A method of manufacturing artificial leather is provided. A textile support is provided coated with coagulated polyurethane on which colored and uncolored base coats are applied, interspersed with drying steps, and then embossed to impart an aesthetic design in relief. On the embossed semi-finished product, colored and non-colored finishing coats are applied.

Provided is an environmentally friendly process for producing a sheet-shaped material having both an elegant, napped appearance and a soft texture, which qualities have not been achieved concurrently, and also exhibiting good abrasion resistance. The process of the present invention for producing a sheet-shaped material includes the successive steps of (a) adding a polyvinyl alcohol having a degree of saponification of 98% or more and a degree of polymerization of 800 to 3,500 to a fibrous substrate in an amount of 0.1 to 50% by mass relative to the total mass of fibers in the fibrous substrate; (b) adding a waterborne polyurethane to the fibrous substrate with the added polyvinyl alcohol; and (c) removing the polyvinyl alcohol from the fibrous substrate with the added waterborne polyurethane.

Disclosed is a grain-finished artificial leather including: an artificial leather base material; and a resin layer stacked on at least one surface of the artificial leather base material, wherein the artificial leather base material contains: a fiber-entangled body of ultrafine fibers; 3 to 50 mass % of a first elastic polymer; 2.5 to 6 mass %, in terms of phosphorus atoms, of first phosphorous-based flame retardant particles having an average particle size of 1 to 10 m; and 1 to 6 mass % of a plasticizer, and the resin layer contains: a second elastic polymer; and a total content, in terms of phosphorus atoms or in terms of hydroxyl groups, of 0 to 8 mass % of flame retardant particles having an average particle size of 1 to 10 m and being at least one selected from the group consisting of second phosphorous-based flame retardant particles and first metal hydroxide particles.

An artificial leather composed of a dope-dyed polyester fiber is provided. The artificial leather includes a carbon black in island component of a sea-island composite fiber and a polyurethane polymer elastomer. It is possible to improve the fastness to light and the fastness to rubbing at medium and deeper color, and at the same time, to have a luxuriously high quality and to reduce the amount of dye used in the production of artificial leather.

Disclosed is a napped artificial leather including: a fabric that has been impregnated with a first elastic polymer and that has a napped surface including napped ultrafine fibers with an average fineness of 0.01 to 0.5 dtex, wherein the napped surface has, as measured by a surface roughness measurement in accordance with ISO 25178, an arithmetic mean height (Sa) of 30 m or less in both a grain direction and a reverse grain direction, and a density of peaks (Spd) having a height of 100 m or more from a mean height, of 30/432 mm.sup.2 or less in both of the grain direction and the reverse grain direction, and a difference (absolute value) in the density of peaks (Spd) between the grain direction and the reverse grain direction is 20/432 mm.sup.2 or less.

Water vapor transport membranes for ERV and other water vapor transport applications are provided. The membranes include a substrate and an air impermeable selective layer coated on the substrate, the selective layer including a cellulose derivative and a sulfonated polyaryletherketone. In some embodiments the sulfonated polyaryletherketone is in a cation form and/or the selective layer includes sPEEK and CA in an sPEEK:CA (wt.:wt.) ratio in the range of about 7:3 to 2:3. Methods for making such membranes are provided. The methods include applying a coating solution/dispersion to a substrate and allowing the coating solution/dispersion to dry to form an air impermeable selective layer on the substrate, the coating solution/dispersion including a cellulose derivative and a sulfonated polyarylether ketone. In some embodiments the sulfonated polyaryletherketone is in a cation form and/or the coating solution/dispersion includes sPEEK and CA in an sPEEK:CA (wt.:wt.) ratio in the range of about 7:3 to 2:3.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to artificial leather and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to suede artificial leather for a vehicle seat with improved light fastness and tactile sensitivity, and a method of manufacturing the same. In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, a method of manufacturing artificial leather comprise needle-punching a sea-island type ultrafine conjugated yarn having a sea component of easily soluble polyester and an island component of a polyester black dope-dyed yarn to form a nonwoven fabric; wet-impregnating a polyurethane resin in the nonwoven fabric; eluting the sea component of the nonwoven fabric; dyeing and reduction-cleaning the nonwoven fabric from which the sea component is eluted; and performing in-bath flame-retardant treatment on the cleaned nonwoven fabric.

A barrier fabric suitable as a backsheet for an underpad configured for a low air loss bed, in which the barrier fabric comprises a first nonwoven fabric including outermost spunbond layers and two or more fine-fiber containing nonwoven layers. Each of the nonwoven layers being treated with a non-fluorinated barrier coating (NFBC).

Disclosed is an artificial leather base material including: a non-woven fabric that is an entangle body of fibers (A) and fibers (B); and an elastic polymer applied inside the non-woven fabric, wherein the fibers (A) are crimped fibers that are formed from two types of resins with intrinsic viscosities different from each other, and that are filaments of 0.6 dtex or more, and the fibers (B) are ultrafine fibers of less than 0.6 dtex.

A method for manufacturing a high density artificial leather, may include (a) manufacturing a long fiber-type non-woven fabric having an areal weight of 400 to 500 g/m.sup.2 and an apparent density of 0.3 to 0.6 g/cm.sup.3 by self-twist spinning a sea component polymer fiber and an island component polymer fiber; (b) shrinking the long fiber-type non-woven fabric with hot water; (c) eluting the sea component polymer fiber from the shrunken non-woven fabric by immersing the shrunken non-woven fabric in an aqueous alkaline solution; and (d) impregnating a polymer elastomer in a non-woven fabric from which the sea component polymer fiber is eluted, to manufacture a long fiber-type fine yarn non-woven fabric.