Epoxysilane: A new crosslinker for water-borne polyurethane finishes

The applications of carboxyl aqueous polyurethane dispersion cross-linked b y epoxysilane for leather finishing have been reported. The crosslinking me chanism and morphology of crosslinked film were studied. It was found that the crosslinked film has a soft un-crosslinked continuous phase. The leather coating properties, such as wet rub-fastness, wet flexing resis tance and wet adhesion were dramatically improved by the addition of epoxys ilane. Dry flex resistance of crosslinked finish and lightfastness were lit tle affected.