Artificial Leather and Manufacturing Method Therefor
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current artificial leather products face challenges in achieving both high abrasion resistance and a pliable texture without using polyurethane resins, and they also struggle with recyclability and durability issues, particularly in applications like car seats that require extensive wear resistance and luxurious appearance.
Innovation Solution
The development of artificial leather featuring a front side fiber layer with thermoplastic resins that adhere to main fibers, where the thermoplastic resin has specific properties such as a controlled probe push distance and volume, and is composed of copolymers like polybutylene phthalate and aliphatic polyether, integrated with a scrim layer for enhanced durability and recyclability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If polymer elastomers such as polyurethane are used to adhere fibers, then hand quality and abrasion resistance are improved, but dye bleed out increases and washing fastness deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the polyurethane resin component from the artificial leather structure, replacing it with a polyest er-based nonwoven fabric system. This extraction eliminates the source of dye bleed out while maintaining abrasion resistance through the engineered fiber composition and thermal bonding structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention employs a composite material system consisting of polyester main fibers, polyester thermal bonding fibers, and polyethylene terephthalate scrim fibers. This composite structure achieves both high abrasion resistance and good washing fastness through the synergistic combination of different polyester components with optimized proportions and bonding characteristics.
2Strength
If polymer elastomers such as polyurethane are used to adhere fibers, then hand quality is improved, but color shade changes and degradation occur under ultraviolet rays
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the polyurethane resin that is susceptible to UV degradation and color changes, replacing it with UV-stable polyester-based materials. This extraction eliminates the vulnerability to ultraviolet damage while maintaining the desired hand quality through the engineered fiber structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the material composition parameters from polyurethane-based to polyester-based systems, which fundamentally alters the UV resistance properties. The polyester components exhibit superior UV stability, preventing color shade changes and degradation under ultraviolet exposure while maintaining hand quality.
3Strength
If thermal bonding stable fibers are mixed and heat fused without polymer elastomers, then abrasion resistance and hand quality are improved, but further improvement is needed for high-wear applications like car seats
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies local quality by creating a multilayer structure with different fiber compositions and bonding characteristics in specific regions. The front side fiber layer contains thermal bonding fibers for surface durability, while the scrim layer provides structural reinforcement, creating localized optimization for different functional requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses a composite material system combining polyester main fibers, polyester thermal bonding fibers, and polyethylene terephthalate scrim fibers in specific proportions. This composite structure achieves the enhanced durability required for high-wear applications like car seats by distributing mechanical loads across different material components.
4Strength
If polyurethane resin is used in composite systems with polyester fibers, then hand quality is improved, but recycling becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the polyurethane resin component that complicates recycling, replacing it with an all-polyester system. This extraction simplifies the material composition to compatible polyester fibers that can be easily separated and recycled together, eliminating the incompatibility issues between polyurethane and polyester.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention achieves homogeneity by using polyester materials throughout the entire structure - main fibers, thermal bonding fibers, and scrim - all composed of compatible polyester or polyethylene terephthalate. This homogeneous polyester-based composition enables uniform recycling processing without the need to separate incompatible polymer types.
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
This solution provides artificial leather with improved flexibility, abrasion resistance, and recyclability, maintaining mechanical strength while offering a luxurious texture and satisfying the requirements for high-wear applications like car seats.
Implementation Method 1
the thermoplastic resin adheres together the main fibers
Implementation Method 2
thermal bonding stable fibers are mixed in a specific proportion with at least the front side fiber layer of a nonwoven fabric having a multilayer structure of two or more layers consisting of a front side fiber layer and a scrim layer (a woven or knitted fabric), and then heat fused
Implementation Method 3
the entangled structure of the obtained front side fiber web is subjected to thermal annealing at a temperature at or above the melting point of the thermal bonding fibers and below the melting point of the main fibers
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is artificial leather that combines good texture, high wear resistance, and a high-quality appearance without the addition of polyurethane resin. Artificial leather that includes at least a surface fiber layer constituting a first surface, the artificial leather being characterized by the following: the surface fiber layer includes main fibers and a thermoplastic resin; the main fibers have a fineness of 0.01 dtex to 0.5 dtex, inclusive; at least a part of the thermoplastic resin adheres between the main fibers; the thermoplastic resin in the surface fiber layer is such that the distance to which a probe is pushed thereinto under prescribed conditions using an atomic force microscope is 20 nm to 200 nm, inclusive; the number average volume of the thermoplastic resin in the surface fiber layer is 3,500 μm3 to 24,000 μm3, inclusive; the number average volume of the thermoplastic resin in a first surface fiber layer when the first surface is measured by X-ray CT is 5,000 μm3 to 14,000 μm3, inclusive; the volume number density of the thermoplastic resin in the first surface fiber layer is 1.1×1012/m3 to 3.0×1012/m3, inclusive; etc.