Design and Development of Innovative and More Sustainable High Performance PVC Synthetic Leathers, for Automotive Interiors Applications with Increased Comfort and Safety

The present research work was targeted at evaluating alternative additives to traditional ones used in the industry of plasticized PVC synthetic leathers for the automotive interior industry. In fact, safety and performance are the driving force in this field of application.. In fact, the manufacturing of these materials still sees the presence of additives (i.e. phthalates plasticizers, antimony trioxide, azodicarbonamide) which pose more than an issues regarding both human health and the environment. More than 70 alternative additive, belonging to both fossil–fuel and renewable feedstock, have been selected, characterized and tested inside standard and modified plasticized PVC formulations. Moreover, novel additives as organic modified nanoclays, have been evaluated for the design of innovative high-performance synthetic leathers. An innovative dispersion technique for these nano–additives has been ideated and tuned. All of the obtained samples have been tested in plasticized PVC formulations, and the imparted properties evaluated by means of analyses typical of the automotive industry. Results allowed to identify several additives that performs better than their respective traditionally used counterparts. Finally, an economic evaluation has been made in order to verify the economic sustainability related to the use of these innovative additives.