Laminated light-blocking decorative articles are prepared by applying an aqueous foamed opacifying composition to a non-woven fabric, drying, laminating a decorative fabric to the resulting dry foamed opacifying layer, and densifying that layer to have a thickness that is at least 20% less than before densifying. This operation can be carried out so that non-woven fabric, decorative fabric, and aqueous foamed opacifying composition are supplied in a single-pass, in-line operation to make any desired quantity of a laminated light-blocking decorative article. The applied aqueous foamed opacifying composition has 35%-70% solids and a foam density of 0.1-0.5 g/cm.sup.3. It is composed of (a) porous particles, (b) a binder material, (c) two or more additives comprising at least one foaming surfactant and at least one foam stabilizer, (d) an aqueous medium, and (e) at least 0.0001 weight % of an opacifying colorant that absorbs electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength of 380-800 nm.

A leather material suitable for being attached to a touch display panel such as a vehicle dashboard is provided. The leather material includes a foam layer and a fabric layer. The foam layer is foamed to provide a leather feel. The fabric layer is disposed on the foam layer, and the fabric layer is color-matched and embossed to present a leather pattern. Base materials of the foam layer and the fabric layer are both at least one material selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyurethane (PU), and polyolefin (PO). The leather material in entirety has a visible light transmittance of between 40% and 70% and has a resistivity of not less than 10.sup.10 Ωcm. A vehicle dashboard composite structure is also provided.

The flexible sheet-like material comprises a textile layer, which is coated at least on one side with a functional layer which is permeable to gas but impermeable to the matrix material, acting as a barrier layer for the matrix material, and is produced by coating the textile layer directly with a foam or a paste.

A fabric, such as a loop fastener material, is finished by applying a foam to a surface of the fabric, the foam containing both a liquid binder and a powder. The binder is allowed to flow into pores of the fabric and coat fiber interstices of the fabric as the foam collapses, and is dried to stabilize the fabric. The powder is of a particle size selected to cause most of the powder to remain on the surface of the fabric while the binder is dried to bond the powder to the fabric surface. The powder, as bonded to the fabric surface, is activatable, such as by heat or RF or UV energy, to adhere the stabilized fabric to another surface or to provide a desired surface property.

The invention relates to a method for producing a surface-structured layered material which has a backing layer (I) and a polyurethane layer (2) connected thereto, the backing layer (I) used, in particular in pieces, being a leather, preferably a smoothed full-grain leather or a split cowskin, a textile material, preferably a woven fabric or a knitted fabric, a cellulose fibre material, a split foam, a leather fibre material or a microfibre fleece and being connected to the layer (2), and the layer (2) applied to the backing layer (I) being at least one, preferably a single layer formed of a PU foam, in particular containing gas pockets, preferably a whipped PU foam optionally containing hollow microspheres and/or a PU foam containing hollow microspheres. According to the invention: —the PU foam, in particular containing gas pockets, is created with a PU dispersion mixture, wherein the individual PU dispersions used to create the PU dispersion mixture exhibit different softening points in the dry state; —to create the PU dispersion mixture, one or more PU dispersions having heat—preferably melting and contact adhesive properties and a softening point in the dry state greater than 40° C., preferably greater than 45° C., in an amount of 18 to 52 wt ¾ of the finished PU dispersion mixture is/are mixed with one or more PU dispersions without melting and contact adhesive properties and with a softening point greater than 95° C., preferably greater than 125° C., in an amount of 39 to 73 wt ¾ of the finished PU dispersion mixture; —the PU dispersion mixture for the layer (2) is applied to the backing layer (I) with a thickness such that the layer has a thickness in the dried state of 0.075 to 0.450 mm, preferably 0.150 to 0.280 mm; —before or during structuring of the PU foam, a further layer (3) of a non-foamed PU dispersion which is a mixture of multiple PU dispersions is applied to the layer (2); —the backing layer (I) is optionally cut or punched into banks or pattern parts before or after the application of the PU foam, in particular after the drying thereof, and the coated blanks or pattern parts are subjected to stamping or structuring under pressure and temperature; and —the backing layer (1), the further layer (3) and the layer (2) are compressed and joined to one another and structured with a die (4) under application of a contact pressure of 4 to 48 kg/cm2, preferably 4 to 48 kg/cm2, in particular 18 to 25 kg/cm2.

Provided is a process for producing a coating on a substrate comprising one or more steps of crushing a dried layer of a foamed aqueous coating composition, wherein the aqueous coating composition comprises a collection of multi-stage copolymer particles having a weight average diameter of 2-20 μm, wherein said multi-stage copolymer particles comprise a core having a glass transition temperature (Tg) of 20° C. or less. Also provided is a coated substrate made by that process.

A method is designed to prepare foamed, opacifying elements each having a target light blocking value (LBV.sub.T) of at least 3, using a textile fabric substrate with a light blocking value (LBV.sub.S). The LBV.sub.T-S difference is calculated; a foamable aqueous composition is chosen; a dry coating weight for the foamable aqueous composition (when foamed) is determined to form a single dry opacifying layer that is foamed, dried, and densified to provide a dry thickness at least 20% less than the original dry thickness. The single dry opacifying layer a has light blocking value that is equal to LBV.sub.T-S, ±15%. The desired foamable aqueous composition can be chosen from a set of similar compositions to achieve the desired LBV.sub.T with the noted textile fabric substrate using suitable mathematical formula relating dry coating weight to light blocking value and a suitable data processor.

Laminate precursors are prepared by applying an aqueous foamed opacifying composition to a non-woven fabric, drying, optionally applying an anti-blocking material to the dried aqueous foamed opacifying composition, and densifying the dry foamed opacifying layer so that it will have a thickness that is at least 20% less than its thickness before densifying. Each laminate precursor is rolled up for immediate or later use to make laminate decorative articles when the unrolled laminate precursor is laminated with back side of a decorative fabric. The applied aqueous foamed opacifying composition has 35%-70% solids and a foam density of 0.1-0.5 g/cm.sup.3. It is composed of (a) porous particles, (b) a binder material, (c) two or more additives comprising at least one foaming surfactant and at least one foam stabilizer, (d) an aqueous medium, and (e) an opacifying colorant that absorbs electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength of 380-800 nm.

Laminated light-blocking decorative articles are prepared by applying an aqueous foamed opacifying composition to a non-woven fabric, drying, laminating a decorative fabric to the resulting dry foamed opacifying layer, and densifying that layer to have a thickness that is at least 20% less than before densifying. This operation can be carried out so that non-woven fabric, decorative fabric, and aqueous foamed opacifying composition are supplied in a single-pass, in-line operation to make any desired quantity of a laminated light-blocking decorative article. The applied aqueous foamed opacifying composition has 35%-70% solids and a foam density of 0.1-0.5 g/cm.sup.3. It is composed of (a) porous particles, (b) a binder material, (c) two or more additives comprising at least one foaming surfactant and at least one foam stabilizer, (d) an aqueous medium, and (e) at least 0.0001 weight % of an opacifying colorant that absorbs electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength of 380-800 nm.

Laminated light-blocking decorative articles are prepared by applying an aqueous foamed opacifying composition to a non-woven fabric, drying, laminating a decorative fabric to the resulting dry foamed opacifying layer, and densifying that layer to have a thickness that is at least 20% less than before densifying. This operation can be carried out so that non-woven fabric, decorative fabric, and aqueous foamed opacifying composition are supplied in a single-pass, in-line operation to make any desired quantity of a laminated light-blocking decorative article. The applied aqueous foamed opacifying composition has 35%-70% solids and a foam density of 0.1-0.5 g/cm.sup.3. It is composed of (a) porous particles, (b) a binder material, (c) two or more additives comprising at least one foaming surfactant and at least one foam stabilizer, (d) an aqueous medium, and (e) at least 0.0001 weight % of an opacifying colorant that absorbs electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength of 380-800 nm.