Cellulose Fibers in Absorbent Products
In 1946, an inventor, Marion Donovan, had a simple, yet ingenious idea: to
replace cloth diapers with disposable ones. Today, disposable diapers are
indispensable to new parents all over the world. Diapers and other absorbent
products such as bedpads, feminine hygiene supplies and meat pads rely on
Weyerhaeuser’s fluff fibers to provide softness and absorbency.
Consumers expect certain performance requirements and features in their
absorbent products. They want baby diapers that don’t leak and adult and
feminine hygiene products that are thin and flexible for active lifestyles.
Weyerhaeuser fluff fibers enable these products to effectively perform by
providing the following critical functions in the absorbent pad:
- Fluid acquisition and distribution
- Retention of super-absorbent polymers
- Absorbency and wicking capability
- Increased product integrity
What’s more, new, innovative solutions are discovered at the Weyerhaeuser
Technology Center every day. For instance, Weyerhaeuser developed a specially
engineered fiber that is chemically and mechanically treated to provide
increased resiliency and permeability over conventional fluff.
Weyerhaeuser has a product offering that provides value to customers by
meeting a variety of product and processing needs:
Untreated Grades for Absorbent Products
Our untreated grades are optimized to provide maximum wicking and absorbency
in various hygiene products or other nonwoven applications. This ideal fiber
can be used with a wide-range of fiberization equipment due to its outstanding
defiberization ability and low static generation.
Treated Grades for Absorbent Products
Weyerhaeuser’s treated fluff grades exhibit excellent fiberized quality with
low fiberization energy requirements. These chemically treated pulps can be
used successfully in several specialty applications, especially feminine hygiene
and air-laid nonwovens, where softness is particularly important.
Specialty Grades
Our customized solutions are developed to improve product performance,
enhance product design or to address specific processing requirements. Some of
our grades are specifically engineered to provide the following advantages in
improving product or process performance:
- Thin, yet soft
- Low pH for improved skin health
- Low energy use
- Low static generation
