In China, people are accustomed to calling the artificial leather produced with PU resin as raw material PU artificial leather (referred to as PU leather); Artificial leather produced with PU resin and non-woven fabric as raw materials is called PU synthetic leather (referred to as synthetic leather). It is customary to refer to the above three types of leather collectively as synthetic leather. How exactly is it named? It needs to be unified and standardized by everyone in order to give it a more appropriate name.
Artificial leather and synthetic leather are an important part of the plastic industry and are widely used in various industries of the national economy. The production of artificial leather and synthetic leather has a history of more than 60 years in the world, and China has developed and produced artificial leather since 1958, which is an early development industry in China's plastics industry. In recent years, the development of Chinese artificial leather and synthetic leather industry is not only the growth of equipment production lines of production enterprises, the growth of product output year after year, and the increase of varieties and colors year by year, but also has its own industry organization in the process of industry development, and has considerable cohesion, so as to organize Chinese leather and synthetic leather enterprises, including related industries, into an industry with considerable strength.
Following PVC artificial leather, PU synthetic leather has been researched and developed by scientific and technological experts for more than 30 years, and has achieved breakthrough technological progress as an ideal alternative to natural leather.
PU coated on the surface of the fabric first appeared on the market in the 50s of the 20th century, and in 1964, the American company DuPont developed a PU synthetic leather used as an upper. After the Japanese company established a production line with an annual output of 600,000 square meters, after more than 20 years of continuous research and development, PU synthetic leather has grown rapidly in terms of product quality, variety and output. Its performance is getting closer and closer to natural leather, and some properties even exceed natural leather, reaching the degree that it is inseparable from the authenticity of natural leather, and occupies a very important position in human daily life.
Today, Japan is the largest producer of synthetic leather, and the products of several companies such as Kuraray, Teijin, Toray, and Zhongbo basically represent the international development level in the 90s of the 20th century. Its fiber and non-woven fabric manufacturing is developing in the direction of ultra-refinement, high density and high non-woven effect; Its PU manufacturing is developing in the direction of PU dispersion and PU water emulsion, and the application field of the product has been expanding, from the beginning of the footwear and luggage field to other special application fields such as clothing, balls, decorations, etc., covering all aspects of people's daily life.
