The Rothwell Banding System, applied to incontinence care products, is a scale that shows how absorbent a particular incontinence pad or product is, and how much liquid it can hold before it is likely to leak. It provides a quick reference for assessing how much liquid can be held by a sheet, pad or diaper, and therefore how appropriate it will be for a particular individual in any given circumstance. The scale is based on the total absorbency test ISO 11948-1. The scale runs from 1 to 22, with 1 being able to hold the least liquid, measured in grams, and 22 the most. The scale also applies a prefix to show what type of product is being referred to, with pads and sheets having an “I” prefix, and all in one diapers using a D prefix.
The scale is: I1 – 0g to 49g, I2 – 50g to 99g, I3 – 100g to 199g, I4 – 200g to 299g, I5 – 300g to 449g, I6 – 450g to 599g, I7 – 600g to 799g, I8 – 800g to 999g, I9 – 1000g to 1249g, I10 – 1250g to 1499g, I11 – 1500g to 1799g, I12 – 1800g to 2099g, I13 – 2100g to 2499g, I14 – 2500g to 2899g, I15 – 2900g to 3299g. D14 – 1300g to 1699g, D15 – 1700g to 2099g, D16 – 2100g to 2499g, D17 – 2500g to 2899g, D18 – 2900g to 3299g, D19 – 3300g to 3699g, D20 – 3700g to 4099g, D21 – 4100g to 4499g, D22 – 4500g to 4899g.