Development and application fields of China's artificial leather industry

China's artificial leather and synthetic leather industry is a new industry after the founding of the People's Republic of China. It started to develop at the end of the 1950s and is one of the earliest industries in the plastic industry. After decades of construction, the artificial leather and synthetic leather industry has reached a considerable economic scale; With the development of high-tech at home and abroad and the application of advanced technology and equipment, the industry management, technical level and product grade have made a fundamental qualitative leap. Synthetic leather has developed into one of the important industries in the daily consumer products industry, and has entered the ranks of the world's largest countries with the whole processing industry. It is a major producer, consumer and import and export trade country in the world.
1. Distribution characteristics and explanation of synthetic leather industry
1.1 The regional distribution of enterprises is relatively concentrated in developed metropolitan areas such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong
Chinese artificial leather and synthetic leather manufacturing enterprises are mainly distributed in the the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, as well as developed coastal provinces and cities such as Hunan and Shandong Peninsula. There are nearly 1000 enterprises above the designated size of synthetic leather in China, and we have analyzed the data of more than 400 enterprises: the total number of enterprises in East China and Central South China accounts for more than 60%, more than 200 in Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province, and more than 30 in Hebei Province. According to incomplete statistical data, it is mainly concentrated in coastal areas and provincial and urban areas. There are more than 100 "Wenzhou Synthetic Leather City" areas developed in Wenzhou mode, and there are 22 artificial leather production bases in Zhouzhuang Town in the form of Jiangnan mode.
1.2 Huge increase in production energy and leading modernization level of large enterprises
The domestic production equipment of artificial leather and synthetic leather is 1000 sets according to the data, and the imported equipment is mainly from Italy, Japan, South Korea and other countries. The production capacity and technology of domestic and foreign joint ventures and domestic equipment have fully reached the advanced level of developed countries. In 2001, the output of artificial leather and synthetic leather was 510000 tons, for example, the output of PVC artificial leather and synthetic leather in Jiangsu accounted for 35.7% in 2001; Guangdong accounted for 26.8%, and Zhejiang accounted for 17.6%; For example, the output of PU synthetic leather in 1999 was 131000 tons; Zhejiang accounted for 35.1%, Guangdong 19.5% and Jiangsu 20.6%. Among them, functional medium and high-end products account for one third. The majority of practical synthetic leather. According to our statistical analysis of enterprises across the country, there are 107000 industrial workers, with annual sales of more than 15 billion yuan and total assets of more than 12 billion yuan. The economic benefits are growing.
1.3 Formation of composite manufacturing industry chain of synthetic leather and synthetic leather
The artificial leather and synthetic leather industry chain has formed thousands of upstream raw materials and tens of thousands of downstream manufacturers. Moreover, artificial leather and synthetic leather are not only subordinate to the plastic industry, but also distributed in the leather system, textile system, military, transportation and other systems. In addition, the production and manufacturing of synthetic leather is a highly specialized science, involving the application of dozens of plastic polymer materials, inorganic filling media, different types of textile fabric theory, intelligent automation application, printing, coating industry, clothing industry, footwear and other cultural theories; The design of product lines should apply relevant cultural knowledge such as aesthetics, philology, plants, animals, nature, geometry, etc. In the manufacturing process, the molecular weight and other numerical values and characteristics of upstream raw materials such as PVC resin, PU resin, DOP plasticizer, etc. need to be deeply studied, especially the study of microfiber and breathable leather should also be based on the understanding of natural leather structure, so as to better design its microporous structure. The production process of synthetic leather is quite complex, including dozens of process routes, such as calendering, coating and scraping, tape casting, steel strip and post-processing, such as painting, color matching, printing, flocking, leather grinding and embossing. The physical properties, chemical properties, texture, feel and visual effects of synthetic leather have reached the performance of animal skin, which is the crystallization of human productivity and wisdom. There are more than 3000 varieties of synthetic leather, and the downstream products are more and more widely used, involving the aerospace field, diving industry, vehicles, sports equipment, medical equipment, and construction materials, including luggage fabrics, shoe fabrics, clothing fabrics, sofa fabrics, and so on, which are necessary for people's daily life. The nano-materials developed are applied to artificial leather synthetic leather, the advent of anti-radiation synthetic leather and anti-infrared synthetic leather, as well as the functions of anti-odor, anti-mildew, acid-resistant, alkali-resistant and anti-aging, have changed the current situation of traditional product simplification, and opened a new page in the history of the development of artificial leather synthetic leather industry.