Composite skin material

Abstract

To provide a composite skin material capable of ensuring both recyclability and rigidity.SOLUTION: A composite skin material comprises a fabric skin 2; a backing material 4 as a fiber layer laminated on a back side of the skin 2; and an adhesive layer 3 provided in a thin film form between the skin 2 and the backing material 4 so as to bond a fiber surface on a skin-facing side of the backing material 4 and a fiber surface on a backing-material-facing side of the skin 2 to each other. The backing material 4 includes a nonwoven back material 6 and a base fabric 5 made of a woven fabric or a knitted fabric having higher rigidity than the back material 6, and is integrally laminated on a front side of the back material 6 with fiber entanglement.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a composite skin material. [Background technology]

[0002] Composite skin materials have been known for covering interior components such as seats and trim in vehicle cabins. Composite skin materials are constructed by attaching a backing material to a leather or fabric skin, and in recent years, nonwoven fabrics have sometimes been used as the backing material from the perspective of recycling.

[0003] Nonwoven fabrics have excellent recyclability, being able to be recycled into other textile products by being scraped off, but they have the problem of low functionality as a backing material. In other words, even if nonwoven fabrics are used as backing materials to control the stiffness and elongation of the surface, the low rigidity of the nonwoven fabrics makes it impossible to impart appropriate stiffness and elongation to the surface.

[0004] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique in which low-melting polyester fibers are mixed with ordinary polyester fibers and a nonwoven fabric is produced from this mixed fiber.

[0005] The low-melting polyester fibers melt during the nonwoven fabric formation process, fusing the polyester fibers together, strengthening the bond between the fibers. Using this type of polyester nonwoven fabric as the backing material ensures the stiffness and stretch required for the skin. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-167957 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] However, the technology of Patent Document 1 described above has the problem that the fusion points of the low-melting polyester are dispersed very finely in the nonwoven fabric, making it difficult to recycle the nonwoven fabric. In other words, the challenge was to achieve both recyclability and rigidity in a composite skin material using a nonwoven fabric as a backing material.

[0008] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a composite skin material that can ensure both recyclability and rigidity. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] To solve the above problems, the composite skin material of the present invention employs the following means.

[0010] That is, the first aspect of the present invention is a composite skin material comprising a fabric skin, a backing material as a fiber layer laminated on the back side of the skin, and a thin adhesive layer provided between the backing material and the fiber surface of the front side facing the skin to bond them together, wherein the backing material comprises a nonwoven backing material and a woven or knitted base fabric that is more rigid than the backing material and is laminated and integrated with the front side of the backing material with the fibers intertwined.

[0011] According to the first aspect of the present invention, the surface and backing materials that make up the composite skin material can be scraped together, making it easy to recycle. Furthermore, the adhesive layer exists in the form of a thin film that bonds the fibers of the surface and base fabric together, making it less likely to interfere with scraping. Furthermore, the stiffness and elongation of the surface are controlled by the base fabric, which is more rigid than the nonwoven backing material, allowing the composite skin material as a whole to have appropriate stiffness and elongation. This makes it possible to ensure both recyclability and rigidity for the composite skin material.

[0012] A second aspect of the present invention is the above-mentioned first aspect, wherein the surface, the backing material and the base fabric of the backing material, and the adhesive layer are all formed of polyester fiber.

[0013] According to the second aspect of the present invention, composite skin materials can be recycled collectively without undergoing processes such as separation and peeling, and polyester fibers can be obtained as recycled material, which improves recyclability.

[0014] A third aspect of the present invention is the above-mentioned first or second aspect, wherein the skin is formed of a knitted fabric, and the base fabric is formed of a woven fabric.

[0015] According to the third aspect of the present invention, even if a knitted fabric with low rigidity is used for the skin, the stiffness and elongation can be controlled appropriately by the woven base fabric, so that the composite skin material as a whole can have appropriate stiffness and elongation. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0016] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the composite skin material according to the present embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0017] As shown in Figure 1, the composite skin material 1 is composed of a fabric skin 2, a fibrous backing material 4, and an adhesive layer 3 that bonds the skin 2 and the backing material 4. The backing material 4 is laminated on the back side of the skin 2. Specifically, the composite skin material 1 is constructed by bonding the backing material 4 to the skin 2 with a hot melt web. The hot melt web is a net-like adhesive formed from multiple low-melting-point polyester fibers.

[0018] Hot melt webs melt when heated and harden when cooled. Such a hot melt web is sandwiched between the skin 2 and the backing material 4, and the skin 2 and backing material 4 are bonded together by applying heat and pressure, for example, from the backing material 4 side. As a result, a composite skin material 1 is obtained in which an adhesive layer 3 is formed between the skin 2 and backing material 4. As will be described later, the skin 2, adhesive layer 3, and backing material 4 that make up the composite skin material 1 are all made from polyester.

[0019] The skin 2 becomes the front side, i.e., the design surface, when the composite skin material 1 is used to cover an object. The skin 2 is made of polyester knitted fabric. The skin 2 is preferably made by knitting yarn made from short polyester fibers, as this is easy to defibrate and recover. The knitted skin 2 is weaker and more stretchy than woven fabric. Therefore, in the composite skin material 1, the stiffness and stretch of the knitted skin 2 are controlled by the backing material 4. As a result, the composite skin material 1 as a whole has appropriate stiffness and stretch.

[0020] The backing material 4 has a backing material 6 made of a nonwoven fabric and a base fabric 5 which is a woven fabric having higher rigidity than the backing material 6. The base fabric 5 is integrated in a laminated state on the front side of the backing material 6 with the fibers intertwined. Specifically, the backing material 6 is formed by passing polyester fibers through a machine called a card to form a sheet, and then stacking multiple layers of the polyester fiber sheet together and needle-punching the stack to intertwining the fibers.

[0021] In addition to nonwoven fabrics made by mechanical entanglement as described above, there are also nonwoven fabrics made by entangling with a pressurized water flow, chemically bonding with an adhesive resin, or bonding with thermally fused fibers. For the backing material 6, those made by mechanically entangling or entangling with a pressurized water flow are desirable in terms of ease of defibration and depilation during recycling. Nonwoven fabrics chemically bonded with an adhesive resin are not suitable for recycling because the resin must be separated during recycling. Furthermore, nonwoven fabrics bonded with thermally fused fibers are difficult to defibrate and depilate, making them unsuitable for recycling because the fibers are fused and bonded.

[0022] The base fabric 5 is made of a woven polyester fabric. Like the surface skin 2, the base fabric 5 is desirably made by weaving yarn made from short-fiber polyester fibers, in that it is easy to defibrate and recover. The woven base fabric 5 is thinner than the backing material 6 and the surface skin 2 (knitted fabric), but is stiff and does not stretch easily.

[0023] The base fabric 5 and nonwoven backing material 6 are layered together and needle-punched to entangle the fibers and form the backing material 4. The skin 2 itself is weak and stretches easily, but the backing material 4 with the base fabric 5 gives the entire composite skin material 1 appropriate stiffness and stretch.

[0024] The adhesive layer 3 is provided as a thin film between the front fiber surface of the backing material 4 facing the skin 2 and the back fiber surface of the skin 2 facing the backing material 4 so as to bond them together. As described above, the adhesive layer 3 is formed by melting and solidifying multiple fibrous low-melting-point polyesters between the skin 2 and the backing material 4. In other words, countless fusion points between the fibers are scattered and spread at the interface between the skin 2 and the base fabric 5. This adhesive layer 3 only fuses the fibers on the surfaces of the skin 2 and the base fabric 5. Therefore, the adhesive layer 3 does not interfere with defibrating and depilling the composite skin material 1 together while the skin 2 and the base fabric 5 remain bonded together.

[0025] Such a composite skin material 1 can be defibrated and recycled all at once without separating the surface material 2, base fabric 5, and backing material 6. The recycled material from the composite skin material 1 can be recycled as polyester fiber and used in a variety of applications. Furthermore, the composite skin material 1 has appropriate stiffness and elongation due to the woven base fabric 5. Therefore, the composite skin material 1 can ensure both recyclability and rigidity.

[0026] Furthermore, the composite skin material 1 has a skin 2 formed of a knitted fabric, which allows it to present a design surface as a knitted fabric, which differs from a woven fabric.

[0027] To summarize the above, the composite skin material 1 according to this embodiment has the following configuration: Note that the reference numerals in parentheses below correspond to the respective components shown in the above embodiment.

[0028] That is, the composite skin material (1) comprises a fabric skin (2), a backing material (4) as a fiber layer laminated on the back side of the skin (2), and a thin adhesive layer (3) provided between the front fiber surface of the backing material (4) facing the skin (2) and the back fiber surface of the skin (2) facing the backing material (4) so ​​as to bond them together. The backing material (4) comprises a nonwoven backing material (6) and a base fabric (5) made of woven or knitted fabric having higher rigidity than the backing material (6) and laminated together on the front side of the backing material (6) with the fibers intertwined.

[0029] According to the above-described configuration, the surface (2) and backing material (4) constituting the composite skin material (1) can be scraped together, facilitating recycling. The adhesive layer (3) is present in a planar form between the surface (2) and the base fabric (5), so it does not interfere with scraping. Furthermore, the base fabric (5), which is more rigid than the backing material (6), controls the stiffness and elongation of the surface (2), allowing the composite skin material (1) as a whole to have appropriate stiffness and elongation. Therefore, it is possible to ensure both recyclability and rigidity for the composite skin material (1).

[0030] In addition, the composite skin material (1) is made up of a skin (2), a backing material (6) of a backing material (4), a base fabric (5), and an adhesive layer (3), all of which are made of polyester fiber.

[0031] According to the above-mentioned configuration, the composite skin material (1) can be collectively recycled without undergoing processes such as separation and peeling, and polyester fibers can be obtained as recycled material, which improves recyclability.

[0032] In addition, the composite skin material (1) has a skin (2) made of knitted fabric and a base fabric (5) made of woven fabric.

[0033] According to the above-mentioned configuration, even if a knitted fabric with low rigidity is used for the skin (2), the stiffness and elongation are appropriately controlled by the woven base fabric (5), so that the composite skin material (1) as a whole can have appropriate stiffness and elongation. Other Embodiments Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention can be embodied in various forms other than the above embodiment.

[0034] 1. In the above embodiment, the surface, base fabric, and backing material are all made of polyester fiber, but they may be made of other fibers. The type of fiber may also be synthetic fiber or natural fiber (e.g., nylon, acrylic, cotton, wool, etc.). The surface, base fabric, adhesive layer, and backing material may each be made of different fibers. 2. In the above embodiment, the base fabric is a woven fabric, but it may be a knitted fabric as long as it is more rigid than the backing material. Also, while the surface is a knitted fabric, it may be made of fabric, such as a woven fabric or a nonwoven fabric. 3. In the above embodiment, the surface and base fabric are bonded together by a hot melt web, but various forms of hot melt resin may be used, such as powder, film, sheet, etc. The type of adhesive is not limited to hot melt adhesives, and any adhesive that bonds only the surface fibers of the surface and base fabric together may be used, for example, a dry-to-solidify adhesive. [Explanation of symbols]

[0035] 1 Composite skin material 2 Epidermis 3 Adhesive layer 4 Backing material 5 Base fabric 6 Backing material

Claims

1. A composite skin material, Fabric skin and a backing material as a fiber layer laminated on the back side of the skin; an adhesive layer provided in the form of a thin film between a front fiber surface of the backing material facing the skin and a back fiber surface of the skin facing the backing material so as to bond them together; The backing material is a composite skin material having a backing material made of nonwoven fabric and a base fabric made of woven or knitted fabric having higher rigidity than the backing material and integrated in a laminated state on the front side of the backing material with the fibers of the two fabrics intertwined.

2. The composite skin material according to claim 1, The composite skin material is one in which the skin, the backing material and base fabric of the backing material, and the adhesive layer are all made of polyester fiber.

3. The composite skin material according to claim 1 or 2, the skin is formed of a knitted fabric, The base fabric is a composite skin material formed of a woven fabric.

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