Investigation on Alkali Hydrolysis of PET/co-PET Ultra-microfiber

Abstract

Artificial leather has been developed as a substitute for natural leather because of the high demand for high-quality products in automobile interiors and the living leather market. Artificial leather is generally manufactured using microfiber nonwoven fabric. In this study, we analyzed the weight loss behavior of PET/co-PET ultra-microfiber by alkali hydrolysis according to NaOH concentration (10−30% o.w.f.), treatment time (5−60 mins), and treatment temperature (80−120 °C) by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), and mechanical analysis. We found that the optimum condition for alkali hydrolysis is 25% NaOH o.w.f. aqueous solution with a treatment time of 30 min at 100 °C.