Artificial leather having chinchilla-like appearance and natural suede-like feeling and a method for producing the same

Claim 1

An artificial leather having a suede-like texture and chinchilla-like appearance consisting of a substrate fabric and curved and entangled fibrillated piles stuck on the substrate fabric with an adhesive, said fibrillated piles consisting of polyamide and polyester having been obtained by fibrillating the piles composed of composite fibers which in transverse cross-section consist of at least three integral segments (A) of one polymer of the above described two polymers wherein said segments diverge from each other substantially radially in the outward direction and extend to the perimeter of the fiber and wedge-shaped segments (B) of another polymer which fill the spaces between the segments (A) or consist of the above described segments (A), V-shaped segments (B') of the latter polymer and wedge-shaped segments (C) of the former polymer which fill the concavities of the V-shaped segments (B'), said V-shaped segments (B') and said wedge-shaped segments (C) filling the spaces between the segments (A), wherein all of the polymers extend to the perimeter of the fiber, so that the polymers are separated from each other to form very fine curved fibrils of (A) and (B) or (A), (B') and (C), which form fibrillated pile layer in which a content ratio by weight of polyamide fibrils in said pile layer increases from the surface of the pile layer toward the substrate fabric surface and the content ratio by weight of polyamide fibrils in total fibrils in an upper layer of 1/3 of the total thickness of said pile layer from the surface of said layer is not more than 80% of a content ratio by weight of polyamide fibrils in the total fibrils in a lower layer of 2/3 of the total thickness of said pile layer from the root portion of the fibrillated piles.

Claim 20

A method for producing an artificial leather having chinchilla-like appearance and a natural suede-like feeling which comprising flocking piles of separable composite fibers which is transverse cross-section consist of at least three integral segments (A) of one polymer of polyamide and polyester wherein said segments diverge from each other substantially radially in the outward direction and extend to the perimeter of the fiber and wedge-shaped segments (B) of another polymer which fill the spaces between the segments (A) or consist of the above described segments (A), V-shaped segments (B') of the latter polymer and wedge-shaped segments (C) of the former polymer which fill the concavities of the V-shaped elements (B'), said V-shaped segments (B'), said V-shaped segments (B') and said wedge-shaped segments (C) filling the spaces between the segments (A), wherein all of the polymers extend to the perimeter of the fiber, on a substrate fabric applied with an adhesive, applying a swelling agent on the piles, brushing the thus treated piles to substantially separate each segment in the above described cross-section and then subjecting the brushed piles to a wet heat treatment.

Claim 21

A method for producing an artificial leather having chinchilla-like appearance and a natural suede-like feeling which comprising flocking piles of separable composite fibers which is transverse cross-section consist of at least three integral segments (A) of one polymer of polyamide and polyester wherein said segments diverge from each other substantially radially in the outward direction and extend to the perimeter of the fiber and wedge-shaped segments (B) of another polymer which fill the spaces between the segments (A) or consist of the above described segments (A), V-shaped segments (B') of the latter polymer and wedge-shaped segments (C) of the former polymer which fill the concavities of the V-shaped elements (B'), said V-shaped segments (B'), said V-shaped segments (B') and said wedge-shaped segments (C) filling the spaces between the segments (A), wherein all of the polymers extend to the perimeter of the fiber, on a substrate fabric applied with an adhesive, applying a swelling agent on the piles, brushing the thus treated piles to substantially separate each segment in the above described cross-section and then subjecting the brushed piles to a wet heat treatment.