The present invention relates to a polycarbonate diol comprising a structural unit derived from a compound represented by the following formula (A) and a structural unit derived from a compound represented by the following formula (B), wherein the hydroxyl value is from 20 to 450 mg-KOH/g:

HO—R.sup.1—OH  (A)

HO—R.sup.2—OH  (B) the glass transition temperature of said polycarbonate diol as measured by a differential operating calorimeter is −30° C. or less and the average carbon number of a dihydroxy compound obtained by hydrolyzing said polycarbonate diol is from 3 to 5.5.

Disclosed is a napped artificial leather including: a fiber-entangled body including ultrafine fibers having a fineness of 0.5 dtex or less; and an elastic polymer impregnated into the fiber-entangled body, the napped artificial leather having a thickness of 0.25 to 1.5 mm, and including a main surface that is a napped surface formed by napping the ultrafine fibers. The napped artificial leather further includes phosphorous-based flame retard ant particles attached to the elastic polymer such as a polyurethane, the phosphorous-based flame retardant particles being locally present in a range of a thickness of 200 pm or less from a back surface opposite to the main surface. The phosphorous-based flame retardant particles have an average particle size of 0.1 to 30 μm, a phosphorus atom content of 14 mass % or more, and a solubility in water at 30° C. of 0.2 mass % or less, and a melting point, or, in the absence of a melting point, a decomposition temperature, of 150° C. or more, and a content ratio of the phosphorous-based flame retardant particles is 1 to 6 mass % as a content ratio in terms of phosphorus atoms.

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.

Disclosed is a grain-finished leather-like sheet including a polyurethane skin film containing a polyether-based polyurethane, wherein the polyurethane skin film contains a quinacridone-based red pigment, and is colored in a red color having an L* value of ≤80, an a* value of ≥20, and a b* value of ≤15 in an L*a*b* color system, and the number of cycles of a flexing endurance test at which cracking occurs in a surface of the polyurethane skin film is 100000 or more, when the flexing endurance test is performed on the grain-finished leather-like sheet under an environment of 20° C. using a flexometer after the grain-finished leather-like sheet has been irradiated with carbon arc at a black panel temperature of 63° C. for 100 hours with an irradiance of 500±50 W/m.sup.2, using ultraviolet carbon arc lamp light compliant with JIS B 7751.

Disclosed is a polyurethane resin containing a polyol component and an isocyanate component, wherein (1) the polyol component contains a polycarbonate diol component, and the isocyanate component contains a linear aliphatic isocyanate, (2) the polycarbonate diol component has a number-average molecular weight of 500 to 3000, and contains a diol-derived structure having 3 to 10 carbon atoms in the structure thereof, and (3) 10 mol % or more of the isocyanate component is a linear aliphatic isocyanate component having 4 to 10 carbon atoms.

The present invention provides a synthetic leather including at least a base material (i), an adhesive layer (ii), and a skin layer (iii), wherein both the adhesive layer (ii) and the skin layer (iii) are formed of a urethane resin composition containing an anionic urethane resin having an anionic group concentration of 0.25 mmol/g or less, water, and an anionic surfactant. Preferably, the anionic surfactant is an alkylsulfosuccinate. The anionic group concentration of the anionic urethane resin is preferably within the range of 0.005 to 0.25 mmol/g and more preferably within the range of 0.01 to 0.2 mmol/g.

Provided are an artificial leather and a method of manufacturing the same. The artificial leather includes: a base fabric; a polyvinyl chloride film bonded to a surface of the base fabric; bonding layer formed on a surface of the film; a first foam layer formed on the bonding layer in a patterned shape; a first color layer formed on a surface of the foam layer and having the same pattern as the first foam layer; and a surface treatment layer formed on a surface of the first color layer with the same pattern as the first color layer or formed on a surface of the bonding layer without the first foam layer and the surface of the first color layer. to the artificial leather of the present invention may have a light weight and implement various three-dimensional patterns and colors as compared with a conventional PVC foam artificial leather.

A high-quality artificial leather is described, having a suede appearance and colors within the grey-black range, the light fastness of the colors according to the method SAE J 1885 225.6 KJ/m.sup.2 being higher than or equal to 4; the lightfastness of the colors according to the method SAE J 1885 488.8 KJ/m.sup.2 being not lower than 3; said artificial leather having a tassel on the surface of the leather itself. The average length of the tassel is between 200 and 500 microns. The soft segments consist of at least one polycarbonate diol selected from polyalkylene carbonate diols and at least one polyester diol; the hard segments consist of urethane groups deriving from the reaction between free isocyanate groups and water; and the total content of carbon black is between 0.025 and 6% by weight.

Provided herein is an eco-friendly artificial leather for an interior of an automobile and a manufacturing method thereof. The eco-friendly product is manufactured using a method that is compatible with various environmental regulations such as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The artificial leather includes a bio urethane-containing skin surface layer which uses biomass-derived components extracted from vegetable components, a solvent-free bio urethane adhesive layer, and a bio fiber base layer. The layers are sequentially stacked to minimize the use of organic solvents and components that are harmful to the human body.

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.