Enhancement of the Stiffness and Strength of Laminated Polyvinyl Chloride Synthetic Leather
Abstract
This research aims to improve the mechanical properties of laminated polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with polyurethane (PU) layers. The four samples were fabricated using the knife-coating technique and subjected to thermal and mechanical tests. The sample-1 included four plasticized PVC (P-PVC) layers. The sample-2 and sample-3 specimens involved the suspension PVC (S-PVC) layers with different volume fractions among P-PVC layers, and sample-4 included three PU layers between P-PVC layers. The results indicated that at high temperatures, the plasticizer penetrates from P-PVC layers to S-PVC layers in sample-2 and sample-3, creating an anti-plasticization phenomenon at their interphase. Sample 2 showed a 39% increase in rupture strain, a 23% increase in elastic modulus, and a 29% increase in ultimate tensile strength compared to sample 1. These three parameters of sample-3 improved up to 11%, 63%, and 48%, respectively, while the initial glass transition temperature range (Tg) increased by 1.34 ℃ compared to sample-1. Although the sample-4 showed a 20% reduction in rupture strain compared to the sample-1, it exhibited a significant increase in the other properties. Specifically, the elastic modulus increased by 63%, ultimate tensile strength by 47%, and initial range of Tg by 2.87 ℃.