US 12,128,157 B2
Absorbent articles including HIPE foam enhanced with clay nanoplatelets, and method of manufacture
Maxwell Joseph Wingert, Liberty Township, OH (US); Josef Breu, Bayreuth (DE); Lina Mayr, Bayreuth (DE); Steven Ray Merrigan, West Chester, OH (US); and Arsen Arsenov Simonyan, Schwalbach (DE)
Assigned to The Procter & Gamble Company, Cincinnati, OH (US)
Filed by The Procter & Gamble Company, Cincinnati, OH (US)
Filed on Jun. 25, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/358,041.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/044,432, filed on Jun. 26, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2021/0402066 A1, Dec. 30, 2021
Int. Cl. A61L 27/56 (2006.01); A61F 13/472 (2006.01); A61F 13/535 (2006.01); A61L 15/18 (2006.01); A61L 15/42 (2006.01); A61L 27/04 (2006.01); A61L 27/16 (2006.01); A61F 13/53 (2006.01)
CPC A61L 27/56 (2013.01) [A61F 13/472 (2013.01); A61F 13/535 (2013.01); A61L 15/18 (2013.01); A61L 15/425 (2013.01); A61L 27/047 (2013.01); A61L 27/16 (2013.01); A61F 2013/530817 (2013.01); A61L 2400/12 (2013.01)] 7 Claims
 
1. An absorbent article comprising a liquid permeable topsheet, a liquid impermeable backsheet, and an absorbent layer disposed between the topsheet and the backsheet, wherein the absorbent layer comprises an open-cell foam,
the open-cell foam comprising a structure of interconnected struts formed of polymeric material and defining open cells, resulting from polymerization of a continuous phase of a high internal phase water-in-oil emulsion where the oil contains an emulsifier, the struts comprising the polymeric material with clay nanoparticles at least partially captured therewithin, wherein the clay nanoparticles are rendered organophilic with a surface modifier,
wherein the clay nanoparticles comprise nanoplatelets of sodium fluorohectorite, and wherein the surface modifier is an ammonium-terminated oligomeric poly(2-ethylhexyl methacrylate) having an average chain length of about 5, resulted from a reaction of oligomerization of 2-ethylhexyl methacrylate with cysteamine.