Leather, hide, artificial leather (TPU leather) - Guangyuan Ruifeng New Materials

Category: Leather field

Release Time: 2020-06-22

Summary: Leather is a commonly used material, but people's understanding of the concept of leather may not be very clear. This article briefly introduces the conceptual differences between leather, leather, and artificial leather!

Leather is a commonly used material, but people's understanding of the concept of leather may not be very clear. This article briefly introduces the conceptual differences between leather, hide, and artificial leather!

I. Hide and Leather

There has always been a vague understanding of the concepts of hide and leather. People often refer to genuine leather as "hide," while referring to imitation leather as "leather." This is the root of the confusion. Hide, in English, is "skin," referring to rawhide, which is freshly removed from an animal. Leather, on the other hand, is made from rawhide that has undergone tanning. If hide is not made into leather, it will rot over time, and if air-dried, it will become hard and essentially useless. During the tanning process, useless components are removed from the rawhide, changing the chemical structure of the collagen fibers. After tanning, leather is soft and pliable when dry and does not easily rot in a humid environment, thus becoming usable. Therefore, the leather shoes and bags we usually see are not made of rawhide, but of processed leather. However, not all leather is made from tanned hide; there is also artificial leather.

II. Leather Alternatives

With the development of chemical technology, people have gradually found ways to use chemical raw materials to replace rawhide in the production of leather, leading to the creation of PVC leather, PU leather, TPU leather, and microfiber leather. PVC leather is an early synthetic leather technology; it is made by laminating polyvinyl chloride with plasticizers and other additives onto fabric. Its biggest drawback is that it easily hardens and becomes brittle. PU leather uses polyurethane material instead of polyvinyl chloride, applying it to fabric or split leather, making it closer to the feel of genuine leather and preventing hardening and brittleness, making it popular with consumers. Microfiber is short for microfiber PU synthetic leather. Microfiber has superior physical properties and a stable surface, making it almost a perfect substitute for genuine leather. Therefore, in terms of quality, generally, natural leather is superior to PU leather, which is superior to PVC leather, but this is not always the case. For example, high-quality microfiber PU leather is now indistinguishable from natural leather, and even surpasses natural leather in certain properties.

III. So-called Genuine Leather

To make full use of genuine leather resources, leather is often used in layers, resulting in the market terms "top-grain leather," "split leather," and "reconstructed leather." These leathers are generally considered genuine leather. Top-grain leather refers to cowhide, sheepskin, and pigskin with a grain surface. Top-grain leather consists of a dense and thin dermis and a looser layer of fibrous tissue. Top-grain leather has natural scars and blood vessels, characteristics of the original skin. It has excellent strength, elasticity, and processability. Split leather is the layer beneath the top-grain leather, consisting only of a looser layer of fibrous tissue. It generally requires the application of chemical materials to be made into leather goods, so its strength is relatively poor. Reconstructed leather is made by crushing various animal waste leather and leather scraps and then pressing them together with chemical adhesives. The surface uses techniques such as patching or embossing to create the effect of a leather surface.

Keywords: Leather, hide, artificial leather (TPU leather) - Guangyuan Ruifeng New Materials

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