A new approach for assessing the absorption of disposable baby diapers and superabsorbent polymers: A comparative study

Abstract

Superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) are materials that can absorb and retain large amounts of water and aqueous solutions. This has made them ideal for a variety of valuable applications in medicine, agriculture, and industry in general. Nevertheless, their use as a material for absorbing liquids in disposable baby diapers (DBD) remains the most useable. DBDs on the market today are made up of three main layers in addition to SAP. The topsheet, the closest to the skin, is designed to isolate the baby’s skin from the wet inner core. The absorbent core (AC) which is a mixture of the SAP in a cellulose core called fluff pulp. The backsheet is a waterproof outer material made of polyethylene or polypropylene. Besides other materials that help contain urine and waste. However, the composition, quantity, and SAP distribution differ with the diaper brand, so a diaper absorption assessment is recommended to judge its quality. For that reason, nine representative samples of commercial brands of the best-selling baby diapers in the U.S, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East were taken to assess their liquid absorption. According to our knowledge, no publication in the literature has carried out a general study assembling industrial evaluation methods to classify and distinguish between the commercial brands of baby diapers.In this study, the evaluation of DBD samples was carried out by analyzing their dimensional measurements and quantifying their interior components. The total absorptive capacity and fluid run-off quantification were investigated. While the SAP liquid absorption was also carried out through FTIR, FSC, CRC, AUL, AR, PSD, pH, and MC. Finally, by the comparative study, the most suitable diaper total absorptive capacity was 1698 ​wt% in saline solution as the density 0.21 ​g/cm3 and the SAP content 23.2 ​wt%. Furthermore, the SAP performances in saline solution were for FSC 47 ​g/g, CRC 35.26 ​g/g, and AUL 0.3psi 27.4 ​g/g.