TWI898355B - Elastic faux leather - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a stretchable, leather-like fabric comprising a non-foamed substrate and an elastic body covering the non-foamed substrate. The elastic body comprises a grain layer on a side opposite to the side in contact with the non-foamed substrate, a flat layer for contact with the non-foamed substrate, and a porous layer sandwiched between the grain layer and the flat layer and having a plurality of micropores. The connectivity between the grain layer and the micropores is greater than that between the flat layer and the micropores. The three-layer structure of a leather grain layer, a flat layer, and a porous layer effectively bonds the flat layer to the non-foamed substrate, while the microporous structure of the porous layer provides a buffer, allowing the leather grain to form on the leather grain layer without affecting its stability and preserving the elasticity of the finished product. The non-foamed substrate and elastomer are made of a thermoplastic, homogeneous material, which reduces recycling and processing steps and improves operational efficiency.

Description

Elastic faux leather

The present invention relates to an imitation leather cloth, and in particular to an elastic imitation leather cloth having elasticity.

Traditional imitation leather, also known as artificial leather, typically consists of a PU or PVC film applied to a foam base fabric. The fabric is then glued together, and the film is then given a texture resembling animal skin. However, these products are limited by the properties of the foam and the glue required to secure them, resulting in poor ductility. Furthermore, the use of the film, foam, and adhesive makes recycling difficult.

Given the widespread use of imitation leather fabrics, improving their structure to enhance their performance and increase their recyclability is a challenge that needs to be addressed by relevant industry players in this field.

Therefore, the first object of the present invention is to provide a stretch imitation leather cloth that can improve the performance of the imitation leather cloth.

The elastic imitation leather fabric of the present invention comprises a non-foamed substrate and an elastic body covering the non-foamed substrate. The elastic body comprises a textured layer on a side opposite to the side contacting the non-foamed substrate, a flat layer for securing the non-foamed substrate, and a porous layer sandwiched between the textured layer and the flat layer and having a plurality of micropores. The connectivity between the textured layer and the micropores is greater than the connectivity between the flat layer and the micropores.

In some embodiments, the planar layer of the elastomer is a mirror surface in contact with the non-foamed substrate.

In some embodiments, the non-foamed substrate and the elastomer are made of a thermoplastic homogeneous material, and the material is selected from TPEE (thermoplastic polyester elastomer).

In some embodiments, the texture layer includes a texture portion and an atomization portion surrounding the texture portion, and the atomization portion closes a portion of the openings of the micropores in the texture layer.

In some embodiments, the non-foamed substrate and the contact surface of the elastomer have a pattern portion, and the pattern portion can be seen through the texture layer, and the texture layer reduces the reflectivity of the pattern portion reflecting a light source.

In some embodiments, the top of the grain portion of the grain layer is lower than the grain layer.

In some embodiments, the elastomer is a meltblown nonwoven fabric.

The effectiveness of the present invention lies in that, through the three-layer structure of the elastomer—a leather texture layer, a flat layer, and a porous layer—combined with a non-foamed substrate, the flat layer can be effectively fixed to the non-foamed substrate. The porous layer, with micropores between the leather texture layer and the flat layer, provides a buffer, allowing the leather texture to be formed on the leather texture layer without affecting the fixing effect, thereby maintaining the elasticity of the finished product. Furthermore, because the non-foamed substrate and the elastomer are made of thermoplastic materials, future recycling operations can reduce processing steps and improve recycling efficiency, avoiding the need for glue removal, separation, and separate processing of different structures.

Before the present invention is described in detail, it should be noted that similar elements are denoted by the same reference numerals in the following description.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2 , an embodiment of a stretchable imitation leather fabric 100 of the present invention is shown. The stretchable imitation leather fabric 100 includes a non-foamed substrate 1 and an elastic body 2 covering the non-foamed substrate 1. The elastic body 2 has a grain layer 21 on a side opposite to the side in contact with the non-foamed substrate 1, a planar layer 22 for securing to the non-foamed substrate 1, and a porous layer 23 sandwiched between the grain layer 21 and the planar layer 22 and having a plurality of micropores 231. The connectivity between the grain layer 21 and the micropores 231 is greater than the connectivity between the micropores 231 in the planar layer 22. In this embodiment, the non-foamed substrate 1 and the elastomer 2 are made of thermoplastic polyester elastomer (TPEE). In other embodiments, the non-foamed substrate 1 and the elastomer 2 can also be made of other thermoplastic materials. Furthermore, the elastomer 2 is a meltblown non-woven fabric, and the non-foamed substrate 1 is a woven fabric. However, this is not limiting. Other porous materials not produced by a foaming process, such as non-woven fabrics, can also be used.

Furthermore, the textured layer 21 of the elastic body 2 includes a plurality of textured portions 211 and a plurality of atomizing portions 212 surrounding each of the textured portions 211. The atomizing portions 212 partially close the openings of the micropores 231 formed in the textured layer 21. The number of the textured portion 211 and the number of the atomizing portion 212 can also be only one. The following description only uses one textured portion 211 and one atomizing portion 212. In this embodiment, the textured portion 211 exhibits an animal-like texture structure, with a relatively concave groove structure. Therefore, the top of the textured portion 211 is lower than the top of the atomizing portion 212. The top of the atomizing portion 212 roughly corresponds to the top of the entire texture layer 21. Together with the textured portion 211, this creates an undulating effect resembling a realistic animal-like texture structure. Furthermore, by partially closing the openings formed in the texture layer 21 by the micropores 231, the surface of the texture layer 21 (excluding the textured portion 211) has a smoother feel.

In addition, the contact surface of the planar layer 22 of the elastic body 2 with the non-foamed substrate 1 is a mirror surface.

On the other hand, the non-foamed substrate 1 has a patterned portion 11 on the surface in contact with the elastomer 2. This patterned portion 11 is visible through the textured layer 21, and the textured layer 21 reduces the reflectivity of the patterned portion 11 when reflecting a light source. In this embodiment, the patterned portion 11 can be a pattern or pattern printed on the non-foamed substrate 1, or it can be the original color or pattern of the non-foamed substrate 1, depending on the non-foamed substrate 1 used.

The following describes the method of combining the non-foamed substrate 1 and the elastic body 2 by using the manufacturing process of the elastic imitation leather cloth 100:

First, the elastic body 2 is a meltblown nonwoven fabric as previously mentioned. During the manufacturing process, a thermoplastic polyester elastomer (TPEE) masterbatch is first produced into a plurality of fibers through a meltblowing system and then stacked into a continuous belt body. The fibers are then heated to melt and soften and adhere to the belt body. A release paper is placed between the belt body and the fibers. At this time, air is evacuated from the bottom of the continuous belt body to make the fibers adhere tightly to the belt body. The release paper forms a mirror-like appearance corresponding to the planar layer 22. Simultaneously, the textured layer 21 is pressed against the textured layer 21 by a textured mold positioned above, thereby forming the textured portion of the textured layer 21 and the atomized portion 212 surrounding the textured portion 211. Since the atomized portion 212 is relatively higher than the textured portion 211, it partially closes the openings formed by the micropores 231 in the textured layer 21. Through the above operation, the elastic body 2 forms a three-layer structure, namely a leather texture layer 21, a mirror-like flat layer 22, and a hole layer 23 in the middle with a plurality of unmelted and deformed fibers overlapping to form a plurality of micropores 231, and can present a relatively fluffy structure.

Furthermore, the non-foamed substrate is disposed at the rear end of the continuous belt. This embodiment uses a woven fabric for operational description, but the invention is not limited thereto. Other materials having holes and not produced by a foaming process can be used. When the elastic body 2 is covered on the woven fabric, it is fixed to the woven fabric by heat pressing. Since the planar layer 22 of the elastic body 2 presents a mirror structure, it can contact the warp and weft structure of the woven fabric over a large area. At this time, due to continuous heating, the planar layer 22 melts and is fixed to the warp and weft structure of the woven fabric, thereby completing the elastic leather-like fabric of the present invention.

Specifically, because the elastic body 2 is primarily secured to the non-foamed substrate 1 via a planar layer 22, the elastic body 2 has minimal impact on the original ductility of the non-foamed substrate 1, preserving its longitudinal (machine direction) and transverse (cross direction) load changes to the greatest extent possible. Furthermore, since the elastic body 2 has a three-layer structure, it also retains its original ductility to the greatest extent possible, thereby coordinating with the changes of the non-foamed substrate 1 and preventing delamination.

In summary, the present invention uses the three-layer structure of the leather texture layer 21, the flat layer 22 and the hole layer 23 of the elastic body 2 with the non-foamed substrate 1, so that the flat layer 22 can be effectively fixed to the non-foamed substrate 1, and the hole layer 23 with micropores 231 between the leather texture layer 21 and the flat layer 22 can provide a buffer during operation, so that the leather texture When the path is formed in the texture layer 21, it will not affect the fixing effect and can better maintain the elasticity of the finished product. In addition, the non-foamed substrate 1 and the elastic body 2 are made of thermoplastic materials. In the future recycling operation, the processing steps can be reduced and the recycling efficiency can be improved. It avoids the need for glue removal and separation and separate processing of different structures, which can truly achieve the purpose of the present invention.

However, the above description is merely an example of the present invention and should not be used to limit the scope of the present invention. All simple equivalent changes and modifications made according to the scope of the patent application and the content of the patent specification of the present invention are still within the scope of the present patent.

100·········· Elastic imitation leather fabric 1············· Non-foamed base material 11··········· Patterned portion 2············ Elastomer 21············ Leather grain layer 211··········· Textured portion 212·········· Atomized portion 22············ Flat layer 23··········· Porous layer 231········· Micropores

Other features and benefits of the present invention are clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings, including: Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view illustrating an embodiment of the elastic imitation leather fabric of the present invention; and Figure 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the embodiment.

100·········· Elastic imitation leather fabric 1············· Non-foamed base material 11··········· Patterned portion 2············ Elastomer 21············ Leather grain layer 211··········· Textured portion 212·········· Atomized portion 22············ Flat layer 23··········· Porous layer 231········· Micropores

Claims (5)

A stretch imitation leather fabric comprises a non-foamed substrate and an elastic body covering the non-foamed substrate. The elastic body has a texture layer on a side opposite to the side contacting the non-foamed substrate, a planar layer for fixing to the non-foamed substrate, and a porous layer sandwiched between the texture layer and the planar layer and having a plurality of micropores. The connectivity between the texture layer and the micropores is greater than the connectivity between the planar layer and the micropores. The surface of the planar layer of the elastic body in contact with the non-foamed substrate is a mirror surface. The non-foamed substrate and the elastic body are made of thermoplastic polyester elastomer (TPEE). The elastic imitation leather fabric as described in claim 1, wherein the leather texture layer includes a texture portion and an atomization portion surrounding the texture portion, and the atomization portion seals a portion of the openings formed by the micropores in the leather texture layer. The elastic imitation leather fabric as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein the non-foamed substrate has a pattern portion on the contact surface with the elastic body, and the pattern portion can be transmitted through the leather texture layer, and the leather texture layer is used to reduce the reflectivity of the pattern portion reflecting a light source. The elastic imitation leather fabric as described in claim 2, wherein the top of the grain portion of the grain layer is lower than the top of the atomized portion. The elastic imitation leather fabric as described in claim 1, wherein the elastic body is a melt-blown non-woven fabric.