PVC-based synthetic leather with thermal comfort for automobile applications

Abstract

Increasingly consumers are demanding cars to be comfortable even for more economic commercial segments. Thus, the development of materials with thermo-regulation properties assumed renewed interest. An attempt has been made to prepare multi-layer PVC-based synthetic leather with paraffinic PCM´s to be applied on car seats. The thermal behaviour of the material was analysed using a thermal manikin combined with an Infra-Red camera, monitoring the temperature development as in a real situation and comparing the results with Alambeta apparatus that test bi-dimensional fabrics regarding thermal properties