leatherette

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Artificial leather is an imitation leather , usually a composite of a textile base carrier (e.g. fabric ) and a plastic cover layer (e.g. polyvinyl chloride ). In tissues is natural fiber, chemical fiber or blended fabrics, which in many cases with soft - PVC coated. Depending on the application, this coating can be made compact or foamed. The surface is often given a grain embossing so that its structure also resembles leather .

Application examples for artificial leather are jackets, belts, shoes, especially sports shoes, bags, balls (e.g. footballs), folding roofs and shift bags (flexible cladding) for automobiles, seat covers or furniture such as sofas and armchairs. Modern artificial leather is coated with polyurethane instead of PVC . In order to obtain a certain softness of the coating, which is necessary for the handle and which gives the material appropriate fullness as well as wearing and sitting comfort, the coating is given a foam structure. For example, PVC is mixed with chemical blowing agents that generate gas bubbles when the coating is thermally dried. Polyurethane is given a foam structure by coagulation processes , chemical blowing agents or, in the case of dispersions, by mechanical stirring .

Example of the manufacturing steps for the typical polyurethane synthetic leather: 1) cotton fabric, 2) coagulation made of dimethylformamide (DMF), 3) + 4) application of the polyurethane coating and finish in the reverse process

In product descriptions and in advertising, artificial leather is often referred to with the syncretic term faux leather (from French faux , 'wrong'). The term textile leather is increasingly used for many products (e.g. upholstered furniture), but some dishes do not believe that this should be used with consumers.

There are various reasons for using artificial leather instead of real leather. Synthetic leather based on PVC plastisol is reasonably priced and very robust. In contrast to leather, polyurethane synthetic leather can be washed in the washing machine and dry without hardening. Therefore, the latter are often used for sports shoes. Since artificial leather is a continuous material on the textile carrier material, cutting is much easier than with leather. The quality is always the same and the manufacturing process is considerably shorter, since the complex tanning process is no longer necessary. In addition, artificial leather is not tied to the market availability of certain animal hides.

Imitation leather names and brands

Ethical and ecological aspects

At first glance, ethical concerns associated with the raising and killing of animals for the production of leather do not arise with artificial leather. However, some of the synthetic leather containing PVC ends up in the oceans after use, where it drifts along with other plastic waste on the surface of the sea and is eaten by animals such as fish and birds.

With regard to climate protection , cattle farming is considered problematic because of the quantities of methane generated and the consumption of green spaces. It can be argued that real leather is a renewable natural product, while according to the current state of the art, artificial leather, provided it is not based on textile substrates such as cotton, is completely dependent on petrochemicals , since synthetic resins , solvents and plasticizers (with PVC plastisols ) be used. However, various chemicals are also used in the tanning of leather and synthetic resins such as acrylates and polyurethanes are used in the subsequent coating (leather finishing) . The question of whether leather or artificial leather is more sustainable is therefore difficult to answer.

See also

literature

  • Andreas Giessmann: Substrate and textile coating , Springer, Berlin, 2003. ISBN 3540434267
  • Marc Van Parys: Coating Eurotex (English) Industriele Hogeschol Van Het, Belgium 1994
  • Harro Träubel: New Materials permeable to Water Vapor (English), Springer Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York 1999
  • Ulrich Meier-Westhues: Polyurethanes: Lacquers, Adhesives and Sealants , Vincentz Network, Hanover , 2nd edition 2007, ISBN 3-86630-896-5 .

Web links

Commons : Artificial leather  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ OLG Hamm · Judgment of March 8, 2012 · Az. I-4 U 174/11. Openjur , March 8, 2012, accessed December 27, 2015 .
  2. ↑ OLG Bamberg · Judgment of March 21, 2012 · Az. 3 U 219/11. Openjur , March 21, 2012, accessed December 27, 2015 .
  3. ↑ https://www.freudenberg-pm.com/unternehmen/unsere-historie/
  4. ↑ www.wwf.de: Our oceans are sinking into plastic waste . Retrieved August 8, 2016