Study on Moisture Behavior Properties of Milkweed and Milkweed/Cotton Blended Sanitary Napkins

Menstrual hygiene is one of the most important health-related aspects which must be given higher priority to overcome the menstrual cycle period of women. Currently, there are many types of sanitary napkins are available in the market to absorb the menstrual fluid but most of them are constructed by using petroleum bi-product called SAP and it is used to absorb and hold more menstrual fluid. The present work focuses on to produce and study the moisture behavior properties of a sanitary napkin by using 100% natural fibers as core absorbent. Milkweed fibers are the natural organic fibers which have been taken as core absorbent material in different blend ratios as 100% milkweed, 80/20 milkweed/cotton, 60/40 milkweed/cotton, 50/50 milkweed/cotton, 40/60 milkweed/cotton, and 20/80 milkweed/cotton to develop a sanitary napkin by using polyethylene and polypropylene as bottom and top layer respectively. The produced samples were tested and evaluated by Liquid spreading rate test, Liquid Retention test, Liquid holding capacity under pressure test, and quantity of liquid absorbed in order to evaluate the moisture behavior properties of developed sanitary napkin. The outcome of the results demonstrates that sanitary napkins shows enhanced moisture properties when increasing the milkweed fiber blend percentage.