METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING ARTIFICIAL LEATHER
Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing artificial leather that is widely used in footwear, bags, all kinds of miscellaneous goods, articles for the use of sports and so on, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing artificial leather that impregnates a non-woven fabric with a water dispersed polyurethane resin, dries the non- woven fabric to make the impregnated fabric, coats the impregnated fabric with a water dispersed polyurethane resin having a high viscosity to make a coated fabric, and apply steam to the coated fabric to make the coated fabric solid, whereby the artificial leather can be manufactured at a low expense, without any damage to environment.
Background Art Typically, artificial leather is manufactured in such a manner that a non- woven fabric is impregnated with an oil resin that is made at a ratio of 70 % by weight of DMF and 30 % by weight of high polymers.
However, the DMF exhibits a high poisonous characteristic and gives a bad influence on enviromnent, which has been strictly controlled in practical use. On the other hand, existing artificial leather manufacturing apparatuses are highly expensive, occupy a very large area for installment, and need relatively lots of operating persons, thereby making it impossible to reduce the manufacturing cost of the artificial leather.
Disclosure of Invention
To solve the above-described problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing artificial leather that impregnates a non-woven fabric with a water dispersed polyurethane resin, dries the non-woven fabric to thereby make the impregnated fabric, coats the impregnated fabric with a water dispersed polyurethane resin having a high viscosity to thereby make a coated fabric, and applies steam to the coated fabric to thereby make the coated fabric solid, whereby the artificial leather can be manufactured at a low expense, without any damage to environment. To accomplish this and other objects of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing artificial leather that includes the steps of: impregnating a non-woven fabric with a water dispersed polyurethane resin at the rate of impregnation of about 50% and drying the non-woven fabric to thereby make an impregnated fabric; coating the top surface of the impregnated fabric with a water dispersed polyurethane resin to which a thickener is mixed in the thickness in a range of about 0.5 mm to 1.5 mm by using a knife cutter to thereby make a coated fabric; making the coated fabric passed through first and second steam chambers where a temperature is in a range of about 75 °C to 100 °C to thereby render the coated fabric solid; and reversely turning the coated fabric in such a manner as to be passed through the lower portions of the first and second steam chambers, removing the glaze on the surface of the coated fabric in a hypo clearing process, and dehydrating the coated fabric.
Brief Description of the Drawings
Further objects and advantages of the invention can be more fully
understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the
accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a method for manufacturing artificial leather according to one embodiment of the present invention; and
FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a method for manufacturing artificial leather according to another embodiment of the present invention.
Best mode for Carrying Out the Invention
Now, an explanation of the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to accompanying drawings.
According to a method for manufacturing artificial leather 5 of the present invention, a non-woven fabric 1 is primarily impregnated with a water dispersed polyurethane resin 2 that is made at a ratio of 70 % by weight of water and a 30 % by weight of a polyurethane resin contained in an impregnation tank 3, and the non-woven fabric 1 is then pressed by using a press roller 4 such that the impregnation rate of the water dispersed polyurethane resin 2 on the non- woven fabric 1 is adjusted to about 50% by weight of the non-woven fabric 1. And, the non-woven fabric 1 impregnated with the water dispersed polyurethane resin 2, that is, an impregnated fabric 5a, is passed through a dryer 6 having a temperature in a range of 120 °C to 140 °C to thereby produce the dried impregnated fabric 5a. When the impregnated fabric 5a is firstly passed through the dryer 6, only it is dried such that it is desirable that the temperature of the dryer is set high.
Next, a water dispersed polyurethane resin having a high viscosity (about
7,000 cP) is applied on the top surface of the impregnated fabric 5 a, such that the impregnated fabric 5a is coated with the water dispersed polyurethane resin in the thickness in a range between about 0.5 mm and 1.5 mm by using a knife cutter 7. As a consequence, a coated fabric 5b is produced.
The water dispersed polyurethane resin that is secondarily applied is made at a ratio of 70 % by weight of water and 30 % by weight of solid powder, wherein the solid powder is a composition comprising 100 % by weight of polyurethane resin, 10 % by weight of a desired color toner, 5 % by weight of a desired thickener, and 5 % by weight of ammonium acetate as other additives.
At a subsequent step, the coated fabric 5b is passed through each of first and second steam chambers 8 having a temperature in a range of 75 °C to 100 °C such that the water dispersed polyurethane resin that has been secondarily coated can be hardened and solidified. If the temperature of the first steam chamber 8 is high, 70 % by weight of water that is used for dispersing the urethane is heated such that the surface film on the coated water dispersed polyurethane resin is damaged. Hence, it is desirable that the temperature of the first steam chamber 8 is over or under about 90 °C and the temperature of the second steam chamber 8 is about 95 °C since the surface film of the water dispersed polyurethane resin has been already solidified by the first steam chamber 8.
In other words, the water dispersed polyurethane resin becomes solidified by the exposure to the steam produced from the first and second steam chambers 8, under the condition that the water in the first steam chamber 8 is not heated. The coated fabric 5b, which has passed through the first and second steam
chambers 8, is returned by using a reverse-turning roller 9 in such a manner as to be passed through the lower sides of the steam chambers 8. As a consequence, the water dispersed polyurethane resin whose surface has been solidified is completely solidified up to the interior thereof. Of course, the reverse passing of the coated fabric 5a to the first and second steam chambers 8 is intended to enhance the efficiency of the artificial leather manufacturing apparatus.
The coated fabric 5a, which is reversely passed through the first and second steam chambers 8, is passed through a water tank 10 in which cool water is contained.
In the above clearing process, the coated fabric 5a becomes cool and at the same time, the cells on the surface film thereof become large such that the glaze on the surface of the water dispersed polyurethane resin can be removed.
After the clearing process, the coated fabric 5a is dehydrated by using a dehydrating roller 11 and is wound on a roller 12, thereby completing the production of the artificial leather 5 according to the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 2, on the other hand, the coated fabric 5b that has been passed through the first and second steam chambers 8 is returned without any via of the water tank 10 and is then passed through the steam roller 13 and a silicon roller 14. At this time, a shape sheet 15 on which a predetermined pattern is formed is met with the coated fabric 5b and thus covered thereon. Next, the coated fabric on which the shape sheet 15 is pressed is wound on the roller 12 and is then kept at a temperature in a range of about 70 °C to 80 °C for 10 hours, such that the predetermined pattern is thermally pressed on the coated fabric. According to the present invention, at the time when the coated fabric 5b
on which the water dispersed polyurethane resin is coated is passed through the first and second steam chambers 8, the steam rises upwardly and is condensed on the upper portion of each steam chamber 8. When the condensed water drops on the top portion of the coated fabric 5b, the marks formed by dropping of the condensed water stay on the water dispersed polyurethane resin that is not yet solidified, which is treated as a bad quality of product. To avoid this problem, therefore, there are provided a condensed water removing belt 18 that is made by laminating sponge 16 and a non- woven fabric 17 and a press roller 19 that is disposed on the left and right end portions of the condensed water removing belt 18, respectively and adapted to press and dehydrate the condensed water that is contained in the condensed water removing belt 18.
The running speed of the condensed water removing belt 18 is of course controlled appropriately according to the amount of the condensed water generated. The supply of the steam to the steam chambers 8 is made by using a pipe from a boiler or by the electric heater (which is not shown) in the interior of the respective steam chambers 8 that is adapted to make the water dispersed polyurethane resin on the coated fabric 5b solidified with the water heated thereby. The steam generating device can be used with general one, and an explanation of it will be avoided for the brevity of description.
The present invention will now be described in detail by way of particular examples.
EXAMPLES (Example 1)
The non-woven fabric wounded on a roll was supplied to an impregnation tank and was thus impregnated with a water dispersed polyurethane resin contained in the impregnation tank.
The non-woven fabric impregnated with the water dispersed polyurethane resin was passed through a press roller in which it was pressed to have a water content ratio of 50 % on the non- woven fabric and was then passed through a dryer having a temperature of about 130 °C.
The non-woven fabric (i.e., the impregnated fabric) impregnated with the water dispersed polyurethane resin that had been passed through the dryer was smooth on the surface thereof and was integrated with the non- woven fabric.
The top surface of the impregnated fabric was coated with a water dispersed polyurethane resin that was added with a thickener having a high viscosity like honey in a thickness of 1 mm by means of a knife cutter, and thus, the coated fabric with the water dispersed polyurethane resin was sequentially passed through first and second steam chambers.
The internal temperature of the first steam chamber was about 90 °C, and that of the second steam chamber was about 95 °C, such that the surface film of the water dispersed polyurethane resin on the top surface of the coated fabric was fully solidified. The coated fabric was reversely passed through the lower portions of the first and second steam chambers by using a reverse-turning roller such that the water dispersed polyurethane resin whose surface had been solidified was completely solidified up to the interior thereof. The coated fabric was passed through a water tank in which cool water was contained such that the heat thereon obtained by the application of the steam became cool and at the same time, the
cells on the surface film thereof became large, thereby removing the glaze on the surface of the water dispersed polyurethane resin. Next, the coated fabric was dehydrated by using a dehydrating roller on the end portion of the water tank and was wound on a roller, thereby completing the production of the artificial leather. As a result, it was found that the artificial leather still had the feelings that general leather having no glaze had and the surface thereof was very smooth. It could be therefore appreciated that the artificial leather in this example had excellent surface smoothness that could be found in the artificial leather manufactured in existing methods. (Example 2)
The impregnation, dry, knife coating, and passing through the first and second steam chambers of the non-woven fabric were carried out in the same manner as in Example 1, and after passing through the first and second steam chambers, the coated fabric was passed through a steam roller and a press roller, along with a shape sheet on which a predetermined pattern was formed, thereby forming the coated fabric integrally with the shape sheet. The coated fabric on which the shape sheet was pressed was wound on a roller and then kept at a temperature in a range of about 70 °C to 80 °C for 10 hours, such that the predetermined pattern was thermally pressed on the coated fabric. Then, the shape sheet was separated from the artificial leather.
As a result, it was found that the surface of the artificial leather was very smooth and the artificial leather had excellent surface smoothness that could be found in the artificial leather manufactured in existing methods. Also, it was found that the predetermined pattern on the shape sheet was directly formed on the water dispersed polyurethane resin coated on the surface of the artificial
leather, thereby obtaining an excellent pattern thereon. Industrial applicability
As set forth in the foregoing, there is provided a method for manufacturing artificial leather that includes the steps of (a) impregnating a non-woven fabric 1 with a water dispersed polyurethane resin 2 that does not give any damage to environment and drying the non- woven fabric 1, thereby producing an impregnated fabric 5a, (b) coating the impregnated fabric 5a with a water dispersed polyurethane resin 2 in which a thickener is added, thereby producing a coated fabric 5b, (c) making the coated fabric 5a exposed to steam produced from first and second steam chambers 8 and passing it through a water tank or thermally pressing it with a shape sheet 15 having a predetermined pattern, thereby completing the production of the artificial leather.
The method according to the present invention can provide artificial leather that does not give any damage to environment when compared with the existing organic solvent type method for manufacturing artificial leather, and also provide the artificial leather at a low expense by the reduction of the installation cost of the manufacturing apparatus and the reduction of personnel expenses.
While the present invention has been described with reference to a few specific embodiments, the description is illustrative of the invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention. Various modifications may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.