Artificial leather and light-transmitting device fabricated using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12534851-B2
Application number	US-202118024828-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 16, 2021
Priority date	Sep 29, 2020
Publication date	Jan 27, 2026
Grant date	Jan 27, 2026

Abstract

Provided is an artificial leather, which exhibits light transmitting properties and maintains its texture and touch while being dark-colored and having a medium or higher density, the artificial leather including a fiber entangled body formed of ultrafine fibers having an average single fiber diameter of 0.1 to μm; and an elastomer, in which the artificial leather has a thickness of 0.4 to 1.2 mm and a weight per unit area of 80 to 450 g/m 2 , where one surface of the artificial leather is a design surface colored with a dye and/or a pigment and satisfies the following Formulas (1) to (3):

L* 1 ≤55 . . .  (1)

L 0 >50 . . .  (2)

ΔL* <−5 . . .  (3)

where L* 1 , L* 0 and ΔL* are as defined.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . Artificial leather comprising:
a fiber entangled body formed of ultrafine fibers having an average single fiber diameter of 0.1 μm or more and 8 μm or less; and an elastomer as constituent elements, wherein the artificial leather has a thickness of 0.4 mm or more and 1.2 mm or less and a weight per unit area of 80 g/m 2 or more and 450 g/m 2 or less, and one surface of the artificial leather is a design surface colored with a dye and/or a pigment and satisfies the following Formulas (1) to (3):
L* 1 ≤55 . . .  (1)

L 0 >50 . . .  (2)

ΔL* <−5 . . .  (3)

where L* 1 is a lightness index (L* value) of the design surface in CIE1976L*a*b* color space, L* 0 is a lightness index (L* value) of a surface opposite to the design surface in CIE1976L*a*b* color space, ΔL* is a difference (CIELAB 1976ab lightness difference, L* 1 -L* 0 ) between the L* value of the design surface and the L* value of the surface opposite to the design surface, and the lightness index is a value measured under conditions of CIE standard light source D65 and a viewing angle of 10°, and
wherein the artificial leather has a spectral transmittance of 0.2% or greater, where the spectral transmittance is measured in a band width of 5 nm and a region of 400 to 800 nm using a spectrophotometer V-770 Model (ISN-923 Model integrating sphere) manufactured by JASCO Corporation and Spectralon Reflectance Standard manufactured by Labsphere as a standard white plate.

2 . The artificial leather according to claim 1 , wherein the fiber entangled body is dyed with a dye.

3 . A light-transmitting device comprising at least one light source and the artificial leather according to claim 1 at least as constituent elements,
wherein the artificial leather is disposed on the light source.

4 . A light-transmitting device comprising at least one light source and the artificial leather according to claim 2 at least as constituent elements,
wherein the artificial leather is disposed on the light source.

5 . The artificial leather according to claim 1 , wherein the ultrafine fibers are in the form of a short fiber nonwoven fabric.

Assignees

• Toray Industries

Inventors

• Shinozaki Atsushi
• Sakagami Konomi
• Tsuchimoto Takahiro

Classifications

• D06N2211/28

  Artificial leather · CPC title

• D06N2209/0823

  within the layer by addition of a colorant, e.g. pigments, dyes · CPC title

• D06N2201/02

  Synthetic macromolecular fibres · CPC title

• D06N3/14

  with polyurethanes · CPC title

• D06N3/0027

  Rubber or elastomeric fibres · CPC title