Polyurethane for leather (also known as “PUsizing“), mainly used in the production of polyurethane synthetic leather , Polyurethane synthetic leather (referred to as “synthetic leather”) can be produced by coating leather polyurethane (as a coating) on the surface of the base fabric. The raw materials for producing polyurethane for leather mainly include DMF, polyester polyol and diisocyanate.
According to different production processes, polyurethane for leather can be divided into three types: solvent-based, solvent-free and water-based polyurethane. Since the quality and performance indicators of solvent-based polyurethane are relatively more stable, and downstream customers are accustomed to producing solvent-based polyurethane synthetic leather products, the current procurement demand of the synthetic leather industry is mainly solvent-based polyurethane for leather. Solvent-free polyurethane and water-based polyurethane are also green and environmentally friendly polyurethane products that are constantly being developed in the market.
Solvent-based polyurethane for leather is divided into a series of products such as dry surface layer, dry bonding layer and wet foaming layer according to different production processes. However, regardless of the dry or wet production process, a large amount of organic solvents will volatilize into the air during the production process to cause environmental pollution, and the volatilized organic solvents are flammable and explosive, and there will be safety hazards. In addition, as the main organic solvent DMF used in production, the residual amount in the finished synthetic leather will not only affect the quality of the finished product, but also affect the quality of the finished product. Potential impact on consumer health.
According to the statistics of Tiantian Chemical Network, the growth rate of domestic polyurethane production for leather has been 3%-5% in the past three years. Polyurethane for leather is mainly used in the synthetic leather industry, and its consumption mainly depends on the demand of downstream synthetic leather enterprises.
Synthetic leather generally refers to polyurethane (PU) leather, which is often compared with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) leather, commonly known as “artificial leather”. In recent years, PU synthetic leather has gradually surpassed PVC artificial leather in terms of physical properties, and is extremely close to natural leather in terms of feel and appearance. Therefore, the application of PU synthetic leather has become the mainstream.
The main application fields of artificial leather and synthetic leather are clothing leather, bag leather, furniture leather, shoe leather and ball leather. In the past three years, clothing leather is still the field with the largest proportion of downstream consumption, followed by furniture leather. The figure below shows the proportion distribution of the downstream application fields of artificial leather and synthetic leather.
With the growth of domestic synthetic leather production and the upgrading of the industrial structure, the demand for high-quality, high-functional polyurethane for leather by synthetic leather enterprises continues to grow. The main consumers are still clothing, luggage, footwear and furniture industries; the demand for high-end synthetic leather products such as automotive interiors and interior decorations in my country is expected to continue to grow.
The two major trends in the future development of synthetic leather are ecology and functionality. In the production process, it will not pollute the environment, and the finished product has excellent environmental performance and good physical properties, which is also the overall development trend of the industry.