Flexible composite material, method of obtention and uses thereof

Abstract

Flexible composite material, method of obtention and uses thereof The present description refers to a flexible composite material, method of obtention and uses thereof with a surprising resistance to tear, fissure and/or breaking of the material in conditions of extreme use, namely presence of oils and low temperatures, particularly a flexible composite material comprising the following layers: a support layer selected from the following list: fabric, nonwoven fabric, foam knitted fabric, or mixtures thereof; an intermediate layer of polyvinyl chloride, PVC, containing a plurality of sublayers; a compact layer of thermoplastic polyurethane, TPU, containing a plurality of sublayers; wherein the TPU compact layer comprises: 0.4-70% w/w of an aromatic TPU; 0.2-35% w/w of an aliphatic TPU; The present material can be used in the production of upholsteries, namely upholsteries for the automobile industry, in particular automobile seats.

Claims

1. A flexible composite material comprising the following layers: a support layer selected from the following list: fabric, knitted fabric, nonwoven fabric, foam, or mixtures thereof; an intermediate layer of polyvinyl chloride, PVC, containing a plurality of sublayers; a compact layer of thermoplastic polyurethane, TPU, containing a plurality of sublayers; wherein the TPU compact layer comprises: 30-66% w/w of an aromatic TPU; 15-33% w/w of an aliphatic TPU; and an exterior lacquer layer in contact with the TPU compact layer, wherein the TPU compact layer comprises sublayers including a first aliphatic TPU layer in contact with the intermediate layer of PVC, an aromatic TPU layer and a second aliphatic TPU layer in contact with the exterior layer of lacquer.

2. The flexible composite material according to claim 1, wherein the TPU compact layer is extruded.

3. The flexible composite material according to claim 1, wherein the PVC intermediate layer is obtainable through coating.

4. The flexible composite material according to claim 1, wherein the first aliphatic TPU layer and the second aliphatic TPU layer each comprises an aliphatic TPU obtained from a polyol and an isocyanate, and wherein the isocyanate is selected from the group consisting of: hexamethylene diisocyanate, isophorone diisocyanate, 2-methylphenthane diisocyanate, 2,4,4-trimethylhexamethylene diisocyanate, norbornane, isophorone diisocyanate; dicyclohexylmethane diisocyanate, meta-tetramethylxylene diisocyanate; 1,4-cyclohexane diisocyanate, and mixtures thereof.

5. The flexible composite material according to claim 1, wherein the aromatic TPU layer comprises an aromatic TPU obtained from at least one of the following compounds: 4,4-diphenyl methane diisocyanate, diisocyanatemethylbenzene, toluene diisocyanate and its isomers 1.5-naphthalene diisocyanate, p-phenylene diisocyanate, and mixtures thereof.

6. The flexible composite material according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the PVC intermediate layer is of 50-1000 m.

7. The flexible composite material according to claim 6, wherein the thickness of the PVC intermediate layer is of 200-650 m.

8. The flexible composite material according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the TPU compact layer is of 20-1000 m.

9. The flexible composite material according to claim 8, wherein the thickness of the TPU compact layer is of 150-500 m.

10. The flexible composite material according to claim 1, wherein the TPU compact layer comprises between 3-5 sublayers.

11. The flexible composite material according to claim 1 wherein at least one of the TPU compact layer and the PVC intermediate layer further comprises at least one of pigment, additive, stabilizer, filler, plasticiser, blowing agent, and expansion reaction catalyst.

12. The flexible composite material according to claim 1 wherein each of the layers have the following thicknesses: the support layer between 300-2000 m; the PVC intermediate layer between 50-1000 m; the TPU compact layer between 20-1000 m; and the exterior lacquer layer between 1-100 m.

13. The flexible composite material according to claim 12, wherein each of the layers have the following thicknesses: the support layer between 400-600 m; the PVC intermediate layer between 200-650 m; the TPU compact layer between 50-500 m; and the exterior lacquer layer between 10-15 m.

14. An upholstery comprising the flexible composite material as described in claim 1.

15. A seat for automobiles comprising the flexible composite material as described in claim 1.

16. A process for obtaining the flexible composite material according to claim 1 comprising the following steps: obtaining the PVC intermediate layer through coating or enduction of the PVC intermediate layer and the support layer; and extruding the TPU compact layer and simultaneously gluing the TPU compact layer to the PVC intermediate layer; wherein the TPU compact layer comprises sublayers including the first aliphatic TPU layer in contact with the intermediate layer of PVC, the aromatic TPU layer and the second aliphatic TPU layer.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) For a clearer understanding, the following figures are attached which provide preferred embodiments and should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure.

(2) FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of the flexible composite material described wherein 1 represents a textile support layer; wherein 2 represents a PVC based adhesive foam; wherein 3 represents a PVC based foam; wherein 4 represents the compact PVC layer; wherein 5 represents a TPU compact layer; wherein 6 represents a coating with lacquer; wherein the set 1,2,3 represent the PVC intermediate layer.

(3) FIG. 2 illustrates results obtained after subjection to several tests by diverse materials.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(4) The present description refers to a flexible composite material, method of obtention and uses thereof with surprising resistance to tear, fissure and/or breaking of material under conditions of extreme use, namely presence of oil and low temperatures.

(5) In an embodiment, the flexible composite material described in the present document comprises a plurality of layers with a variation of their chemical nature and the process used for its obtention. This new material presents a structure of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in sublayers, wherein the TPU layer functions as a barrier layer to the passage of plasticizers, and/or for the entrance of fluids alien to the material, thereby allowing for an increase in the quality of the material and the lifecycle of the product due to the combination of different TPUs.

(6) In an embodiment the production of the flexible composite material may comprise four sequential stages: production of a PVC semimanufacture through the coating/enduction of the compact PVC layer+foam+adhesive foam+textile (1st Stage); extrusion of the compact TPU layer with simultaneous gluing of the PVC semimanufacture obtained in the previous step, in this way obtaining a PVC/TPU semimanufacture (2nd Stage); optionally, perform the lacquer of the PVC+TPU semimanufacture through rotogravure with water-based polymers or solvent (3rd Stage); optionally, perform the material obtained in the previous step can still be engraved for application of surface embossing conferring the final intended appearance (4th Stage).

(7) Next, descriptions of possible embodiments in each stage will be described.

(8) In an embodiment of the manufacturing stage of a PVC semimanufacture, several sublayers can be used as, for example, the sublayers exemplified in Table 1.

(9) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Description of a preferential embodiment where the raw products and amounts used per layer of the PVC semimanufacture can be observed. Layer Description Quantity Compact Linear plasticizer 40 PVC Layer Polymeric plasticizer 20 100 g/m2 Stabilizer 1.8 Sodium perchlorate 0.27 Soybean oil 2 PVC 60 Pigment 2.5 Foam Linear plasticizer 30 150 g/m2 Polymeric plasticizer 35 Stabilizer 2.2 Co-stabilizers 0.33 PVC 20 PVC 40 Antimony trioxide flame retardant 2.5 Azodicarbonamide blowing agent 3.74 Pigment 1.2 Adhesive Linear plasticizer 30 foam Polymeric plasticizer 35 120 g/m2 Stabilizer 2.23 Co-stabilizer 0.34 PVC 60 Antimony trioxide flame retardant 2 Azodicarbonamide blowing agent 3.79 Support Knitted fabric Layer

(10) The layers are produced through enduction process, with PVC (plastisol) fluid paste deposition, prepared beforehand, supported by silicone paper, in a continuous form, as illustrated in FIG. 2.

(11) The recipe in table 1 is a typical recipe of PVC base artificial leather materials, which typically reveal fissures after contact with oils.

(12) In an embodiment, during the second stage, a layer of thermolplastic polyurethane, whose composition and structure were optimized in order to create a barrier effect of the PVC semimanufacture to oils and grease contact (of the human body, of the driver and passengers which can be simulated through VDA 230-225 of the mixture of babassu oil (CAS 91078-92-1), jojoba oil (CAS 61789-91-1), squalene (CAS 111-02-4)) was applied over the PVC Semimanufacture produced in the first stage, preventing fissuring through the extraction of the plasticizer.

(13) A simple/any TPU layer could retard the contact with oils and grease from the human body with the PVC semimanufacture (which causes the fissuring), but not prevent it as these oils migrate through the TPU. The optimization concerning the composition of the TPU compact layer (TPU compact layer) in sublayers was done taking into account the absorption capacity of different TPUs for the oils and grease typically present in the interior of an automobile. The absorption of oil should be maximum in the aromatic TPU and minimum in the aliphatic TPU. In this way, the migration of oils in the right way to the PVC intermediate layer is minimized. In addition to this, any oil which enters the aromatic layer allows absorption, functioning as a retention layer. In particular, the existence of the aliphatic TPU layer in contact with the PVC in addition to allowing greater adhesion between PVC and TPU, avoids the direct contact with the aromatic TPU, which would absorb some plasticizer from the PVC intermediate layer. The material with greatest absorption capacity is the one which comprises a sublayer of aromatic TPU and another sublayer of aliphatic TPU in contact with the PVC; improving the adhesion to PVC and thereby the performance of the material described (see table 2).

(14) In this way, the creation of sublayers inside the TPU compact layer (through the co-extrusion process) allows for a sublayer of aromatic TPU with high absorption of oils and grease (TPU-B), a sublayer of aliphatic TPU adjusted to the right side (which receives UV radiation in the interior of the automobile) which has good resistance to UV and the same recipe on the face of the reverse side as it presents good adhesion to PVC (TPU-A): despite not absorbing oils and grease, due to reduced absorption of oils, preventing their contact/existence at the surface of the PVC (fault mechanism). In order to guarantee a greater adhesion between the TPU layer and the PVC semimanufacture, the TPU layer is glued (laminated) to the PVC semimanufacture during the extrusion process, therefore contacting with the PVC while it is in the smelted form. For the adhesion to be thermal and effective, the PVC semimanufacture is also heated by infrared radiation so that it also becomes soft. The temperature the infrared confer to the PVC semimanufacture cannot be excessive as it can degrade. Also for this reason, the surface layer of the PVC semimanufacture is compacted and not foam, because it is more resistant to heating by infrareds and increases the surface of contact with the TPU compact layer (see table 2).

(15) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Description of the raw materials and quantities used per sublayer of PVC semimanifacture Quantity parts per hundred parts of resin (parts per hundred Layer Sublayer Description parts of resin-PHR) TPU TPU-A TPU of an aliphatic 100 compact nature layer 39.5 (g/m2) Pigment 4 TPU-B TPU of an aromatic 100 nature 155.0 (g/m2) Pigment 4 TPU-A TPU of an aliphatic 100 nature 39.5 (g/m2) Pigment 4

(16) At the end of this stage, it is possible to obtain part of the materialPVC+TPU semimanufacture.

(17) The material can still be improved with finishing processes, common in the production of artificial leather, such as lacquer by rotogravure. This process is common in the production of artificial leather.

(18) The material can also be engraved with a predefined pattern, to confer texture for a better aesthetic effect, for example, imitation of the surface of natural leather

(19) In another embodiment, the surface layer of the PVC semimanufacture can be compact and not foam, in order to be more resistant to the engraving process.

(20) The present flexible composite material presents low fissuring/tearing (anti-crack) when applied in upholsteries, compared to the state of the art materials, namely PUR with high concentration of solids (High Solids PUR) and PVC.

(21) In this manner, compared with the current state of the art in synthetic PVC based leather, the present disclosure presents greater processing flexibility, the possibility of containing a higher quantity of recyclable material (TPE) and lower migration of PVC constituents, namely its plasticizer, conferring a longer lifecycle to the material, as durability is critical for automobile manufacturers.

(22) The different methods show that flexible composite PVC based upholsteries tend to present fissures and/or deformation under extreme conditions, namely when exposed to low temperatures.

(23) The flexible composite material applied to upholsteries for automobiles presents in both situations of extreme heat/cold good resistance to impact, fatigue and breaking even after 72 h at 40 C. and 10.000 flexural cycles at 20 C. (by the VDA 230-225 method), it is verified that the material presents good resistance to impact and fatigue even after 50.000 cycles (by the VDA 230-225 method). As observed in FIG. 2.

(24) Generically, the VDA 230-225 test applies a mixture of oils (namely babassu oil (CAS 91078-92-1), jojoba oil (CAS 61789-91-1) squalene (CAS 111-02-4)) during 72 h at 40 C. and 10 000 flections at 20 C. over a sample of the material under test, after which the strain and flection of the material are measured.

(25) Throughout the description and claims the word comprises and variations of the word do not have the intention of excluding other technical characteristics, additives, components, or steps. Additional objects, advantages and characteristics of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art after the examination of the description or can be learned through the practice of the invention. The following examples and figures are provided as forms of illustration, and do not have the intention of limiting the scope of the disclosure. Additionally, the present disclosure covers all the possible combinations of particular or preferential embodiments herewithin described.

(26) The disclosed embodiments are combinable.

(27) The disclosure is of course not in any way restricted to the embodiments described and a person with ordinary skill in the art will foresee many possibilities to modifications thereof without departing from the basic disclosure as defined in the appended claims.

(28) The following claims set out particular embodiments of the disclosure.