Polyurethane Nanofiber Artificial Leather with Improved Mechanical Properties and High Moisture Permeability Prepared by Electrospinning-in-situ Crosslinking

Abstract

This paper reports a method for preparing artificial leather with high comfort and useful mechanical property. Blending thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer (TPU), Toluene diisocyanate (TDI) polyurethane prepolymer and 4,4-Methylene bis(2-chloroaniline) (MOCA), and a nanofiber artificial leather was obtained by using online reactive electrospinning technology and heat cross-linking. Compared with the commercial PU artificial leather, the tensile strength of nanofiber artificial leather from 3.2 MPa to 11.2 MPa, and the air permeability of nanofiber artificial leather from 0.25 to 2.974 mm/s, and the moisture permeability of nanofiber artificial leather from 981 to 4615 g/m2.24h. The NCO groups on the TPU and TDI prepolymer molecules, and the NH2 groups on the MOCA cross-linking agent were polymerized by heat treatment, and a cohesive structure was formed between fibers, which significantly improve the mechanical property of nanofiber artificial leather. It was close to sheep leather in mechanical property, and it was air permeability and moisture permeability were much higher than those of sheep leather and commercial PU artificial leather. The nanofiber artificial leather prepared in this study has excellent prospects for application in the fields of luggage, footwear, and clothing.