スポーツ用人工皮革の繊維配向分布の評価に関する研究

抄録

In this research, fiber orientation distribution (FOD) of an artificial leather for sports equipment was investigated. Since the ease of processing and high durability, artificial leathers were widely used for sports equipment. Artificial leathers consist of fiber layer and rubber layer, so they show high durability and good deformation performance. However, anisotropic characteristics are caused of the fibers. On the manufacturing process, the fiber layer is made by the injection and entangle of fibers. Due to the process, the fibers are distributed in a particular direction and anisotropy is expressed. In order to develop the higher performing sports equipment made of artificial leathers, it is important to obtain the FOD and to predict the material characteristics. In this paper, the FOD of an artificial leather for sports equipment was obtained by microscopic observation system. Also, in order to investigate the anisotropic behaviors of the artificial leather, uniaxial tensile loading tests were conducted. From the result of the FOD observation, the fibers in the fiber layer of the leather were distributed in a particular direction. Furthermore, the direction in which the artificial leather showed high rigidity coincided with the direction in which a lot of fibers were distributed. From the evaluating the FOD and the tensile tests, the validity of the FOD obtained in this study and the correlation between FOD and anisotropic characteristics of artificial leather were shown.