of interest (variable name: ROI_area). The average gray value of the non-rubbed region of the test felt is used as a reference, and is recorded to determine threshold and fluffing values (variable name: untested_felt_GV_avg). This value is determined by creating a region of interest area of about 5 mm per 25 mm on the unbroken, untested surface of the black felt, at opposite ends of the rubbed region. The average of these two average gray value luminances for each region of interest is used as the average value of the gray value of the untested felt (untested_felt_GV_avg) for this particular felt test. This procedure is repeated for all the test felts analyzed. The luminance of the test sheet is generally close to saturated white (gray value 254) and relatively constant for the samples in question. If it is thought to be different, measure the test sheet in the same way as for the non-tested felt and record it (variable name = untested_sheet_GV_avg). The luminance threshold is calculated from the values of the variables untested_felt_GV_avg and untested_sheet_GV_avg as follows: For felts from the lint / dry pilling tests: (untested_sheet_GV_avg - untested_felt_GV_avg) * 0.4 + untested_felt_GV_avg For felts of lint tests / wet pilling: (untested_sheet_GV_avg - untested_felt_GV_avg) * 0,25 + untested_felt_GV_avg The test felt image is opened and the region of interest and its boundaries are correctly created and positioned to encompass a region that contains completely the pills and contains the highest concentration of pills on the rubbed part of the test felt. The average luminance of the region of interest (variable name: ROLGV_avg) is recorded. The pilling is determined as follows: Optimas creates borderlines of the image at locations where pixel luminance values deviate from the threshold value (for example, if the threshold is 120, boundary lines are created at locations where there are higher and lower pixel luminance values on each side The criteria for determining a pellet are: average luminance greater than the threshold value and perimeter length greater than 0.5 mm The variable name of the sum of the fuzzy areas is: Total_Pilled_Area.
[0048] The measurement data for the region of interest, and for each pellet, from Optimas is exported to a spreadsheet for subsequent calculations. viii. Calculations - The data obtained from the image analysis is used in the following calculations: Pilled_Area __% = percentage of the area covered with puddles = Total_Pilled_Area / ROI_area Lint_Score = difference in gray value between the area without pilling of the surface rubbed test felt and felt not tested Lint_Score = unpilled_felt_Gray_Value_avg - untested_felt_Gray_Value_avg where: unpilled_felt_Gray_Value_avg = [(ROI_Gray_Value_avg * ROLarea) - (pilled_Gray_Value_avg * pilled_area)] / Total_Unpilled_Area Taking the Lint_Score average between the surface of the first side and the surface of the second side, one obtains the lint value that is applicable to that particular strip or product. In other words, to calculate the lint value (Lint_Score), we use the following formula: Dry_Lint_Score = Dry Lint Score, the + Dry side Lint Score, 2nd side 2 Dry_Pill_Area_% = Dry Pill Area%, the !. Side + Dry Pill Area%, 2nd Side 2 Free Fiber Test Method An apparatus and method for quantifying the number of fibers emanating from a surface (also referred to herein as "free fiber measurement system" and "measurement of free fibers ") and the effective height of fibers from a surface (also referred to herein as" effective fiber height ") may use an image pickup apparatus to configure a web substrate such as tissue, toilet towels, paper towels, paper towels and other substrates on an appropriate image scanner to generate an image file. The image collection apparatus is preferably capable of providing a digitized image of the web substrate. The method described herein can then use software to measure the number of free fibers emanating from the surface over a length of the product as well as the average effective height of the free fibers from the recorded image (s). The free fiber measurement system generally includes a test apparatus, an imaging system, and an image analysis software. Test apparatus With reference to FIG. 8, an image collection apparatus 300 cited by way of non-limiting example for use in creating an image of the fibers extending from the surface of a product of the type Toilet paper and / or fibrous structure 302 (Z-direction fibers) along the length and / or width of a sanitary tissue product and / or a fibrous structure 302 may generally include following equipment (1) Image scanner 304 - one skilled in the art will recognize that virtually any image scanner 304 capable of creating an image file suitable for the method of the present invention is suitable for the purposes of the present invention. . In the context of the present invention, an image scanner 304 cited by way of non-limiting example is an Epson Perfection V 700 Photo scanner. The scanner selected should be capable of providing an image having a resolution of at least about 50 dpi, or at least about 300 dpi, or at least about 1200 dpi, or at least about 9600 dpi. The flatbed digital image scanner 304 mentioned here may have the following specifications: Document type: Reflective Document source: Scanner scanner glass Type of auto exposure: Photo Image type: 16-bit grayscale Resolution : 2400 dpi Settings: Unsharp Mask (On, Level = High) Eliminate Isolated Pixels (On, Level = High) Further details regarding Image Scanner 304 are given below. (2) Sample Holder 306 - One skilled in the art will recognize that the sample holder 306 is used to position a hygienic tissue product or a fibrous structure 302 suitably prepared on the platen glass 308. image scanner. The exemplary sample holder 306 positions the toilet tissue product and / or fibrous structure 302 on the scanner glass 308 of the image scanner for the purpose of facilitating the creation by the image scanner. FIG. 30 shows an image of the fibers extending from the sanitary tissue product and / or the fibrous structure 302 in the Z direction. Further details relating to the sample holder 306 are given below. (3) A Reflective Reduction Cover 310 - Further details on Reflective Reduction Cover 310 are given below. Those skilled in the art will realize that each component of the sample holder 306 can be made of any suitable material; however, it is desirable that each component be made of materials obtained by FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) technology.
[0049] The sample holder 306 is generally formed of two parts: a sample holder frame 312 and the substrate holder 314. The sample holder frame 312 is designed to allow precise and reproducible placement of the sample holder 306 on the glass. 308 of the image scanner 304. The sample holder 312, which is desirably removable, is fixed to the exposure scanner 308 of the image scanner. Those skilled in the art will be able to provide such a removable attachment by providing notches, notches, guides and the like positioned on the scanner glass 308 of the image scanner or on the image scanner 304. Substrate 314 is generally configured to exert adequate tension on the sanitary tissue product and / or the fibrous structure 302. It has also been found that the substrate support 314 can also position the sanitary tissue product and / or the fibrous structure. 302 in a fixed position within the sample holder 306 and that the resulting substrate holder 314 is positioned relative to the exposure glass of the image scanner 308 in a coherent manner to facilitate imaging of the images. fibers extending from the sanitary tissue product and / or fibrous structure 302 in the Z direction along the length of the sanitary tissue product and / or the fibrous structure 302. In Fig. 9, the sample holder frame 312 desirably and generally includes two pressure fasteners 316 used to immobilize the sanitary tissue product and / or the fibrous structure 302 after this element has been looped over a 318. According to a non-limiting example, the wedge 318 may be a thin metal bar. It has been determined that a shim 318 having a thickness of 0.064 cm is adapted to a toilet tissue and a tissue paper of a single thickness of user unit, regardless of the number of layers.
[0050] Referring back to FIG. 8, the reflective reducer cover 310 may be designed to minimize the background reflections of the image scanner exposure glass 304 caused by scanner light and may also provide a contrasting background to assist in the analysis of the sanitary tissue product and / or the fibrous structure 302. In a desirable embodiment, the reflective reducing mask 310 is obtained by a method using wire deposition Fused (FDM) and is attached to the notches that are usually found on the top section of the chosen scanner. It will be readily understood that the reflective reducer cover 310 can be designed and made using any available method. Those skilled in the art will understand that it would be advantageous for the reflective reducer cover 310 to be made of black felt. In addition, those skilled in the art will recognize that the reflective reducer cover 310 may be attached or not attached to the top of the scanner. For example, the reflective reducer cover 310 may be placed directly on the sample holder frame 312 before or after the sample holder frame 312 is set up for scanning by the image scanner 304. Experimental protocol For the example method of the method described herein, each hygienic tissue product and / or fibrous structure product sample 302 is prepared for testing according to the following method: The sanitary tissue product and / or the fibrous structure 302 to be tested are cut out (A non-limiting example of a toilet tissue) at a length of at least 20 cm which may have perforations present in the sanitary tissue product and / or the fibrous structure; for example, the sample may be a part of two or more contiguous (but perforated) sheets of the sanitary tissue product and / or the fibrous structure 302, its width being equal to the standard user unit of the paper product. Hygienic and / or fibrous structure 302 to form a test sample. If the sample is not already conditioned as described above, it must be conditioned at a temperature of 23 ° C ± 1.0 ° C and a relative humidity of 50% ± 2% for at least 2 hours before 'trial.
[0051] The sample is placed on the sample holder frame 312 so that it is looped over the shim 318 in the machine direction or the cross direction of the sanitary tissue product and / or the fibrous structure 302. The region above the wedge 318 is desirably located outside the perforated region of the sanitary tissue product and / or the fibrous structure 302 (generally disposed in the cross direction) and out of an edge of the product of type toilet paper and / or fibrous structure 302 (generally in the machine direction), as these regions may not be representative of the rest of the sample that has not been subjected to mechanical cutting, slitting and / or to the piercing apparatus. By way of example only, the wedge 318 has the following dimensions: length = 10.6 cm, width = 1.35 cm and thickness = 0.064 cm. Desirably, the sample is placed on the shim 318 and positioned in the sample holder frame 312 such that the lengths of the sample disposed on both sides of the shim 318 are approximately equal.
[0052] As shown in FIGS. 10 to 12, the sample holder frame 312 is desirably attached to a mount 320. It is thus believed that the sample may be subjected to a voltage applied in order to reduce the angle formed. between the sample and the hold 318. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the overall reduction in the angle formed between the sample and the wedge 318 may, in a practical manner, increase the delimiting qualities (as if there were edges) suitable for creating an image suitable for analysis of the sample disposed on the spacer 318. In order to present an aspect closer to that of sample edges for analysis by the method As described herein, it may be desirable to exert a tension on the sample disposed above and around the shim 318. Those skilled in the art will recognize many methods for exerting such a tension. However, a particularly useful solution is to set a known weight at the ends of the sample disposed on the shim 318. Those skilled in the art will realize that such known weight is desirably fixed over the entire width of the sample. sample. For the analysis described herein, it has been determined that a weight of 185 g exerts appropriate tension in a downward vertical direction (i.e., generally parallel to the gravitational field of the earth) for type toilet paper and tissue paper. Naturally, one skilled in the art can apply tension to the sample disposed on the sample holder frame 312 in any orientation: vertically downward, horizontally or otherwise. In any case, it is desirable to exert sufficient tension at the looped ends of the sample on the shim 318 in the machine direction, in the cross direction, or a combination of both, in order to reduce the angle formed between the wedge 318 and the sample looped around it. One skilled in the art will realize that the mass of the weight attached to the sample can be selected according to the known or presumed physical characteristics of the sample to be analyzed. In a non-limiting example, it may be necessary to set a significant weight on the paper towels to give the sample the desired edge appearance. Thus, certain factors to be considered in choosing an appropriate weight to be fixed on the sample are, without limitation, the basis weight, the density, the number of layers, the flexural modulus, the drape of the sample, their combinations and the like.
[0053] Press fasteners 316 are then tightened to immobilize the sample under tension. We then remove any weight of tensioning. The resulting sample disposed within the sample holder frame 312 is shown by way of non-limiting example in FIG. 13. The sample holder 312 is then placed with the sample in the sample holder 306 disposed on the scanner 308 of the image scanner and closes the top of the image scanner 304 for imaging and image file generation. An image scanner 304 cited by way of non-limiting example is provided below.
[0054] In a desirable embodiment, a calibration image corresponding to the same region of interest is recorded for each sample to be analyzed (a calibration scale may be provided with graded markers of 0.1 mm resolution). . Before each image file is created, it is desirable to carefully clean the surface of the scanner glass 304 and all associated parts.
[0055] In addition, one skilled in the art will realize that proper care is taken to avoid hitting the sample to provide the best possible image of the sample. Alternatively, it is possible to prepare the sample for analysis in a manner consistent with the present invention using microtomes. In one embodiment given by way of non-limiting example, it is possible to incorporate a face of a user unit of the sample in an epoxy resin or a wax block or to freeze it by a cryogenic means. It is then possible to cut thin slices of the sample with a cutting instrument in the machine direction, in the cross direction or in a combination of these two directions. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize that microtome technology can be used to obtain sample slices having a thickness of between 0.05 and 100. Examples of microtomes suitable for producing samples suitable for use with the present method may include slide microtomes, rotary microtomes, cryomicrotomes, ultramicrotomes, vibrating microtomes, saw microtomes, laser microtomes and the like. The sample can then be directly placed on the exposure pane 308 of the scanner, and then the upper part of the image scanner 304 is closed for imaging and generation of the image file. For the exemplary method described herein, the generated image file must contain at least one two-dimensional image of a sample, with at least one dimension of the image containing at least one component of the sample in the Z direction. As an example of a method described herein, the generated image file will provide an image of an edge of the sample, whether this edge is produced by the above-mentioned apparatus, a microtome, or any other method known to man. of the art for carrying out the method described herein. In addition, in the context of the present invention, A. Image Analysis Program The image processing system used to analyze the sample image file is MATLAB or equivalent mathematical software. The bolded terms used below indicate standard functions available in the MATLAB software. An example of commented code developed for this analysis is provided in section E below. A non-limiting example of an image analysis program / code which refers to FIGS. 14 to 19 is described below: 1. With reference to FIG. 14, the image file is loaded into MATLAB and the contrast is corrected at using the imadjust.m function. The width and height of the image are respectively indicated by a component of the directions of the machine direction, the cross direction and the direction Z. 2. With reference to Figure 15, the graphical interface allows the user to select a region of rectangular interest, having a length L orthogonal to the Z direction of the sample shown in the image, by operating with the mouse a click-and-drag action. 3. With reference to Figure 16, the program desirably uses the standard functions im2bw.m and edge.m to convert the image in step 1 of this section to a binary format and reduce the resultant to an image. with only one edge profile that represents where the intensity of pixels changes from white to black. The edge.m function has the following nonlimiting specification given by way of example: edge determination method = "Canny". 4. Identify the position coordinates (x (width: a position along L), Z (height)) of each pixel of the edge profile by measuring the pixel intensity along Z (height of the image ) for a single line of pixels measured using the improfile.m function. For a given position x, the coordinates of the last pixel along Z are recorded with an intensity greater than zero. By convention and without limitation, the upper left corner of the image represents the origin (0, 0): 5. The analysis of step 4 of this section is repeated over the entire length L of the image selected in step 3 of this section to create a pixel position matrix. 6. The edge profile is obtained from the pixel position matrix created in step 5 of this section after interpolation within the matrix using the interpl.m function to ensure that each position x has an associated pixel over the entire width of the image selected in step 3 of this section. In a nonlimiting way, the interpl.m function has the following specification: method = "spline" used in the extrapolation for the elements situated outside the specified interval. 7. As shown in Figure 16, the edge profile of step 6 of this section is then filtered using a low-pass Butterworth filter with the following exemplary specifications: cutoff frequency = 100 Hz and order = 5 to create a reference in the Z direction. Calibration The length calibration can be performed by determining the conversion factor from pixels to centimeters. Those skilled in the art will realize that this process consists of determining the number of pixels that make up the actual physical distance between two points using the getline.m function. Generally, those skilled in the art can use a scale with marks graduated every 0.01 cm. Without limitation, the size of the calibration image must be the same as that of the analyzed sample image. B. Estimation of the average effective free fiber height The program uses the standard functions imfilter.m and edge.m to convert the image file into an image with a single pixel line with an intensity of one (white). 1. The specification of the imfilter.m function can be provided as a two-dimensional filter (fspecial.m) = "unsharp". The edge.m function can have the following specification: edge determination method = "Canny".
[0056] 2 The improfile.m function is used to determine, from the image generated above, the position coordinates of the first pixel along Z (height of the image), the location of a pixel having a intensity equal to one. 3. The analysis in Step 2 of this section is repeated over the entire width of the region of interest (length L) identified in Step 2 of Section A above.
[0057] 4 The resulting edge profile is interpolated by creating a matrix containing all the pixel positions identified in step 3 of this section using the interpl.m function to ensure that the profile is described for each position x on the full width of the image selected in step 2 of section A above. The interpl.m function has the following specification: method = "spline" used in the extrapolation for elements outside the specified range. 5. The edge profile of step 4 of this section is then filtered using a low-pass Butterworth filter having the following specification given by way of example: Cutoff frequency = 100 Hz and order = 5. A value equal to the reference is given to all Z coordinate values along the edge profiles measured here having a value greater than the Z direction reference estimated in step 7 of section A above . 6. The trapz.m function numerically integrates the area under the edge profile identified in step 5 of this section. 7. The trapz.m function numerically integrates the area under the Z direction reference identified in step 7 of section A above. 8. The net area or area delimited by the two profiles is given by the magnitude of the difference in the absolute values of the areas estimated in steps 6 and 7 of this section. 9. The net area of step 8 of this section divided by the width of the region of interest (length, L,) gives the average effective height of the free fibers in the pixels. 10. Using the estimated calibration constant in the calibration section above, it is possible to convert the average effective height of the free fibers into centimeters. C. Estimation of the number of free fibers 1 The intensities of the pixels along an edge profile over the entire width of the region of interest selected in step 3 of section A above are recorded using improfile.m. The reference of the Z direction obtained in step 7 of section A above with the Z position of each pixel shifted by a fixed factor can be considered as a line profile.
[0058] 2 The values of the threshold intensities for the image of the band substrate are obtained by treating the intensity of the pixels that exist within the limits described by the maximum Z coordinate of the image and by the maximum Z coordinate of the region of the image. interest. It is possible to develop an appropriate threshold by averaging the maximum of the intensity derivative (after filtering using a low-pass Butterworth filter with the following specifications given as an example: frequency of cutoff = 30 Hz and order = 1) along each pixel line orthogonal to the Z direction (downward) in the section of the region of interest described above. 3. The pixel intensities of the line profile are recorded as in step 1 of this section between the following Z coordinate limits: a. START: Shift by a fixed distance in the Z direction under the Z direction reference identified in Step 7 of Section A above. The fixed distance is two thirds of the distance between the Z minimum values of the Z direction reference and the region of interest. b. OFF: at a height of the image at which the average pixel height in the line profile is greater than the height of the region of interest. 4. Those skilled in the art can choose an interlayer distance (ILD) of 1 pixel, but to reduce the computation time, it may be preferable to use an ILD value which is a function of the variation of Z in the Z direction reference measured in step 7 of section A above. 5. It is possible to smooth the intensities recorded for each line profile in step 3 of this section using a moving average method. 6. For each line of pixel intensities processed in step 5 of this section, the first derivative of the intensity is calculated. The extremums of the derivative of the intensity represent the transitions from black to white or vice versa. 7. The derivative of the intensity calculated in step 6 of this section is filtered using a low-pass Butterworth filter (nonlimiting characteristics by way of example: cut-off frequency = 100 Hz and order = 5) . 8. The extrema.m function is used to identify the extremums in each profile conditioned in step 7 of this section. It is possible to obtain, by way of non-limiting example, an extremum identification function such as extrema.m at the following address: http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/12275 We count the number of extremums identified in step 8 of this section 10 with intensity values greater than the threshold value (of step 2 of this section). 10. With reference to FIG. 20, it is possible to graphically present the number of free fibers. An approximate value of the number of free fibers can then be obtained by considering the percentage of the maximum number of free fibers in a layer that existed at a fixed distance above the base profile. Surprisingly, it has been found that a percentage of 90% and a distance of 0.1 mm are values which give consistent results; however, it should be understood that any percentage and distance values could be used successfully in the same way. 11. Using the calibration constant from the Calibration section above, it is possible to estimate the number of free fibers per centimeter. D. MATLAB program given by way of example allowing estimation of the effective height of the free fibers and the number of free fibers in a strip substrate The following code makes it possible to carry out the analysis described above then the calculation of the parameters described above. Those skilled in the art must understand that the following commented code is only provided by way of example and clearly has no limiting character. % The code below includes comments that are preceded by the sign "%" 30 close all; clear all; clear mex; % CALIBRATING THE IMAGE nameimg_cal.'CADATA ANALYSIS Curr_Bus '; cal = input ('Input the filename for calibration:', 's'); filenamebase_cal = strcat (nameimg_cal, num2str (cal), 1.tif); mrn_cal = imread (filenamebase_cal); Figure (88); imshow (mm_cal); CALIBVAL = input ('Calibration length (in cm):'); % Enter the distance between the marks [hx hyl = getline; new_CAL = CALIBVAL / sqrt ((hx (2,1) -HX (1.1)) ^ 2+ (hy (2,1) -hy (1.1)) ^ 2); % 1 pixel = 15 new_CAL cm %% DETERMINATION OF THE EFFECTIVE AVERAGE HEIGHT OF FREE FIBERS 20% SOURCE FILE nameimg = r: DATA ANALYSIS Curr_Bus XX.tif; rr = colormap (jet); mm = imread (nameimg); % Read in the image file 25 mm_kg = imadjust ((mm)); Figure (612); imshow (mm_kg)% Display image read% imshow (mm_kg); title ('Original image with scale bar'); uiwait (msgbox (1 ******** NOTE: Calibrate the image if the region of interest has been changed ******* ',' Title ',' modal ')); % Request to perform a calibration% SELECTION OF ANALYSIS REGION crop_lim = getrect; % xmin ymin width height ulim = crop_lim; xcrop = [crop_lim (1,1) croplim (1,3) + croplirn (1,1) croplim (1,3) + croplim (1,1) crop_lim (1,1) crop_lim (1,1)]; ycrop = [crop Jim (1,2) crop_lim (1,2) crop_lim (1,2) + crop_lim (1,4) croplim (1,2) + croplim (1,4) crop_lim (1,2)]; Figure (61); hold on; pad (xcrop, ycrop, 'y -', 'LineWidth', 2); Figure (61); % DETECTION OF FIBER EDGE h = fspecial ('unsharp'); BWM = imfilter (mm_g, h); BW1 = edge (BWM, 'canny'); % DETECTION OF THE EDGE PROFILE imshow (BW1); BWG = im2bw (mm_g); % DIRECTION REFERENCE DETECTION Z 25 BW2 = edge (BWG, 'canny'); figure (343) imshow (BW2) figure (454); subplot (2, 1, 1) imshow (BW1)% PICTURE OF THE EDGE PROFILE subplot (2, 1,2) imshow (BW2); % IMAGE OF THE BASE PROFILE% VARIABLES USED tot_ggy = p; tot_ggx = []; over_gg = []; T = 0; over_I = []; over_pos = []; over_S = []; over_Spos = []; Figure (61); imshow (mm_g); set (gct'color '1vvhite'); % IDENTIFICATION OF THE REFERENCE OF DIRECTION Z AND OF THE EDGE PROFILE for ii = fix (ulim (1,1)): fix ((ulim (1,1) + ulim (1,3))) xx = []; YY = H; yy = fix (ulim (1,2)) :( fix (ulim (1,2)) + fix (ulim (1,4))); xx = ii + zeros (1, fix (ulim (1,4)) + 1); clear gg gg_x gg_y ss ss_x ss_y; [gg_x, gg_y, gg] = improfile (BW1, xx, yy); % EDGE PROFILE [ss_x, ss_y, ss] = improfile (BW2, xx, yy); % REFERENCE TO DIRECTION Z 20 25 S = find (ss> 0,1, 'last'); % IDENTIFY THE LAST PIXEL HAVING AN INTENSITY> 0 if ulim (1,2) <S <(ulim (1,2) + ulim (1,4)) over_S = [over_S S + ulim (1,2)]; over_Spos = [over_Spos ii]; hold on; stud (ii, S + ULIM (1,2) 'co', 'MarkerSize', 4); % REFERENCE OF MANAGEMENT Z 10 end. I = find (gg = 1.1, Tirse); % IDENTIFY THE FIRST PIXEL HAVING AN INTENSITY = 1 if I == 0 15 I = ulim (1, 2); end if I> S I = S; 20 end over_I = [over_I I + ulim (1,2)]; over_pos = [over_pos ii]; hold on; Plot (ii, I + ulim (1,2), 'm' MarkerSize ', 4);% OVERGROUP over_gg = [over_gg gg]; totggx = [tot_ggx gg_x]; tot_ggy = [tot_ggy gg_y]; hold (63); clf; imshow (mm_g);% FILTRATION / INTERPOLATION OF THE REFERENCE OF DIRECTION Z AND IDENTIFIED EDGE PROFILES over_I (1, end) = mean (over_I); over_S (1, end) .mean (over_S); gh = butterfilter (interpl (over_pos, over_tulim (1,1) :( ulim (1,1) + ulim (1,3)), 'spline', 1extra p '), 100,5) % interpolated intensity locations sh = butterfilter (interpl (over_Spos, over_S, ulim (1,1) :( ulim (1,1) + ulim (1,3)), 'spline', 'extr ap'), 100 , 5); for bb = 1: length (sh)% DELETE ALL EDGE PROFILES THAT ARE LESS THAN THE CORRESPONDING VALUES OF THE DIRECTION REFERENCE Z if (gh (bb) -sh (bb)> 0) gh (bb) = sh (bb); else gh (bb) = gh (bb); endend hold on; plot (ulim (1,1) :( ulirn (1,1) + ulim (1,3)), gh, 'r.', 'MarkerSize', 6) plot (ulim (1, 1): (ulim (1,1) + ulim (1,3)), sh, 'b.', 'MarkerSize', 6 ) j bfill (ulim (1, 1): (ulim (1,1) + ulim (1,3)), sh ', gh', 'y')% ESTIM ATION OF ACTUAL HEIGHT Al = trapz (ulim (1,1): (ulim (1,1) + ulim (1,3)), gh); A2 = trapz (ULIM (1,1) :( ULIM (1,1) + ULIM (1,3)), sh); A = abs (Al-A2); % The unit is pixelA2 Atot.A * new_CAL * new_CAL; % WIDTH AEA AND CM CONVERTING INTEREST REGION USING CALIBRATION CONSTANT strip_width = ulim (1,3) * new_CAL; Effective_height = Atot / strip_width; %% ESTIMATION OF THE NUMBER OF FREE FIBERS BY CM figure (61); imshow (mm_g) hold on plot (xcrop, ycrop, 'y -', 'LineWidth', 2); [Cx, Cy, C1 = improfile (mm_g, ulim (1,1) :( ulim (1,1) + ulirn (1,3)), sh); pad (Cx, Cy, r - ',' LineWidth ', 2); % DETERMINATION OF THE NUMBER OF LAYERS AND DISTANCE 25 INTER-LAYER (ILD) kk = 0; t1 = 1; % Inter-layer distance (ILD) set to 1 crop_mm = mm_g; start_pt = fix (2 * (max (ycrop) -mean (Cy)) / 3); % START POINT FOR ANALYSIS% Variables ii = 0; x1 = []; yl = []; over_gg = []; over_gg_smt = []; tot_yy = []; gg_smt = []; ii = kk; % THRESHOLD VALUES FOR THE FIRST PLAN AND THE BACKGROUND figure (64); imshow (mm_g) title ('Getting the foreground / background threshold values'); hold on plot (xcrop, ycrop, 'y -', 'LineWidth', 2); pad (Cx, Cy, r. ',' LineWidth ', 2); 1j = size (mm_g); tot_thresh = []; Max_hh = []; for zz = 0: (ulim (1,2) + ulirn (1,4) -max (Cy)) [hh_x, hh_y, hh] improfile (mm_g, ulim (1,1) :( ulim (1,1) + ulim (1,3)), ones (length (ulim (1,1) :( ulim (1,1) + ulirn (1,3))), 1) * (max (Cy) + zz)); Figure (64); hold on; pad (hh_x, hh_y, 1g.); tot_thresh = [tot_thresh max (butterfilter (diff (hh), 30,1))]; end thresh = mean (tot_thresh); Figure (64); if ulim (1,2) -ulim (1,4) <0 zz_up = ulim (1,2); else zz_up = ulim (1,4); end max_gg = []; tot_gg = []; for zz = 0: zz_up-1 [gg_x, gg_y, gg] = improfile (mm_g, ulim (1,1) :( ulim (1,1) + ulim (1,3)), ones (length (ulim (1 , 1) :( ulim (1,1) + ulim (1,3))), 1) * (ulim (1,2) -zz)); Figure (64); hold on; pad (gg_x, gg_y, 'c'); tot_gg = [tot_gg max (butterfilter (diff (gg), 30,1))]; end bkg_val = mean (tot_gg); ds = 100; gg = [4000]; % Initialization of gg% IDENTIFICATION OF THE NUMBER OF LAYERS while ((max (Cy (1: end, 1) - (tl * ii) + start_pt)> min (ycrop)))% STOP TO COUNT THE NUMBER OF FREE FIBERS WHEN LINE PROFILE OUT OF REGION OF INTEREST xx = []; YY = []; % Gg = []; kk = kk + 1; % Count the number of layers ii = kk; xx = [Cx (1: end, 1)]; Yy = [Cy (1: end, 1) - (tl * ii) + start_pt]; % Add an offset to the starting point of the analysis [gg_x, gg_y, gg] = improfile (crop_mm, xx, yy); xl = [xl xx]; Y1 = [Y1 YY]; T = size (gg); R = rem (kk, 5); if (R == O)% ii = kk; Figure (610); 25% imshow (crop_mm); % plot (1: tt (1,1), gg, 'Color', [fix (rr (fix (ii), 1) * 64 / ds) fix (rr (fix (ii), 2) * 64 / ds fix (rr (fix (ii), 3) * 64 / ds) 1); pad (1: tt (1,1), gg 'Color', 'y'); % Plot (xx, gg, 'c'); fix (rr (fix (ii), 2) * 64 / ds) xlabel ('x position (pix)'); % ylabel ('pixel intensity'); Figure (61); % plot (gg_x, gg_y, 'Color', [fix (rr (fix (ii), 1) * 64 / ds) fix (rr (fix (ii), 3) * 64 / ds)], 'LineWidth', 1); pad (gg_x, gg_y, 'Color', Y 'LineWidth', 1); end over_gg = [over_gg gg]; tot_yy = [tot_yy Cy (1,1) - (teii)]; hold on; end figure (61); zoom off; title (strcat ('Number of layers:', num2str (kk), 'Layer thickness (pix):', num2str (tl))); % Smoothing of the Intensity Profile for jj = 1: kk Sze_gg = size (over_gg (:, jj)); %%% jj = 1; for ii = 3: Sze_gg (1,1) -2 gg_smt (ii, jj) = (over_gg (ii-2, jj) + 2 * over_gg (ii-1, jj) + 3 * over_gg (ii, jj) + 2 * over_gg (ii + 1, jj) + over_gg (ii + 2, jj)) / 9; end figure (68); c1f; set (gcf, 'color', 'white'); pad (over_gg (:, dd), 'r', 'LineWidth', 2); hold on plot (gg_smt (:, jj), 'b -', 'LineWidth', 1); ylabel ('Pixel intensity'); xlabel ('x position of pixel'); title (strcat ('Smoothing out the intensity data-layer number:', num2str (jj))); end% ESTIMATION / COUNTING OF EXTREMUMS OF INTENSITY / FIBERS% Variables 10 tot_dd = H; det_gg = []; tot_dd = []; Figure (67); det_gg = diff (gg_smt (:, kk)); 15% kk = 4; for ii = 1: kk dd = 0; det_gg (:, ii) = diff (gg_smt (:, ii)); Figure (65); axis ([0 5000 -2000 2000]); pad (det_gg (: ii) 'Color', 'k'); hold on; set (gcf, 'color', 'white'); 25 xlabel ('index'); ylabel ('derivative of intensity'); clear filt_det num_det num_det = find (extrema (smooth (butterfilter (det_gg (:, ii), 100,1), 7))> thresh); Take the extremums of the derivative of the intensity dd = length (num_det); % The value -1 is included to account for the initial pixel transition if dcl <0% DELETE THE POSSIBILITY OF GETTING A NEGATIVE NUMBER OF FIBERS dd = 0; else dd = dd; end figure (67); plot (ii, dd, '^', 'Color', 'k', 'MarkerSize', 6.1LineWidth ', 2,' MarkerFaceColor ',' g '); hold on tot_dd = [tot_dd dd]; end figure (67); hold on; plot (ones (1,1ength (1: max (tot_dd))). * fix (start_pt / t1), 1: max (tot_dd); k. '); set (gcf, 'color', 'white'); xlabel ( 'layers'); ylabel ('Number of fibers in ROI'); % IDENTIFY THE LAYER CORRESPONDING TO THE CONDITION 0.01 cm count_layer = fix (0.01 / (new_CAL * t1)); figure (67); hold on plot (ones (1,1ength (1: max (tot_dd))). * fix (start_pt / t1-Fcount_l ayer), 1: max (tot_dd), 'ro'); plot (fix (start_pt / t1 + count_layer), fix (max (tot_dd (fix (start_pt / t1 + count_layer): end)) * 0.9), 'ys', 'MarkerSize', 12, 'MarkerFaceColor', Y); plot (fix (start_pt / t1 + count_layer) + 1, fix (max (tot_dd (fix (start_pt / t1 + count_layer) +1: end)) * 0.9), 'yo', 'MarkerSize', 12, 'MarkerFaceColor' , 'b'); Figure (61); pad (Cx, Cy (count_layer * t1), 1c-2, LineWidth ', 1); % ESTIMATION OF THE NUMBER OF FREE FIBERS Number_of_free_fibers_per_unit_length = fix ((max (tot_dd (fix (start_pt / t1 + count_layer) +1: end)) / strip_widthr0.9);% 90% the maximum 10 is taken as the extremum of the number of fibers BEFNumber_of free_fibers_per_unit_length = fix ((max (tot_dd (fix (start_pt / t1 + count_layer): end)) / strip_width) * 0.9);% 90% maximum is taken as the extremum of the number of fibers 15 Dimensions and values described here are not to be understood as being strictly limited to the exact numerical values quoted, instead, unless otherwise indicated, each of these dimensions means both the quoted value and a functionally equivalent range surrounding that value. dimension described as "40 mm" means "about 40 mm".
[0059] The quotation of any document is not an admission that it is a prior art in relation to any invention described or claimed here or that alone, or in any combination with any other reference or reference, it teaches, proposes or describes any of such inventions. Moreover, to the point where any meaning or definition of a term in this document conflicts with any meaning or definition of the same term in another document, the meaning or definition attributed to that term in the this document should prevail. While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various other variations and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. . It is intended, therefore, to cover in the appended claims all such variations and modifications which belong to the scope of the present invention.

权利要求:
Claims (15)
[0001]
REVENDICATIONS1. A sanitary tissue product comprising a three dimensional patterned fibrous structure layer comprising a plurality of dough fibers, characterized in that the sanitary tissue product has a number of free fibers greater than 26 after measurement according to the test method of free fibers.
[0002]
A sanitary tissue product as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the sanitary tissue product has less than 15 lint after measurement according to the lint test method.
[0003]
A sanitary tissue product as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the dough fibers comprise wood pulp fibers. 15
[0004]
4. Toilet paper product according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the dough fibers comprise non-wood pulp fibers. 20
[0005]
A sanitary tissue product according to claim 1, characterized in that the three-dimensional patterned fibrous structure layer is a three-dimensional embossed fibrous structure layer.
[0006]
A sanitary tissue product as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the three-dimensional patterned fiber structure layer 25 is a through-air dried fibrous structure layer.
[0007]
A sanitary tissue product as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the three dimensional patterned fibrous structure layer is a through air creped fibrous structure layer.
[0008]
A sanitary tissue product as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the three dimensional patterned fibrous layer is a layer of uncured air dried crepe fibrous structure.
[0009]
A sanitary tissue product as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the three-dimensional patterned fibrous structure layer is a layer of fibrous structure creped by a web.
[0010]
A sanitary tissue product as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the three dimensional patterned fiber structure layer is a through air cured belt creped fibrous structure layer.
[0011]
The sanitary tissue product of claim 1 characterized in that the sanitary tissue product comprises a fibrous structure layer obtained by conventional wet pressing.
[0012]
A sanitary tissue product as claimed in any one of the preceding claims characterized in that the sanitary tissue product comprises a user side which has the number of free fibers. 20
[0013]
A sanitary tissue product according to any one of the preceding claims characterized in that the sanitary tissue product has a number of free fibers equal to or greater than 27 after measurement according to the free fiber test method. 25
[0014]
A sanitary tissue product as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sanitary tissue product has less than 10 lint after the lint test method.
[0015]
15. A method of making a sanitary tissue product according to any one of the preceding claims, the method comprising the steps ofa. contacting a patterned molding member with a fibrous structure comprising a plurality of pulp fibers to form a three dimensional patterned fibrous structure layer having a free fiber number greater than 26 after measurement according to the test method of free fibers; and B. manufacturing the sanitary tissue product comprising the three dimensional patterned fibrous structure layer.

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法律状态:
2015-11-24| PLFP| Fee payment|Year of fee payment: 2 |

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2016-11-17| PLFP| Fee payment|Year of fee payment: 3 |

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2018-09-28| ST| Notification of lapse|Effective date: 20180831 |

优先权:

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申请号 | 申请日 | 专利标题

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US201361918409P| true| 2013-12-19|2013-12-19|

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US201361918398P| true| 2013-12-19|2013-12-19|

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US201361918404P| true| 2013-12-19|2013-12-19|

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US201461951828P| true| 2014-03-12|2014-03-12|

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