Patent ID: 8405032

Claim:
A method of evaluating quality of an absorbent material, the method comprising: using infrared imaging to generate data indicative of an absorbance of infrared radiation within a particular wavelength range incident on a target article, the target article comprising a monolayer of absorbent material substantially covering a surface of the target article, and wherein the infrared radiation within the particular wavelength range is more likely to be absorbed by the absorbent material than by other materials within the target article; using infrared imaging to generate data related to an absorbance of infrared radiation within the particular wavelength range incident on an absorbent core of an absorbent article; and determining a quality of the absorbent article based on a disparity between the data related to the absorbance of infrared radiation within the particular wavelength range incident on the target article and the data related to the absorbance of infrared radiation within the particular wavelength range incident the absorbent core of the absorbent article.