BASF News: Synthetic Leather Made with Elastollan Makes Car Seats More Comfortable

Car seats can now be more comfortable thanks to synthetic leather made with BASF’s thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) Elastollan. The ultra-soft synthetic leather is highly abrasion resistant and helps manufacturers meet the stringent volatile organic compound (VOC) standards for applications such as car seats and furniture.

Suzhou Ruigao New Material Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of synthetic leather, has adopted Elastollan grade B50A12CF in the production of synthetic leather in a Chinese automaker’s latest model, due to its cost effective and environmentally friendly thermoplastic process in comparison with conventional processing technologies such as coagulation. “Elastollan significantly simplifies and speeds up the production process of synthetic leather as it can be extruded onto fabric directly without a middle layer using a non-solvent based technology. This helps car makers meet the increasingly stringent VOC standards, especially for car interior applications,” said Tony Jones, Head of Industrial, Performance Materials Asia Pacific, BASF.

In addition to being durable and wear resistant, synthetic leather made with Elastollan is well suited for use in car seats and furniture due to its high mechanical performance. This not only enables a soft, thin and flexible layer of material but also makes it easy to dye and emboss, allowing a variety of colors and fashion designs.

The product complements BASF’s synthetic leather portfolio, which includes Haptex®, a polyurethane (PU) system solution for the production of synthetic leather.