Pampers Cruisers Dry Max: High SAP, Low Pulp diapers

Mark Bolyen, Manager, Nonwovens, Marketing Technology Service, Inc. (USA) has looked in detail at Pampers Cruisers Dry Max and described the construction and his test results:

·         It is not a pulpless diaper.  The curly pulp acquisition layer contributes to the total absorbency.

·         It weighs ~34 gms and is 0.76 cms thick.

·         Much of the high performance comes from the permeability of the SAP, and the wicking in the curly pulp layer.

·         Mannequin testing in comparison with other Pampers and Huggies diapers showed:

o    Absorbency before leakage – stomach position – Dry Max came second to Huggies Overnights.

o    Absorbency before leakage – back position – Dry Max came 10^th,  Huggies Overnights came 9^th.

o    Rewet: Dry Max came 5^th.

Other constructions (than Dry Max) which work well at high SAP loadings were tissue/SAP sandwiches with ADL, synthetic fibre/SAP sandwiches with ADL, air-laid SAP composites with ADL, and CoForm cores with ADL.  SAP selection was key: chemistry, X-linking, size, permeability and whether layered or blended all being important construction variables.

For homogeneous blends of pulp and SAP, 37% SAP works best for absorbency; more SAP giving less total absorbency.  Traditional SAP’s work better than high permeability SAPs.