Preparation and Properties of DMF-Based Polyurethanes for Wet-Type Polyurethane Artificial Leather

DMF-based polyurethanes for wet-type polyurethane artificial leather were prepared using 4,4'-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) as diisocyanate, 1,4-butanediol (BD)/1,6-hexanediol (HD) as chain extender, and four different macroglycols (MW: 2000): poly(butylene/3-methyl-pentylene adipate) glycol based on 1,4-butanedio1/3-methyl-1,5-pentanediol (MPD), poly(butylene adipate) glycol based on BD, polycarbonate glycol based on HD/MPD, and polycarbonate glycol based on HD. The properties of the as-polymerized polyurethane solutions and their films and the size/uniformity of cells of the foam layer of the resulting artificial leather were investigated. The viscosities of as-polymerized polyurethane solutions were significantly high in the range of 7500-15,000 cps, indicating that the molecular weight of the obtained polyurethanes is high. The tensile strengths of polyurethane films based on carbonate-polyol and BD chain extender were found to be higher than those of polyurethane films based on ester-polyol and HD chain extender. The elongation at the break of polyurethane films with the MPD component were higher than that of polyurethane films without the MPD component. The artificial leather containing MPD had smaller cells than the artificial leather without MPD and had higher uniformity. From these results, DMF-based polyurethanes prepared by using MPD components containing polyols are found to be most suitable for wet-type artificial leather.