JPS58191280A - Leather-like sheet and production thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a leather-like sheet material having a silver surface and consisting of densely intertwined ultrafine fibers and a resin.

The grain layer of conventional artificial leather is formed from a porous or non-porous layer made of resin such as polyurethane elastomer, or a layer formed by laminating a porous layer and a non-porous layer. ing. However, these artificial leathers with a silver surface layer have drawbacks such as a poor overall sense of unity, a strong rubber-like repulsive feeling, and a tendency to be easily scratched.0 The surface gloss is uniform and lacks depth. It is something. Also,
In order to improve these shortcomings, we have developed two methods: ■ one in which a grain layer is formed by adding various fillers such as fine particles to resin, and one in which a grain layer is formed by combining a series of fine fiber bundles with a porous material. Some proposals have been made, such as those in which the fluffy fibers on the zero surface and resin are integrated to form a silver surface, and those in which the zero surface fibers are melted or melted and partially bonded to form a surface to form a silver surface layer. Ta.

However, the type (■) has the problem that the bending strength and gloss of the grain surface decrease due to the addition of fillers, and the type (■) has a flat fiber structure in which fine fibers are bundled and the grain surface is flat. Because it is arranged in a pattern, if it is rubbed strongly or subjected to repeated shearing stress, the surface may become fluffy.
Peeling occurs along the arrangement plane of the fiber bundles, creating a defect called "silver flakes", and as this progresses, cracks occur on the surface. There is a problem in that fine irregularities occur on the surface of the surface, deteriorating the appearance. In addition, if items such as ■ or ■ are repeatedly bent or subjected to repeated shear stress,
The problem is that cracks and fissures occur relatively easily on the surface, resulting in extremely poor appearance.

The present inventors have fully considered the problems of conventional artificial leather, and have developed a leather-like sheet material that does not have the above-mentioned problems and has particularly high bending resistance, kneading resistance, shear fatigue resistance, and scratch resistance. After intensive study, they finally arrived at the present invention. That is, the present invention uses densely intertwined ultrafine fibers and 7-dimensional fibers or bundles thereof.

The present invention relates to a leather-like sheet material having on at least one side a grain layer formed of a composite material mainly consisting of the polar #I fibers and/or a resin present in the voids of the bundle thereof, and a method for producing the same.

In the leather-like notebook of the present invention, the grain layer is a sliding composite consisting of the ultrafine wire key 1 and its east side and the resin present in the gap, and the ultrafine wire key 11 and/or the resin existing in the gap.
'i k ldIt is based on the fact that the bundles are closely intertwined with each other, and it is only through this combination that it has a supple texture and smooth surface, and has good bending resistance, shear fatigue resistance, and scratch resistance. It has now become possible to provide a sheet material similar to skin tCt.

+For the ultrafine fibers used in the invention, ultrafine fibers produced by +fE welding using a method such as Super D-D- may be used, but if the fibers become thin, spinning becomes unstable, and processing is difficult and difficult to handle. At an appropriate time during the processing process using ultrafine fiber-forming fibers as described below,
It is preferable to use it by modifying it into ultrafine fibers. That is, 9. 1 ultra-fine woven fiber sheet used in the present invention, 1.
For example, fibers made of ultra-fine fibers immediately after spinning and lightly glued together into a single fiber, fibers with a chrysanthemum-shaped cross section in which one component is radially interposed between other components, multilayer bimetallic fibers, and donut-shaped cross sections. Multi-layer bimetallic fibers, sea-island fibers made by melt-mixing two or more components and spinning them, a large number of ultra-fine fibers that are continuous in the axial direction of the fibers, and are bound and/or partially bound by other components to form a single fiber. These fibers are polymeric mutually arranged fibers, and two or more of these fibers may be mixed or used in combination. Ultrafine fiber-forming fibers having a cross section in which a plurality of cores are interveningly bonded and/or partially bonded by other components can be relatively easily obtained by applying physical action or removing bonding components. It is often used for this reason. Also.

Ultrafine fiber-forming fibers made of multicomponents that yield a bundle of fibers mainly composed of microfibers of 0.2 denier or less, preferably 0.05 denier or less when at least one component is dissolved and removed, have a particularly supple texture, It is more preferably used because it yields a leather-like sheet material with a smooth surface. Dimensions: 1. The ultrafine fiber in the present invention is made of a polymeric substance having fiber-forming ability. For example, iron 6, nylon 66°, nylon 12. Polyamides such as copolymerized nylon.

Polyethylene terephthalate, copolymerized polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate.

Examples include polyesters such as copolymerized polybutylene terephthalate, polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene, polyurethanes, polyacrylonitrile, and vinyl polymers. Also.

Examples of binding components or dissolving and removing components of the microfiber-forming fiber include polystyrene, polyethylene/, polypropylene/, polyamide, polyurethane, copolymerized polyethylene terephthalate easily soluble in alkaline solutions, polyvinyl alcohol, copolymerized polyvinyl alcohol, Styrene-acrylonitrile copolymers, copolymers of styrene and higher alcohol esters of acrylic acid and/or methacrylic acid (7) i%i flucol esters, and the like are used. Polystyrene, styrene-acrylonitrile ester, and/or copolymers of methacrylic acid with higher alcohol esters are preferably used in terms of ease of spinning and ease of dissolution and removal. Furthermore, a copolymer of styrene and a high 9-fluoricol ester of acrylic acid and/or a higher alcohol ester of methacrylic acid is more preferably used, since a fiber with a high draw ratio and high strength can be obtained. In addition, in order to make the ultrafine fibers easier to branch, a polymer such as polyethylene glycol is added to the binding component or the dissolving component.
It is preferable to use a mixture of 60% by weight. Such microfiber-forming fibers are not limited to liquids that have stability during spinning.

A material having a tenier of 1 to 10 is preferred from the viewpoint of ease of sheet formation.

The ultrafine fibers in the grain layer of the present invention preferably have a fineness of 02 denier or less. If the fiber is thicker than 0.02 denier, the rigidity of the fiber is too high, which not only impairs the flexibility of the grain layer and the form of wrinkles on the surface, but also tends to cause cracks on the surface when rubbed. ! ] By using ultra-fine IIj fibers of 3.02 denier or less, preferably 0.005 denier or less, which makes it difficult to form a dense and supple grain layer due to the occurrence of convexities, the intertwining of the fibers can become dense and smooth. A leather-like sheet material having good elasticity and a grain layer that is hard to crack and feels good in the hand can be obtained.

The fiber structure in the grain layer of the leather-6-like sheet of the present invention requires that ultrafine fibers and/or bundles thereof are densely intertwined with each other. In other words, the fiber entanglement density is high. One method for measuring the entanglement density of fibers is to measure the distance between fiber entanglement points, which will be described later. It is necessary to be present. Structures in which this value is larger than 200μ, for example, fiber structures with less entangled fibers in which the fibers are entangled only by needle punching, or ultrafine fibers or their east are simply arranged in a plane,
Those with a structure in which ultra-fine fibers or bundles thereof are densely grown on the surface of the base material in a fluff-like manner, and are created by applying a nape, have little or no intertwining of the fibers, so they cannot be rubbed, kneaded, or rubbed. It is not suitable because the surface tends to fluff or crack when subjected to repeated shearing forces. In order to eliminate these drawbacks, it is necessary that the distance between fiber entanglement points be 200μ or less. 100μ
More favorable results can be obtained in the following cases.

Here, the distance between fiber entanglement points is a value obtained by the following method, and is a measure of the denseness of fiber entanglement, and the smaller the value, the more dense the entanglement. . FIG. 1 is an enlarged schematic diagram of the constituent fibers in the grain layer when observed from the surface side. The constituent fibers are l, fz, fs.

......and any two fibers f1. Trace the point where f2 is intertwined to the point where the fiber f2, which is above at a, intersects below another fiber, and the intersecting point is defined as am (30 intersecting points with f2). Similarly a, I a4. a......
..., then the next thing is "9ahT"...
is measured, and the average value of these many measured values is determined, and this is taken as the distance between fiber entanglement points.

In the lower layer of the grain layer, ultrafine fiber bundles are mainly intertwined, and in the grain layer's ultrafine fibers and/''!, in the east of Takesono, the ultrafine fiber bundles in the lower layer branch out and become even more densely intertwined. A fiber structure in which the fibers are substantially continuous in the grain layer and the lower layer, and the degree of branching changes continuously at the boundary between the two layers has a texture with a sense of unity. It is preferably used because a sheet product of 100% is obtained and the grain layer and the lower layer do not peel off.Here, the thickness of the ultrafine fiber bundles in the grain layer does not need to be the same for all bundles, It is preferable that the bundle is as thin as possible compared to the thickness of the bundle in the lower layer (the number of fibers included in the bundle is as small as possible compared to the bundle in the lower layer) to prevent unevenness from occurring on the surface of the sheet. Conventional keratin-like sheet materials that have been used have a base material made only of fibers, which are easily stretched by external forces and deformed plastically, making it difficult to return to the original shape.To prevent this, resin is used as a base material. However, the leather-like sheet material of the present invention, which has a fiber structure in which ultrafine fibers and/or bundles thereof are densely intertwined, is unlikely to stretch abnormally even if the lower layer is not provided with resin. The sheet material has good shape retention.This is also a major feature of the leather-like sheet material of the present invention.

Of course, a resin such as a polyurethane elastomer may be applied to the lower layer, and the amount of resin applied varies depending on the intended use of the sheet material. When used for clothing, the amount applied is preferably 0 to 80 parts based on the weight of the fiber. Examples of the resin used for the silver layer include:

Polyamide, polyester, polyvinyl chloride, polyacrylate copolymer, polyurethane.

Neoprene, styrene-butadiene copolymer, acrylic resin, natural polymer resin, or a mixture of these resins. Furthermore, if necessary, plasticizers, fillers, stabilizers, pigments, dyes, crosslinking agents, etc. may be added. Polyurethane resins or polyurethane resins added with other resins and additives are preferably used for one month because they yield a grain layer with a particularly soft texture and feel and good bending resistance. The adhesion structure of the grain layer-I6 resin is not particularly limited and may vary depending on the purpose.

When flexibility and soft feel are particularly required, such as clothing 14-1, it is recommended to use clothing with a structure in which more resin is deposited closer to the surface of the grain layer, or a very thin layer of resin attached to the outermost surface of the grain layer. Structures in which the amount of resin is particularly large and other parts have no resin attached at all or only a small amount of resin is attached, or structures in which the resin on one surface is non-porous and the rest is porous. Preferably. In addition, when particularly high scratch resistance is required, a structure in which the voids in the grain layer are filled with resin almost completely with the width of X7 is preferable.

As a method for producing the leather-like sheet material of the present invention, rll,
1. The ultrafine fiber-forming type fiber is produced by, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 44-18
It is produced using the spinning apparatus shown in Japanese Patent No. 669, and after being stabilized, a web is formed by passing it through a card and a cross wrapper, and then needle punching is performed to intertwine the microfiber-forming fibers to form a fiber sheet. Alternatively, following the spinning of the microfiber-forming fibers, they are stretched and placed randomly on a wire mesh, and the obtained web is needle punched in the same manner as described above to form a fiber sheet. Alternatively, the ultra-fine fiber-forming fibers are placed on a non-woven fabric or woven fabric made of ordinary fibers or other ultra-fine fiber-forming fibers,
A fiber sheet is formed by twisting and inseparably integrating the fibers. Next, the fiber sheet thus obtained is brought into contact with a high-speed fluid stream to cause the portion corresponding to the grain layer to branch into ultrafine fibers and/or bundles thereof, and at the same time to intertwine them densely. The fluid here refers to a single body or a gas, and in special cases it may contain extremely fine solids, but from the viewpoint of ease of handling, cost, and amount of collision energy as a fluid, water is Most preferably used. Furthermore, depending on the purpose, various organic solvents capable of dissolving some components of the ultrafine fiber-forming fibers, or aqueous solutions of alkalis or acids such as sodium hydroxide can also be used. These fluids are pressurized and injected from small-diameter nozzles or narrowly spaced slits to form a high-speed columnar flow or curtain-like flow, which is brought into contact with the fiber sheet to branch and intertwine the fiber sheet. The pressure applied to the liquid varies depending on the ease of branching of the ultrafine fiber-forming fiber or ultrafine fiber bundle, and for fibers that are easy to branch, the pressure applied to the liquid is 5 to 70 m/cm.
A relatively low pressure of 3 is sufficient.

For fibers that are difficult to separate, a pressure of 70 to 4 oz.7-.
The pressure may be varied with each contact. After that.

If necessary to make the used ultrafine fiber-forming fibers ultrafine, the obtained fiber sheet is treated with a solvent that dissolves some components of the ultrafine fiber-forming fibers to dissolve some of the components. Remove.

Then, if necessary, it is impregnated with a solution or dispersion of a resin such as polyurethane elastomer and coagulated by a wet or dry method. Here, the part of the component may be dissolved and removed before the treatment with the high-speed fluid flow, and in this case, by dissolving and removing the part of the component, the ultrafine fiber-forming fibers of the fiber sheet become a bundle of ultrafine fibers. This is a preferred method because it is metamorphosed and can be easily and highly branched and entangled at low fluid pressures. Furthermore, high-speed fluid flow treatment may be performed before and after the step of dissolving and removing the partial components.

In addition to the above, the step of applying the resin can be carried out between the high-speed fluid flow treatment step and the dissolution and removal step of a portion of the fibers.

In this case, it is necessary that the applied resin is not dissolved by the solvent used to dissolve and remove the partial component, but the partial component must exist between the resin and the ultrafine fiber bundle of the obtained fiber sheet. This is the preferred method for making the texture flexible, as it frees up space and increases the degree of freedom in mutual movement. On the other hand, performing a high-speed fluid flow treatment after applying the resin is not a preferable method because when a large amount of resin is applied, the fibers are bound by the resin, so branching and entangling are hardly performed. After that, the solution or dispersion of the resin for the grain layer described above is applied to the layer of the obtained fiber sheet in which the ultrafine fibers and/or their bundles are intertwined, by reverse roll coating.
Gravure coating.

Apply by knife coating, slit coating, spraying, etc., solidify by wet or dry method,
The fibers are placed on a roll or sheet and pressed and heated if necessary to integrate the fibers and resin and at the same time smooth the surface.

Here, it is also a preferable method to subject the fiber sheet to a treatment such as pressing to smooth the surface before applying the resin. At this time, it is preferable to use an emboss roll or a textured sheet with a textured pattern on the surface because integration, smoothing, and texture formation can be performed at the same time. Furthermore, treatments such as applying a finishing agent, dyeing, and rubbing may be performed as necessary.

The leather-like sheet material of the present invention thus obtained is as follows.

It has a supple texture and smooth surface feel, and has good bending resistance, shear fatigue resistance, and scratch resistance, so it can be used as silver-coated artificial leather for clothing, uppers for shoes, /1 bags, bags, etc.
It is suitable for various purposes such as belts, bags and gloves, and pole clothing.

The examples shown below are for the purpose of clarifying the present invention, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

In the examples, 9 parts and 1 are by weight unless otherwise specified. Moreover, the value of the average intercrossing point distance was taken as the average value of 100 measured values.

Example 1 20 parts of 2-ethylhexyl acrylate - 80 parts of styrene
60 parts of vinyl polymer (hereinafter referred to as AS resin) copolymerized in a proportion of 60 parts as a bonding component and 40 parts of nylon 6 as an ultrafine fiber component, with 16 island components in one filament, Furthermore, a 40 denier polymer interlayer array fiber as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 47-37648 in which a large number of ultrafine fiber components are contained in the island component.

51 staples are used to pass the card cloth through two brim to form a web, and then a needle with 1 hook is used to entangle the polymer interlayer fibers to form a non-woven fabric. (A) was made. Non-woven fabric (
A) has a basis weight of 405 g/m' and an apparent density of 0.20 g/m'.
It was □□□1.

Water with a pressure of 1001 cg/lsn was applied to the surface of the nonwoven fabric (A) at high speed from nozzles arranged in a row with holes of a diameter 01 dish with a distance of 0.6 mm between the centers of the holes while moving the nonwoven fabric (A). A total of 5 and 10 treatments were carried out under the same conditions by spray contact, and then the pressure was lowered to 50 kg/crn'' and the same process was carried out once each for the 5-time treatment and the 10-time treatment while vibrating the nozzle. Non-woven fabric (B) and non-woven fabric (C)'' were produced.The obtained non-woven fabrics (B) and (0) had polymeric mutually arranged fibers on the surface layer branched into ultra-fine fibers or bundles thereof, and were mutually dense. It had a fiber structure that was intertwined with each other.

Next, for each of the nonwoven fabrics (A), (B), and (a),
The surface was impregnated with a 7-tidimethylformamide (hereinafter referred to as DMF) solution of polyurethane obtained by chain-extending a polyurethane of mixed diol of polyethylene adipate and polybutylene adipate and p-e 1''-diphenylmethane diisocyanate with ethylene glycol. The adhered liquid was removed with a spray scraper, introduced into water, and solidified.

Thereafter, it was thoroughly washed in hot water at 80°C to remove DMF. After drying, it was immersed in trichlorethylene, immersed and squeezed repeatedly to almost completely extract and remove the AD resin, and then dried to evaporate and remove residual trichlorethylene.

The water-treated side of the sheets obtained from nonwoven fabrics (B) and (0) was extremely smooth with few irregularities, but the surface of the sheet obtained from nonwoven fabric (A) was extremely fine with no branches. There were irregularities along the fiber bundle, and the smoothness was poor. Next, from the surface of these sheets,
A 10% solution of polyurethane, which has the same composition as the polyurethane used for impregnation but has a slightly harder hardness, and a pigment added thereto was applied using a gravure coater, dried, and then pressed through a heated embossing roll to form a leather-like grain pattern. Embossed. Furthermore, it was dyed using a jet dyeing machine under normal pressure and finished by a conventional method.

The leather-like sheet products obtained from the nonwoven fabrics (B) and (0) are as follows.

The leather-like sheet material obtained from the nonwoven fabric (A) had a smooth surface that followed the grain pattern, and had a soft and unified texture. In this state, unevenness was observed along the bundle of ultra-fine fibers, and cracks that occurred during dyeing were observed here and there along the bundle of ultra-fine fibers, exposing the ultra-fine fibers.

The polyurethane and finishing agent applied to these leather-like sheets were extracted and removed with a solvent, and the distance between fiber entanglement points of the constituent fibers on the surface of the grain layer was measured. The average distance between fiber entanglement points of the nonwoven fabric (A) was 661μ, and the nonwoven fabric (A) was 661 μm.
193μ for B) and 77μ for nonwoven fabric (C)
It was μ.

Furthermore, the results of measuring the bending resistance, shear fatigue resistance, and scratch resistance of these acid-like sheet materials are shown in Table 1. From this, the nonwoven fabric (B) (the leather-like sheet material of the present invention using carbon fiber uses the nonwoven fabric (A)) has better bending resistance and shear fatigue resistance than nonwoven fabric (A).

It was found that both scratch resistances were excellent.

Table 1 Note: Measurement method (1) Bending resistance The degree of damage to the grain surface is determined according to J Engineering SK 6545-1970 K.

(2) Shear fatigue resistance A rectangular test piece with a width of 6aI+ was attached to a clamp with a gripping interval of 2cfn, and one clamp was moved to a position where the elongation rate was 25 inches without changing the gripping interval. Repeat at a speed of 250[i@/min. The degree of damage to the silver surface after 10,000 cycles is determined based on the criterion (1) above.

(3) Scratch resistance Using a Clemens scratch tester, the silver surface is scratched with a needle with a diameter of 1 stroke and loaded with a load of 5 [ ] Dg. Determine the degree of scratch resistance.

Example 2 The nonwoven fabric (A) produced in Example 1 was immersed in a 5% aqueous solution of polyvinyl alcohol (hereinafter referred to as PVA) heated to 95°C, and at the same time as the PVA was impregnated, the nonwoven fabric was shrunk and dried to remove moisture. After removing the As resin, it was immersed in trichlorether, and the As resin was extracted and removed by repeating dipping and squeezing, followed by drying. The obtained nonwoven fabric is a nonwoven fabric in which ultrafine fibers are substantially intertwined in bundles, and water under a pressure of 50 kg/min is sprayed at high speed on both sides using the same nozzle as in Example 1, and the same conditions are applied. The treatment was performed on each side a total of 6 times to dissolve the PVA and simultaneously branch and entangle the fibers.

The last time of each process, vibrate the nozzle and process.
After removing the PVA, the sample was nipped through a wet 1-ma mangle and then dried. The surface layer of the obtained nonwoven fabric had a fiber structure in which the original ultrafine fiber bundles were highly branched and densely intertwined. After that, one side was lightly puffed with Za/do paper, and the other side was coated with polyurethane/solution using a gravure coater.Although the shape was fixed only by actual running, the shape retention was good. The fiber structure is extremely similar to natural leather,
It had excellent flexibility and a satisfying texture. -! Ta. When the folded end was pinched with one's fingers, it exhibited a rounded feel and shape similar to natural leather, and no cracks or fuzz were observed even when strongly rubbed or pulled with one's hands.

When this leather-like sheet material was made into a coat, it had a very elegant appearance without any paper-like creases.

The polyurethane and finishing agent on the grain layer of this leather-like article were removed with a solvent, and the average distance between fiber entanglement points of the constituent fibers was measured and found to be 15μ.

Example 5 A polymer in the form of 45 parts of a mixture of 95 parts of polymethylene glycol and 5 parts of polyethylene glycol as a binding component, and 55 parts of polyethylene terephthalate as a rod-stacked fiber component, containing 16 ultrafine fibers in one filament. A nonwoven fabric was made in the same manner as in Example 1 using 38 denier, 51 mm mutually arranged fibers. The fabric weight of this nonwoven fabric was 540 g/thickness 2.8 mm.A columnar stream of water was sprayed onto one side of this nonwoven fabric at a pressure of 70 kg%an'' using the same nozzle as in Example 1. The treatment was carried out five times under the same conditions and twice at a lower pressure of 50 kg/male. Furthermore, it was placed in hot water at 95°C and subjected to a shrinkage treatment and a nip using a mangle. The resulting entangled nonwoven fabric has a thickness reduced to about t 8 rrrm;
Ultrafine fibers with an average fineness of about 015 denier and bundles thereof branched from the hydrotreated fibers were mainly intertwined with each other in a dense and dense manner, and the surface had very few irregularities. After that, the same concentration of polyurethane as in Example 1 was applied.
% impregnation solution, impregnation, coagulation, hot water washing, and drying were performed in the same manner. Next, polystyrene and polyethylene glycol were dissolved and removed using trichloroethyl and ethylene.
After slicing into 11 m long slices, a paint made by adding carbon black and dye to a polyurethane solution was applied to the surface layer of the water-treated side using a gravure coater, dried, and pressed to form a composite to form a texture. .

The other side was puffed to fluff the ultrafine fibers, then dyed at a high temperature of 120°C using a disperse dye, and then subjected to the usual finishing process. The obtained leather-like sheet material is 1
It has a texture with a sense of unity with little repulsion. 9 One side has a fluff of ultra-fine fibers with relatively long piles, and the other side has a silver surface with an elegant appearance. It had a structure very similar to leather. In addition, when this material was used as the upper of a shoe, it was impossible to avoid the occurrence of unevenness called "roughness" on the toe area of the conventional material, but with the material of the present invention, such unevenness did not occur and the material was smooth. A shoe with a surface was obtained. Also.

When this shoe was worn, it was extremely resistant to scratches compared to shoes with a conventional polyurethane coating.

After removing the polyurethane and finishing agent from the grain layer of this skin acid-like sheet, the average distance between fiber entanglements of the constituent fibers was measured and found to be 98μ.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged schematic diagram of the constituent fibers in the grain layer when observed from the surface side. Patent applicant Toshi Co., Ltd. Rod 11 556

Claims (1)

[Claims] (11) Silver formed by a composite mainly consisting of a fiber structure in which the distance between fiber entanglement points of ultrafine fibers and/or bundles thereof is 200 microns or less, and a resin existing in the voids thereof. A skin acid-like sheet material having at least a surface layer on one side. (2) The lower layer of the grain layer is mainly intertwined with ultrafine fiber bundles, and the grain layer is composed of ultrafine fibers in which the lower layer's ultrafine fiber bundles are branched. The fibers and/or bundles of fibers are the main component, and the fibers in the lower layer and the grain layer are substantially continuous, and the degree of branching at the boundary between the two layers continuously changes. A leather-like notebook article according to claim (1), characterized in that: (3) a fiber structure in which the distance between fiber entanglement points of ultrafine fibers and/or knitted fibers or bundles thereof is 200 microns or less; A method for producing a leather-like sheet product having a grain layer formed on at least one side by a composite material mainly consisting of a resin existing in the voids of the leather-like sheet material, wherein the grain layer includes ultrafine fibers and/or bundles thereof. A method for producing a leather-like sheet product, characterized in that the core is obtained by branching ultrafine fiber-forming fibers having a cross section in which the core is interveningly bonded and/or twisted or partially bonded by other components. (4) ) A method for producing a leather-like sheet product according to claim (3), comprising: ultrafine fibers and/or bundles thereof; (5) a distance between fiber entanglement points of the ultrafine fibers and/or bundles thereof; In a method for producing a leather-like sheet product having a grain layer on at least one side formed of a composite mainly consisting of a fiber structure having a diameter of 200 microns or less and a resin present in the voids thereof, the ultrafine fibers of the grain layer A method for producing a leather-like sheet material, which comprises contacting a sheet or a bundle thereof with a high-speed fluid flow to branch and intertwine it.