In China, people are accustomed to use artificial leather produced from PVC resin as raw material called PVC artificial leather (referred to as artificial leather); artificial leather produced using PU resin as raw material is called PU artificial leather (abbreviated as PU leather): PU resin and non-woven fabric are used as raw materials. The artificial leather produced is called PU synthetic leather (referred to as synthetic leather).
The development of China's artificial leather and synthetic leather industry has become an emerging industry with considerable potential for development. It has prominently demonstrated the following characteristics:
Artificial leather and synthetic leather have developed rapidly, and the market is expanding day by day. Leather products with a wide variety of colors are found everywhere in daily life, such as interior decoration, sofa fabrics, car interiors, clothing, shoes, bags and so on. People often think that these products are Natural leather production, in fact, is not, a considerable share of these leather products are occupied by artificial leather, synthetic leather.
In China, people are accustomed to use artificial leather made of PVC resin as raw material called PVC artificial leather (referred to as artificial leather); artificial leather made of PU resin as raw material is called PU artificial leather (abbreviated as PU leather); PU resin and non-woven fabric are used as raw materials. The artificial leather produced is called PU synthetic leather (referred to as synthetic leather). For PU artificial leather, PU synthetic leather, the industry has not yet accurately named, but some people are used to collectively referred to the above three leather synthetic leather. How to name it? We need to be unified and standardized to give it a more appropriate name.
Artificial leather and synthetic leather are an important part of the plastics industry and are widely used in various industries of the national economy. The production of artificial leather and synthetic leather has been internationally developed for more than 60 years. Since 1958, China began to develop and produce artificial leather. It is an early developing industry in the Chinese plastics industry. In recent years, the development of China's artificial leather and synthetic leather industry has not only been the growth of production equipment production lines, annual production growth, variety of colors, but also has its own industry organization and considerable cohesion. We can organize China's artificial leather and synthetic leather companies, including related industries, to develop into an industry with considerable strength.
Following PVC artificial leather, PU synthetic leather has undergone intensive research and development by scientific and technical experts for more than 30 years. As an ideal substitute for natural leather, it has achieved breakthrough technological progress.
PU applied to the surface of the fabric first appeared on the market in the 1950s. By 1964, DuPont Co. developed a PU synthetic leather that was used as a shoe upper. After a Japanese company established a production line with an annual output of 600,000 square meters, after more than 20 years of continuous research and development, PU synthetic leather has rapidly grown regardless of product quality, variety, or output. Its performance is closer and closer to natural leather, and some of its properties even surpass those of natural leather, reaching a level that is indistinguishable from natural leather, and occupies a very important position in human daily life.
Today, Japan is the largest producer of synthetic leather. The products of several companies including Kuraray, Teijin, Toray, and Zhongfang basically represent the international development level of the 1990s. Its fiber and non-woven fabrics are being developed in the direction of ultra-thinning, high density, and high non-woven effects. Its PU manufacturing is developing toward PU dispersions and PU water emulsions, and the application fields of the products are continuously widening, starting from shoes and bags. The field has developed into other special fields of application such as clothing, ball games, decoration, etc., covering all aspects of people's daily life.
Artificial leather and synthetic leather challenge to natural leather Natural leather has been widely used in the production of daily necessities and industrial products due to its excellent natural characteristics. However, as the world population grows, the demand for leather by mankind has doubled and a limited number of natural leathers have long been unavailable. Meet people's needs. To solve this contradiction, scientists began to research and develop artificial leather and synthetic leather decades ago to make up for the shortage of natural leather. The history of research for more than 50 years is the process of artificial leather and synthetic leather challenging natural leather. Scientists began by studying the chemical composition and structure of natural leather, starting with nitrocellulose lacquer and entering PVC artificial leather, which is the first generation of artificial leather. On this basis, scientists have made many improvements and explorations. The first is the improvement of the substrate, followed by the modification and improvement of the coating resin. In the 1970s, nonwovens made of synthetic fibers were needled into a net, bonded into a net, and the like. The base material had a quasi-like cross-section and a hollow fiber-like structure, reaching a porous structure, and conforming to the natural leather network structure. Requirements; the surface layer of synthetic leather at that time has been able to achieve a microporous polyurethane layer, equivalent to the grain surface of natural leather, so that the appearance and internal structure of PU synthetic leather and natural leather gradually close, other physical properties are close to the natural leather Indicators, and the color is more vivid than natural leather; its normal temperature resistance to break more than one million times, low-temperature folding can also reach the level of natural leather.
The appearance of microfiber PU synthetic leather is the third generation of artificial leather. Its three-dimensional structure network of non-woven fabrics for synthetic leather in the substrate has created a condition to catch up with natural leather. The product incorporates a newly developed PU slurry impregnation and composite surface layer processing technology with an open-cell structure, which exerts a huge surface area and a strong water absorption effect of ultra-fine fibers, enabling superfine PU synthetic leather to have a bundle-like ultrafine Due to the inherent moisture absorption characteristics of natural leather of collagen fibers, it is comparable to high-grade natural leather in terms of internal microstructure, appearance texture, physical properties, and wearing comfort. In addition, the ultra-fine fiber synthetic leather exceeds the performance of natural leather in chemical resistance, quality uniformity, large-scale production and processing adaptability, and waterproof, mildew-proof degeneration, etc. The superior performance of synthetic leather is that natural leather can not be replaced. From the analysis of domestic and foreign markets, synthetic leather has also largely replaced natural resources with insufficient resources. The use of artificial leather and synthetic leather for the decoration of bags, clothing, shoes, vehicles and furniture has been increasingly recognized by the market. Its wide range of applications, large quantities and many varieties are beyond the reach of traditional natural leather.
Vigor Plus Co., Ltd
