The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 24, 2004
Filed:
Nov. 07, 2001
Hiromichi Iijima, Shiga, JP;
Koji Watanabe, Shiga, JP;
Toray Industries, Inc., , JP;
Abstract
The present invention relates to an artificial leather having nap very little oriented on the surface and having short fibers densely, and hence having a good nubuck-like look and hand, and also relates to a production process thereof. The present invention provides an artificial leather having a nap surface of ultra-fine fibers at least on one side, which is formed by applying an elastic polymer to an ultra-fine fiber-entangled substrate, characterized by being 0.3 g/cm or more in the apparent density of the artificial leather, being 0.5 mm or less in the nap length, and being 25% or less in the R value obtained from the goniometric reflectance distribution measured with the nap surface rotated from 0 degree to 180 degrees using a goniophotometer. The present invention also provides a process for producing a nubuck-like artificial leather, in which a sheet obtained by applying an elastic polymer to an ultra-fine fiber-entangled substrate is raised to produce a napped sheet, comprising the steps of applying an elastic polymer to an ultra-fine fiber-entangled substrate, substantially solidifying the elastic polymer, immersing the polymer-deposited fiber-entangled substrate into a swelling agent of the elastic polymer, to swell the elastic polymer, compressing the sheet in the normal direction of the sheet, removing the swelling agent by an aqueous solvent, and raising the sheet at least on one side.