Fabrication of Polyurethane/Polyurethane Yarn Composite Film with Enhanced Mechanical Property

To obtain synthetic leather with enhanced mechanical properties, we proposed a simple composite fabrication method based on nonsolvent induced phase separation for preparing polyurethane yarn (PUY) reinforced polyurethane (PU) composite films. The morphology of PU/PUY matrix interface and the mechanical properties of the as-prepared composite films were investigated in detail. The results showed that the addition of PUY did not change the microstructure of the PU. The stress and strain of PU/PUY-3 were 61.98% and 32.60% higher than that of PU film. It was proposed that the good interfacial interaction between PUY and PU mainly contributed to the simultaneously improvement in stress and strain. Furthermore, the as-prepared PU/PUY composite films were elastic within the applied tensile strain of 10%. The present work suggests an efficient way to reinforce PU matrix and can be used for design and optimization of leather products.