Coated fabric is widely used in sporting goods such as backpacks and tents and outer wear such as artificial leather, and is typically formed by laminating polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyamide (PA) nylon fabrics with a thermoplastic sheet using suitable adhesives. Currently, the most widely used thermoplastic sheets for such applications include those prepared from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyurethane (PU) or styrene block copolymers such as styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) or styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene (SEBS) copolymers. However, PVC is not considered environmentally benign, while styrene block copolymers (SBS) have poor weatherability. PU and SEBS have acceptable weatherability but the high cost limits their application.
More environmentally benign and stable polymeric alternatives include polyolefin elastomer (POE) thermoplastic sheets. However, the less polar nature of polyolefin elastomers makes it difficult to laminate those materials to fabric substrates.
Current adhesive solutions used to bond fabric to POE sheets have several drawbacks. One drawback is the use of toxic solvents such as toluene or xylene in the adhesive formulations. Another drawback is the use of isocyanate crosslinkers, which are expensive and require a complex process to produce the adhesive solution, and do not provide a bonding strength of the adhesive that is sufficiently robust to meet customers' needs.
Therefore, there is a need for a system that combines weatherability, environmentally friendliness, cost effectiveness, high stability, workability and ease of application of the adhesive component by a variety of processes, and high adhesive bonding strength.