A Self-Matting Waterborne Polyurethane Coating for PVC Artificial Leather

A type of polyester-based self-matting waterborne polyurethane (ESMWPU) with an excellent matte effect of 0.8° and transmittance of 78.5% for PVC artificial leather was synthesized. The influence of synthesis parameters, including R value, crosslinking and hydrophilic group content, on coating gloss and transmittance was investigated. Meanwhile, the properties necessary for applying water-based resins to plasticized PVC were detailed. The results demonstrated that R value, crosslinking degree and hydrophilic group content synergistically decided the morphological changes of latex particles during their film-forming process in three aspects: particle stiffness, three-dimensional structure and particle size, respectively. With optimized parameters of R = 1.9, TMP = 2 wt% and DMPA = 1.75 wt%, ESMWPU latex particles stabilized their spherical shapes without collapsing in the film-forming process and created a rough surface, resulting in a matte effect. In terms of application performance, good wetting and adhesion for ESMWPU to a plasticized PVC surface was achieved with a 2 wt% leveling agent load. Moreover, due to the high cohesion energy of ester bonds and intermolecular hydrogen bonds, this type of polyester-based ESMWPU also depicted admirable thermal adhesion resistance. All aforementioned results distinctly demonstrate a feasible yet promising paradigm for applying ESMWPU on PVC artificial leather.