Kuraray Co., Ltd.

Yasuhiro Takeda

Yoshiyuki Ando

Yoshiaki Yasuda

Yoshihiro Tanba

Shuhei Ishino

Yoshikata Ohno

The leather-like sheet substrate of the invention comprises a nonwoven fabric of three-dimensionally entangled superfine fibers (A) of at most 0.5 dtex in fineness and a polymer elastomer (B) filled in the entangled interspaces of the nonwoven fabric, in which the superfine fibers (A) comprise an organophosphorus component-copolymerized polyester and the polymer elastomer (B) contains a metal hydroxide or is copolymerized with an organophosphorus component. The leather-like sheet substrate of the invention and artificial leather obtained from it contain no halogen and are resistant to flames. These have a soft feel and are suitable to applications in the interior field that requires flame retardancy, especially to seats for vehicles, etc.

Flame-retardant leather-like sheet base and process for producing the same

A composite staple fiber, wherein a polymer component A and a polymer component B are alternately arranged in a fiber horizontal cross-section; the fiber periphery is entirely covered with the polymer component A; both the polymer component A and the polymer component A have a substantially flat shape; the lengthwise ends of the polymer component B are located 0.05 to 1.5 &mgr;m from the fiber surface; and the weight ratio of the polymer component A to the polymer component B is from 90/10 to 10/90. The composite staple fiber of the present invention is not peeled or split by a carding and a needle punching treatments, but is divided and split in the subsequent water jet entanglement, resulting in flat ultrafine fibers having a sharp-edged structure.

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Kurashiki, Japan

Yasuhiro Takeda