Artificial Leather Partial Coating for Flame Retardancy and Breathability

Solution Overview

Problem

Artificial leathers face challenges in achieving flame retardancy while maintaining soft texture and air-permeability, as excessive flame retardant application leads to hardening and reduced air-permeability.

Innovation Solution

A partial coating of a flame retardant composition on a preliminary artificial leather with ultrafine fibers, forming grooves in non-coated regions, achieving an optimal area ratio of 60 to 90%, which enhances flame retardancy and air-permeability without deteriorating the texture.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a great amount of flame retardant is used to impart flame retardancy, then flame retardancy is improved, but texture becomes hard and air-permeability deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveflame retardancyVSAvoidair-permeability

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality by creating a flame retardant composition layer that is non-uniformly distributed on the artificial leather surface. Specifically, the layer has different thicknesses in different regions: a first thickness in a first region and a second thickness (different from the first) in a second region. This localized variation allows the flame retardant to be concentrated where needed while leaving other areas with better breathability and texture, thus resolving the contradiction between flame retardancy and air-permeability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

2Reliability

If a great amount of flame retardant is used to impart flame retardancy, then flame retardancy is improved, but texture softness deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveflame retardancyVSAvoidtexture softness

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSStrength

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality by creating a flame retardant composition layer that is non-uniformly distributed on the artificial leather surface. Specifically, the layer has different thicknesses in different regions: a first thickness in a first region and a second thickness (different from the first) in a second region. This localized variation allows the flame retardant to be concentrated where needed while leaving other areas with better breathability and texture, thus resolving the contradiction between flame retardancy and air-permeability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

3Reliability

If flame retardant composition is partially coated at an area ratio of 60 to 90%, then flame retardancy and air-permeability are improved, but coating uniformity is reduced

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveflame retardancyVSAvoidcoating uniformity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality by creating a flame retardant composition layer that is non-uniformly distributed on the artificial leather surface. Specifically, the layer has different thicknesses in different regions: a first thickness in a first region and a second thickness (different from the first) in a second region. This localized variation allows the flame retardant to be concentrated where needed while leaving other areas with better breathability and texture, thus resolving the contradiction between flame retardancy and air-permeability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies partial action by coating the flame retardant composition on only a portion of the artificial leather surface rather than uniformly across the entire surface. The coating covers an area ratio of 60 to 90% of the total surface area, with the flame retardant composition layer having a first thickness in a first region and a second thickness in a second region. This partial coating approach achieves the required flame retardancy while preserving air-permeability and texture properties in the uncoated or lightly coated regions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Data Source

PatentEP2540909B1Artificial leather

Publication Date: 2016.09.07 KOLON INDUSTRIES INC

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AI summary

Disclosed is an artificial leather that can exhibit a level of flame retardancy required in the art, is free of deterioration in soft texture of ultrafine fibers and has greatly improved air-permeability by partially coating a flame retardant composition on a preliminary artificial leather. The artificial leather includes a preliminary artificial leather comprising a non-woven fabric made of ultrafine fibers and an elastic polymer resin impregnated in the non-woven fabric, and a flame retardant composition layer formed on the preliminary artificial leather by partially coating a flame retardant composition thereon at an area ratio of 60 to 90%, with respect to the total area of the preliminary artificial leather.