Artificial leather and method for manufacturing same
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing artificial leathers made from short fibers of a single component face challenges in achieving superior texture, flexibility, breathability, and fullness while maintaining mechanical strength, often requiring methods that compromise other properties like texture or appearance.
Innovation Solution
Manufacturing artificial leather using a non-woven fabric composed of two or more types of polyester short fibers with different numbers of repeat units of -CH2-, forming island-in-sea conjugate fibers and impregnating them with a polymeric elastomer, which allows for a spring-like structure and improved entanglement, resulting in enhanced physical properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If a shrinkage process is used to increase non-woven fabric density to impart fullness, then fullness is improved, but texture and appearance are deteriorated
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the chemical composition parameters of the fiber blend, specifically incorporating polyester fibers with different repeat units (-CH2-). This compositional parameter change enables the fabric to achieve fullness through fiber differentiation rather than mechanical shrinkage, thus avoiding appearance deterioration while maintaining improved fullness properties.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses a composite fiber system combining different polyester types (with varying -CH2- repeat units) in the non-woven fabric. This composite approach allows the material to achieve multiple properties simultaneously - fullness through differential fiber interaction and maintained texture through the specific composite composition, resolving the contradiction between density increase and appearance preservation.
2Ease of operation
If softener or tumbling treatment is used to improve flexibility, then flexibility is improved, but texture is deteriorated
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the structural parameters of the non-woven fabric by incorporating polyester fibers with different repeat units. This structural modification provides inherent flexibility through differential fiber entanglement and movement, eliminating the need for softening treatments that would compromise texture quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The fiber composition itself provides the flexibility property through the inherent characteristics of different polyester repeat units. The material achieves flexibility intrinsically through its compositional design rather than requiring external chemical treatments, thus maintaining texture while achieving the desired ease of operation.
3Ease of manufacture
If single component short fibers are used for manufacturing artificial leather, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but texture, flexibility, and fullness are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The invention employs a composite fiber system combining different polyester types within a unified manufacturing process. This composite approach enhances texture, flexibility, and fullness through fiber differentiation while maintaining relative manufacturing simplicity by processing the fiber blend through standard non-woven fabric production methods without requiring complex additional steps.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces local quality variations at the fiber level by incorporating different polyester repeat units. This creates differential properties within the fabric structure - some fibers provide strength, others provide flexibility, and others contribute to fullness - thereby achieving superior overall performance while using conventional manufacturing processes.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The artificial leather exhibits superior texture, flexibility, breathability, and fullness with considerable weight reduction, along with improved durability and reduced friction coefficient differences, enabling a more luxurious and stable appearance.
Implementation Method 1
a polymeric elastomer impregnated in the non-woven fabric
Implementation Method 2
different entanglement behaviors... forming a spring-like structure
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are an artificial leather that comprises two or more types of short fibers made of different components and thus exhibits superior texture, flexibility, breathability and fullness and enables great weight reduction, and a method for manufacturing the same. The artificial leather includes a non-woven fabric having a fineness of 0.001 to 0.5 denier, and a polymeric elastomer impregnated in the non-woven fabric, wherein the short fibers are two or more types of polyester short fibers having different numbers of repeat units of -CH2-.