JPH08207184A - Hygroscopic skin material - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To provide an artificial hygroscopic skin material capable of preventing the surface of the skin material from becoming uneven in a hygroscopic state. [Structure] In a hygroscopic skin material 1 obtained by adhering a skin layer 10, a base layer material 20, and a hygroscopic intermediate layer 30 mounted between them, an anchor is attached to a hygroscopic fiber in the hygroscopic intermediate layer 30. Adhesive fibers (virgin wool fibers) are mixed and adhered to the hygroscopic fibers while being entwined with each other, and the binding action of the anchor fibers prevents the surface of the skin layer from becoming uneven in the hygroscopic state.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates to a hygroscopic skin material,
Particularly, the present invention relates to a hygroscopic skin material suitable as a skin material for automobile seats and interiors.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, artificial skin materials made of synthetic resin materials have been widely used as skin materials for automobile seats and interior materials, but this type of skin material has poor hygroscopicity and a hard and cold feeling. Therefore, natural leather is said to be optimal as the surface material, but natural leather is expensive,
It is disadvantageous because there are restrictions on the availability of materials. Therefore, it is known to add a hygroscopic agent (eg, chitosan, collagen, carboxymethyl cellulose, highly crosslinked acrylic hygroscopic fiber, etc.) to the artificial skin material in order to impart a hygroscopic function.

On the other hand, in JP-A-3-213507, in order to give the artificial fiber the same hygroscopicity and heat retention as the natural fiber, a synthetic resin material containing fine powder of animal and vegetable fibers is used.
There is described a technique of spinning a material kneaded by adding up to 30% by weight and weaving the material to form a sheet.

[0004]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION In order to impart the same hygroscopicity, feel, feel and the like to natural leather to artificial skin materials for automobile seats and interiors, the inventors of the present invention are based on conventional techniques. A hygroscopic skin material was produced by attaching hygroscopic fibers in a layered form between a moisture permeable skin layer and a cloth base layer material and adhering them with a binder, and examined various characteristics thereof. The hygroscopic skin material exhibited significantly better hygroscopicity than natural leather, but when the hygroscopic fiber absorbs moisture, the hygroscopic fiber expands several hundred times in volume, and the epidermal layer is hygroscopic in many random locations. Since the fibers and the binder are non-uniformly constrained, there is a problem that the surface irregularity of the skin material becomes significant in a moisture absorption state.

Therefore, an attempt was made to suppress the volume expansion of the hygroscopic fiber by increasing the amount of the binder to increase the restraint due to the adhesion. In that case, not only the hygroscopicity is lowered but also the hardening of the binder causes the hygroscopic skin. There is a problem that the material becomes excessively hard and the flexibility is reduced, and the sewing work load when sewing the hygroscopic skin material increases. An object of the present invention is to provide an artificial hygroscopic skin material capable of suppressing the surface of the skin material from becoming uneven in a hygroscopic state.

[0006]

According to the hygroscopic skin material of claim 1, a hygroscopic fiber layer is mounted between a moisture permeable skin layer and a flexible base layer material, and these three layers are used as binders. In the hygroscopic skin material adhered by means of the above, the hygroscopic fibers are mixed with anchor fibers having a fine curl portion so as to be entangled with the hygroscopic fibers. In the hygroscopic skin material according to a second aspect of the present invention, in the invention of the first aspect, the anchor fiber is made of virgin wool fiber.

A hygroscopic skin material according to a third aspect of the present invention is the same as the first or second aspect of the present invention, wherein the hygroscopic fiber is a highly crosslinked acrylic hygroscopic fiber. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the weight ratio of the virgin wool to the hygroscopic fiber is about 2: 1. According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the hygroscopic skin material according to the second aspect of the invention, the skin layer is made of a moisture permeable urethane resin layer. In the hygroscopic skin material of claim 6, in the invention of claim 2, the base layer material is made of a non-woven fabric or a woven fabric.

[0008]

According to the hygroscopic skin material of claim 1, a hygroscopic fiber layer is attached between the moisture permeable skin layer and the flexible base layer material, and these three materials are bonded by a binder. Since the anchor fiber having a fine curl portion is mixed with the hygroscopic fiber so that the hygroscopic fiber is entangled with the hygroscopic fiber, the anchor is inserted through the fine curl portion of the anchor fiber. The fibers for use are bonded to the hygroscopic fibers in a three-dimensionally entangled state, and three-dimensionally restrain the hygroscopic fibers. Therefore, when the hygroscopic fiber absorbs moisture and expands, free random non-uniform expansion of the hygroscopic fiber due to the restraining action of the anchoring fiber, particularly non-uniform expansion in the out-of-plane direction is suppressed, It is possible to prevent or suppress the occurrence of irregularities on the surface of the hygroscopic skin material in the hygroscopic state. As a result, the surface roughness of the hygroscopic skin material is improved, the hygroscopic performance is remarkably superior to that of natural leather, and a hygroscopic skin material having almost the same feel as natural leather can be obtained.

In the hygroscopic skin material of claim 2, the same action and effect as in claim 1 are achieved, but the anchor fiber is made of virgin wool fiber, and the virgin wool has a plurality of fine curls for each fiber. Since the curled portion is provided, the hygroscopic fiber and the fiber of the virgin wool are entangled with each other through the curled portion, the anchor fiber has an excellent anchoring action, and the virgin wool can also secure heat retention and elasticity.

In the hygroscopic skin material of claim 3, the same action and effect as in claim 1 or 2 are exhibited, but since the hygroscopic fiber is made of highly crosslinked acrylic hygroscopic fiber, Moisture absorption performance of several times can be obtained. In the hygroscopic skin material of claim 4, the same action and effect as in claim 2 are exhibited, but since the weight ratio of the virgin wool and the hygroscopic fiber is about 2: 1, a sufficient amount of wool causes The anchoring action can be sufficiently enhanced.

In the hygroscopic skin material of claim 5, the same action and effect as in claim 2 are exhibited, but since the skin layer is made of a moisture permeable urethane resin layer, the surface feeling of the hygroscopic skin material is touched. It is soft, has good texture, and is advantageous in cost. In the hygroscopic skin material according to claim 6,
Although the same action and effect as in (1) are obtained, since the base layer material is made of a non-woven fabric or a woven fabric, it is advantageous in terms of cost, the work load for sewing is reduced, and it is advantageous in terms of handling.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The present embodiment is an example of the case where the present invention is applied to a hygroscopic skin material suitable for being applied as a skin material for automobile seats and interiors. First, the structure of the hygroscopic skin material will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and 4, the hygroscopic skin material 1 is a skin layer 10 having moisture permeability.
And a base layer material 20, and a hygroscopic intermediate layer 30 mounted in layers between the skin layer 10 and the base layer material 20. The hygroscopic intermediate layer 30 includes a hygroscopic fiber 31, a fiber 33 for an anchor having a fine curl portion mixed in a state in which the hygroscopic fiber 31 is entwined, and a fibrous binder 32 made of a thermoplastic synthetic resin fiber. A main raw material, which is formed into a layer by pressing these with heat rollers 41 and 42 to form a layer by heating and molding, and an anchor fiber 33 and a hygroscopic fiber 31 are bonded and bonded with a binder 32. Is.

In this embodiment, the skin layer 10 is made of a moisture-permeable urethane resin layer (for example, a thickness of several 100 μm), and the base layer material 20 is made of a raised cloth. Regarding the hygroscopic intermediate layer 30, a virgin wool fiber having a fine curl portion and elasticity is applied as the anchor fiber 33, and a highly cross-linked acrylic hygroscopic fiber having high hygroscopicity is used as the hygroscopic fiber 31 ( For example, the fiber length is 57
mm, the thickness is 3 denier), and the fibrous binder 32 is, for example, a polyester resin fiber having a fiber length of 20 to 40 mm, and the weight ratio of the hygroscopic fiber 31, the anchoring fiber 33, and the binder 32. Is about 3: 6:
The total thickness of the hygroscopic skin material 1 is several mm (for example, 3.0 to 8.0 mm).

Next, a manufacturing method for manufacturing the hygroscopic skin material 1 will be described. First, in the first step, as shown in FIG. 1, hygroscopic fiber 31 is mixed with anchoring fiber 33 and fibrous binder 32 in the predetermined weight ratio,
By sufficiently mixing the hygroscopic fiber 31 and the anchor fiber 33, the hygroscopic fiber 31 is sufficiently entangled with the anchor fiber 33, and the distribution of the fibrous binder 32 is made uniform. A raw material intermediate layer 30M having a predetermined width and having a thickness of a few dozen mm is manufactured.

Next, in the second step, as shown in FIG. 2, the raw material intermediate layer 30M is placed on the pair of upper and lower heat rollers 4.
The fibrous adhesive 32 is melted and solidified by pressurizing with 1, 42 to bond the hygroscopic fiber 31 and the anchor fiber 33 to each other, and the fibrous adhesive 32 is compression molded to about half the thickness and is thick with a predetermined width. A sheet-shaped hygroscopic intermediate layer 30 is manufactured. Next, in the third step, as shown in FIG. 3, the skin layer 10 is disposed on the upper surface side of the hygroscopic intermediate layer 30, and the hygroscopic intermediate layer 3 is formed.
The base layer material 20 is arranged on the lower surface side of 0, and the adhesive injection nozzle 4
In the state in which the adhesive as a binder is spray-applied to the upper and lower surfaces of the hygroscopic intermediate layer 30 from 4, 45,
When the skin layer 10, the hygroscopic intermediate layer 30 and the base layer material 20 are brought into close contact with each other without any gaps by lightly pressing with a pair of pressure rollers 46 and 47, the hygroscopic skin material 1 is obtained.

Next, the function of the hygroscopic skin material 1 will be described. The base layer material skin material 1 basically has several times the moisture absorption performance of natural leather, and has a feel equivalent to that of natural leather,
Has moderate elasticity and heat retention. The hygroscopic fiber 31
In order to be entangled with the hygroscopic fiber 31,
Since the anchor fiber 33 having a fine curl portion is mixed, through the fine curl portion of the anchor fiber 33,
The anchor fiber 33 is entangled with the hygroscopic fiber 31 three-dimensionally, and the hygroscopic fiber 31 is three-dimensionally constrained.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a part of the raw material intermediate layer 30M, showing that the hygroscopic fiber 31 and the anchoring fiber 33 having a fine curl portion are intertwined with each other and the fibrous binder 32 is mixed therein. Has become. In the hygroscopic intermediate layer 30 obtained by press-molding the raw material intermediate layer 30M, the three-dimensional mesh structure of the hygroscopic fiber 31 and the anchor fiber 33 has a hygroscopic fiber 31 as shown in FIG. Has a three-dimensional network structure in which the hygroscopic fibers 31 are elastically and three-dimensionally uniformly and elastically restrained by the anchor fibers 33 at the intersections 34 between the anchor fibers 33 and the anchors 33. .

Therefore, when the hygroscopic fiber 31 absorbs moisture and expands, the anchoring fiber 33 restrains the hygroscopic fiber 31 so that the hygroscopic fiber 31 freely expands randomly, especially in the out-of-plane direction. Since it is suppressed, it is possible to prevent or suppress the occurrence of unevenness on the surface of the hygroscopic skin material 1 in a hygroscopic state. As a result, the surface roughness of the hygroscopic skin material 1 is improved, the hygroscopic performance is remarkably superior to that of natural leather, and a hygroscopic skin material having a feel similar to that of natural leather can be obtained.

FIG. 6 shows the results of measuring the roughness of irregularities on the surface of the skin layer 10 of the hygroscopic skin material 1 in a state where the hygroscopic fiber 31 absorbs moisture and expands to a moisture absorption rate of about 400 times. The solid line shows the measured value in the product of this example, and the chain line shows the measured value in the comparative example in which the anchoring fiber 33 is not added. As can be seen from the measurement results, the comparative example has irregularities of up to 800 μm, but the product of this example produces only irregularities of several μm.

In particular, the anchor fiber is made of virgin wool fiber, and the virgin wool has a plurality of fine curl portions for each fiber. Therefore, the hygroscopic fiber 31 and the wool fiber are connected through the curl portions. Entanglement is achieved, the anchor fiber 33 has an excellent anchoring action, and the wool can also ensure heat retention and elasticity. Since the weight ratio of the virgin wool fiber as the anchor fiber 33 and the hygroscopic fiber 31 is about 2: 1, the anchor action can be sufficiently enhanced by a sufficient amount of wool.

Since the skin layer 10 is composed of a moisture permeable urethane resin layer, the surface of the hygroscopic skin material 1 has a soft feeling, a good feel, and is advantageous in terms of cost. In addition, since the base layer material 20 is made of a raised cloth, it is advantageous in terms of cost, the sewing work load at the time of sewing the hygroscopic skin material 1 is also low, and it is also advantageous in handling the hygroscopic skin material 1. .

Next, a description will be given of a modification mode in which a part of the above embodiment is partially modified. 1] As the skin layer 10, a porous vinyl chloride layer and other synthetic resin porous layers can be applied in addition to the moisture-permeable urethane resin layer. The skin layer 10 is composed of a plurality of porous membrane materials. It may have a laminated structure, or may have a structure in which porous membrane materials of plural kinds of materials are laminated. 2] As the base layer material 20, a woven cloth or a non-woven cloth made of natural fibers or synthetic resin fibers can be applied in addition to the raised cloth, and for example, felt, flannel, thick knitted cloth, etc. can be applied.

3] As the hygroscopic fiber 31, in addition to the highly crosslinked acrylic hygroscopic fiber, fibrous chitosan, fibrous collagen, carboxymethylcellulose, and other various water-absorbing polymer fibers can be applied.

4] As the anchor fiber 33, in addition to the virgin wool, a fiber of synthetic resin fiber (for example, nylon) having substantially the same performance as virgin wool formed by forming a fine curl portion. Can be applied. 5] As the binder 32, in addition to the polyamide resin fiber, polyamide resin powder, polyester resin fiber or powder, polyethylene resin fiber or powder, various thermoplastic synthetic resin fibers or powder, and various other binders can be applied. .

6] The hygroscopic skin material 1 of the above embodiment can be applied as a skin material for automobile seats and as a skin material for automobile interiors, but the use of the hygroscopic skin material 1 is limited to these. However, the present invention can also be applied to the skin material for ordinary household or commercial sofas and chairs, the skin material for clothes such as jumpers, and the like. 7] The present invention should not be construed as being limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but can be carried out in a mode in which various modifications are added without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a raw material intermediate layer of a hygroscopic skin material according to an example of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where a hygroscopic intermediate layer is manufactured by molding the raw material intermediate layer.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where a hygroscopic skin material is manufactured by adhering the hygroscopic intermediate layer, the skin layer, and the base layer material.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged sectional view of the raw material intermediate layer.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the constraint action of the fiber for anchor in the hygroscopic skin material.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing measured values of surface roughness of the hygroscopic skin material in a hygroscopic state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Hygroscopic Skin Material 10 Skin Layer 20 Base Layer Material 30 Hygroscopic Intermediate Layer 31 Hygroscopic Fiber 32 Binder 33 Anchor Fiber

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Hideo Katsuta 3-1, Shinchi, Fuchu-cho, Aki-gun, Hiroshima Prefecture Mazda Motor Corporation

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A hygroscopic skin material obtained by mounting a hygroscopic fiber layer between a moisture-permeable skin layer and a flexible base layer material and adhering these three layers with a binder. A hygroscopic skin material, characterized in that fibers for anchoring having fine curl portions are mixed into the fibers so as to be entangled with the hygroscopic fibers. 2. The hygroscopic skin material according to claim 1, wherein the anchor fibers are virgin wool fibers. 3. The hygroscopic skin material according to claim 1, wherein the hygroscopic fiber is a highly crosslinked acrylic hygroscopic fiber. 4. The hygroscopic skin material according to claim 2, wherein the weight ratio of the virgin wool to the hygroscopic fiber is about 2: 1. 5. The hygroscopic skin material according to claim 2, wherein the skin layer is made of a moisture-permeable urethane resin layer. 6. The hygroscopic skin material according to claim 2, wherein the base layer material is made of a non-woven fabric or a woven fabric.