The invention relates to an environmentally friendly production method for a sheet-like article that does not use an organic solvent in the production process and provides a sheet-like article that compares favorably in terms of a uniform feel with artificial leather products produced from an organic solvent based polyurethane and in particular has good surface quality and texture and also provides a production method therefor. The present invention aims to provide a sheet-like article comprising a fibrous base material formed of ultrafine fibers and/or ultrafine fiber bundles provided with, as a binder, a polymer elastomer having a hydrophilic group, any thickness-directional cross section of the sheet-like article containing regions occupied by the polymer elastomer, the regions including independent regions each with a cross-sectional area of 50 m.sup.2 or more, the total area of the independent regions accounting for 0.1% or more and 5.0% or less of the cross-sectional area of the artificial leather in an observation view field. The production method for the sheet-like article according to the present invention provides a production process for a sheet-like article including a fibrous base material formed of ultrafine fibers and, as a binder, a polymer elastomer having a hydrophilic group, the process including a step for adding an aqueous resin dispersion liquid containing a water-dispersed polymer elastomer and a viscosity improver to a fibrous base material and a step for coagulating the polymer elastomer in hot water at a temperature of 50 C. to 100 C.

Disclosed is a production method of a napped artificial leather including the steps of: providing a fiber sheet including a non-woven fabric of ultrafine fibers with a fineness of 1 dtex or less that has been impregnated with a first elastic polymer; napping one or both surfaces of the fiber sheet to form a napped surface thereon; applying, to the napped surface, a resin solution containing a second elastic polymer having solubility in a predetermined solvent; and applying the predetermined solvent to the surface to which the resin solution is applied. Also disclosed is a napped artificial leather including a fiber sheet obtained by impregnating a first elastic polymer into a non-woven fabric that is an entangled body of ultrafine fibers with a fineness of 1 dtex or less, wherein the fiber sheet includes, on one or both surfaces thereof, a napped surface obtained by the ultrafine fibers, and a second elastic polymer is fixed to basal portions of the napped ultrafine fibers.

A base body for an artificial leather includes an intertwined fiber body mainly including an ultrafine fiber having a 0.01 to 10 m fiber diameter and an elastic polymer, the ultrafine fiber including, as a constituent polymer, a polyester obtained from a dicarboxylic acid and/or an ester-forming derivative thereof, and a diol, the polyester containing 15 to 500 ppm of a 1,2-propanediol-derived component.

Disclosed is an artificial leather base material including: a fabric, and an elastic polymer, fine particles, and a plasticizer that have been applied to the fabric, wherein the elastic polymer includes a (meth)acrylic elastic polymer and a polyurethane, the fine particles have a Mohs hardness of 4 or less, and the product of a bending resistance, a durometer Shore C hardness, and a thickness of the artificial leather base material is 200 to 400 mm.sup.2. Also disclosed is a grain-finished artificial leather obtained using the artificial leather base material.

A napped artificial leather including a non-woven fabric including ultrafine fibers and a polyurethane, the napped artificial leather including a napped surface formed by napping the ultrafine fibers on a surface thereof, wherein the napped surface has, after a Martindale abrasion test in accordance with JIS L 1096 (6.17.5E method, Martindale method) under a pressing load of 12 kPa and 50000 times of abrasions, a ratio of the polyurethane observed by a surface observation using an electron microscope in a portion that has been subjected to the Martindale abrasion test, of 4.0% or less.

Disclosed is a napped artificial leather including: an artificial leather base material that includes a non-woven fabric of polyester fibers having a Young's modulus of 1 to 6 GPa, an average fiber-toughness of 8 to 40 cN.Math.%, and a crystallinity of 35% or less, and an elastic polymer, the artificial leather base material having, on at least one surface thereof, a napped surface on which the polyester fibers are napped. Also disclosed are polyester fibers having a Young's modulus of 1 to 6 GPa, an average fiber-toughness of 8 to 40 cN.Math.%, and a crystallinity of 35% or less, and a non-woven fabric including the polyester fibers.

A leather-like sheet including: a fiber structure including fibers dyed with a dye containing a blue cationic dye having an azo bond; and an elastic polymer applied into internal voids of the fiber structure, wherein the leather-like sheet further includes a polyhydric phenol derivative having anionic properties, or the fiber structure is disclosed. Also disclosed is a fiber structure including fibers dyed with a dye containing a blue cationic dye having an azo bond, or a leather-like sheet including the fiber structure and an elastic polymer applied into internal voids of the fiber structure, wherein the leather-like sheet has a color difference (E) before and after a moist heat treatment, determined when subjected to the moist heat treatment at 80 C. and a humidity of 90% for 48 hours, of E2.

The present invention concerns a process for preparing a microfibrous multilayer composite material comprising: 1) realizing a non-woven microfibrous semi-finished product made up of microfibres of one or more polymers dispersed in a polyurethane matrix (semi-finished product IE); 2) cutting the semi-finished product lengthwise into two layers; 3) buffing at least one layer on one side (side N) so as to extract the microfibres and form the nap, thereby obtaining a semi-finished raw product; 4) cutting at least one semi-finished raw product lengthwise parallel to the surfaces, producing an non-woven intermediate product, containing the buffed side (side N) and a waste layer (containing the side that has not been buffedside S); 5) coupling the non-woven intermediate product (on the side opposite side N) to a fabric made of polyethylene terephthalate fibres by means of the application of a thermoplastic polyurethane adhesive that can be cross-linked between the non-woven intermediate product and the fabric; 6) submitting the multilayer composite material to a jet dyeing process. The invention also concerns a multilayer composite material that can be obtained by the process of the invention and the use thereof for covering the internal side of roofs or headliners of vehicles and for covering furnishing elements.

The present disclosure provides a polyurethane dispersion comprising a polyurethane prepolymer and an ionic surfactant. It further provides a microfiber nonwoven synthetic leather comprising a microfiber nonwoven fabric and the polyurethane dispersion. It further provides a method of preparing the microfiber nonwoven synthetic leather comprising a step of impregnating microfiber nonwoven fabrics into the polyurethane dispersion.

The present invention provide a sheet-like material having a highly soft texture, and further having high crease resistance while being soft. The sheet-like material of the present invention is a sheet-like material which includes a nonwoven fabric containing ultrafine fibers having an average single fiber diameter of 0.3 to 7 m, and an elastomer, and having nap on a surface, in which the elastomer has a porous structure, and the porous structure has a proportion of micropores with a pore size of 0.1 to 20 m of 60% or more in all pores.