A new era of leather, a new breakthrough in silicone materials

With its good physical and mechanical properties, excellent hygienic properties, and exquisite appearance and texture, leather materials are widely used in automobiles, medical care, aviation, clothing, luggage, furniture, decoration and many other fields. The traditional leather materials mainly include acrylic resin, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyurethane (PU) and so on. According to the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, the current production and sales of leather materials in my country exceeds 3 million tons, and the output value exceeds 60 billion yuan, and the market scale is huge.

However, there are more or less problems in the production and use of traditional leather.

During the processing and use of PVC, DOP plasticizer (di(2-ethyl)hexyl phthalate) will be volatilized, which will cause serious harm to people's health and ecological environment. At present, the EU has comprehensively restricted the production and use of PVC artificial leather, and Japan has also banned PVC artificial leather from being used in automobile interiors.

The solvent-based PU leather that is currently used in the largest amount needs to be diluted with a large amount of chemical solvents during the production and preparation process, resulting in a large amount of VOC emissions and serious pollution to the environment. In 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People's Republic of China successively issued the "Comprehensive Treatment Plan for Volatile Organic Compounds in Key Industries" and "The Tough Plan for the Treatment of Volatile Organic Compounds in 2020", indicating that it is imperative to replace solvent-based PU resins and solve pollution problems.

Under the requirements of balancing environmental protection and sustainable development of the industry, a new type of leather material has gradually entered the public's field of vision - silicone leather!

Silicone leather is a leather product that looks and feels like real leather and can be used instead of it; it mainly uses silicon-based polymer (polydimethylsiloxane) as the main raw material, does not rely on petrochemical resources, and is in line with carbon peaks. , carbon neutrality policy requirements. Using the curing method of hydrosilylation, no small molecules are released during the production process, and no solvent is required to cooperate with the production, which is in line with the concept of green development.

Silicone leather has a unique -Si-O-Si- main chain and a methyl-outward helical structure, which is odorless, hydrolysis resistant, excellent weather resistance, stain resistance (easy to clean), biocompatibility (good skin-friendly), high and low temperature resistance, flame retardant, chemical corrosion resistance, sterilization, strong color fastness and breathability, etc., to meet people's needs for low-carbon environmental protection and high-performance coating materials.