Stacked rolls of coloured synthetic leather fabric
Once the waterborne coating slurry for synthetic leather is heated and stirred, microfoam wraps into the slurry and will not float up, pinholes break out on the coated surface, fogging spreads across the plate, and the flatness and yield of the leather fall together.
Chemi Tech has introduced the KM-272 series defoamer for waterborne coating of synthetic leather and for silicone-free processes, with the dosage adjusted flexibly according to slurry viscosity and coating line speed. This grade is a silicone-free defoamer for silicone-free processes, a particularly good match where film appearance requirements are high, with stable high-temperature performance. Taking measured data on coating pinhole count and plate fogging grade as the basis, a precise KM-272 dosage can be pinned down.
Advantages of Chemi Tech Defoamers
Chemi Tech KM-272 series defoamer is configured for waterborne coating systems of synthetic leather. The silicone-free composition is safe for silicone-free processes and leaves no silicone residue; high-temperature stability is strong, so the antifoaming effect lasts once the slurry heats up; defoaming is fast, with microfoam removed quickly before coating; compatibility with the slurry is outstanding, so no pinholes or craters are triggered and the coating appearance stays smooth; and the dosage is economical, adjusted flexibly to slurry viscosity and coating line speed, keeping the leather pass rate stable and controllable.
Industry Pain Points and Solutions
Microfoam problems in synthetic leather coating arise mostly from the combined action of air entrained during slurry stirring and insufficient compatibility of the defoaming component, and the consequences are concentrated in two places: coating pinholes and plate fogging.
Coating pinholes directly break the continuous film on the leather surface, and once the release paper is peeled off, patches of defects are exposed. After the KM-272 dosage is pinned down by slurry viscosity, the pinhole count falls noticeably.
Plate fogging dulls the shade of the leather, is especially obvious on dark-coloured leather, and keeps losing points during customer inspection. KM-272 is silicone-free and heat-resistant, and can effectively eliminate residual microfoam before coating.
The release paper and slurry consumed by coating rework ultimately convert into cost per metre. By tying the dosage to changes in slurry viscosity and coating line speed, an additive ratio can be defined that secures a sound film in a single coating pass.
Typical Operating Conditions and Verification
Customer case: a synthetic leather manufacturer in Fujian, for the batching and coating stage of waterborne coating slurry.
After the plant switched to waterborne slurry, pinholes broke out frequently on the coating surface, fogging on dark-coloured leather was especially pronounced, and rework batches rose with them. After a comparison test on coating pinhole count and plate fogging grade, the plant adopted KM-272 as its defoamer for the waterborne coating, with the dosage pinned down by slurry viscosity. After the change, the coating pinhole count fell noticeably; the fogging problem on dark-coloured leather was largely eliminated; the release paper replacement frequency returned to normal, and the first-pass yield recovered.
Frequently Asked Questions
In silicone-free processes, will the antifoaming duration of a silicone-free defoamer be noticeably shortened?
First look at whether the slurry system falls into the matching range of a silicone-free system. KM-272 has completed antifoaming-duration tests on waterborne coating conditions for synthetic leather, and within the recommended range defoaming and antifoaming both perform stably. The actual dosage takes slurry viscosity as the baseline, corrected by coating line speed and slurry temperature; Chemi Tech pins down a suitable dosage through a parallel comparison of coating pinhole count and plate fogging grade.