Development and characterization of coated PVC synthetic leather additivated with bio-fillers

The present research work, made in collaboration with Vulcaflex Spa, a leading company in PVC artificial leather production for car interiors, addresses the growing demand in the automotive industry for environmentally friendly materials. Agriculture generates substantial waste, including solid biomass, which presents an opportunity for sustainable resource utilization. This work focuses on developing composite artificial leather incorporating bio-fillers derived from natural waste materials, offering benefits such as cost reduction and increased bio-based content. Many bio-fillers, from different origins and chemical nature, were collected and tested in order to assess the effect of their addition on the workability of plasticized PVC formulations and on the final properties of the multilayer synthetic leather. Moreover, the most promising bio-fillers were fully characterized, including grain size analysis, SEM microscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Furthermore, synthetic leather with different bio-filler concentration were produced and this also highlighted critical considerations regarding their addition, such as the staining of the surface layer after aging and the moisture absorbed by the filler, which may result in defects in the final product. Solutions for these issues were studied and identified. Finally, industrial prototypes were made and their performance were evaluated, which demonstrated to be interesting compared to the standard synthetic leather.