Patent ID: 7291763

Claim:
An absorbent article comprising an absorbent core and an absorbent barrier structure, wherein the absorbent barrier structure has a hydrohead value of at least about 10 mBars; a convective air permeability of at least about 10 Darcy/mm; and a liquid impact transmission value of less than about 20 g/m 2 and wherein said absorbent barrier structure is substantially free of a film; and wherein the barrier structure comprises: a reservoir zone, and a barrier zone at least partially disposed between the absorbent core and the reservoir zone, and wherein the reservoir zone has a porous structure selected from the group consisting of a fibrous web, a fibrous wad, a foam, and combinations thereof, and wherein the reservoir zone has an absorbency at least about 20% less than that of the absorbent core and the hydrohead value of the barrier zone is higher than the hydrohead value of the reservoir zone and the hydrohead value of the absorbent core.