Natural and Artificial Weathering of Automotive Leather, Leatherette and Textile

This paper presents the natural and artificial weathering behavior of different soft skin materials such as leather, leatherette and textiles used for automotive seat cover applications. The objective of this study was to understand the physical and aesthetical changes occurring at these flexible materials under sun UV light and heat exposure. The natural weathering study under glass exposure was carried out as per ASTM G 24 at natural weathering site location and artificial weathering as per SAE J2412 at lab. The material was observed for surface changes such as color, texture, crack and physical changes like flexibility and hardness during the exposure. The sample exposed at natural weathering data for every 15 days were recorded, and artificial weathering for every 100 hours were recorded. Light and dark color materials were tested to understand the effect of color and UV light resistance as well as various textures were studied to understand the effect of various texture and texture retention under UV.

The study was also carried out at two different period in a year and the data were recorded. The weathering of leather, leatherette and textiles exposed at different time showed different degradation behavior. Further the UV resistance of leatherette was found better than leather and textiles. The effect UV on leather, leatherette and textiles under natural and artificial weathering condition were correlated.