Artificial leather, entangled web of filaments, and process for producing these

A method of producing an artificial leather, the method consisting of, sequentially:

• (1) producing a filament web comprising at least one microfine fiber-forming filament;
• (2) producing an entangled filament web by entangling the filament web;
• (3) producing an entangled non-woven fabric by converting the at least one microfine fiber-forming filament in the entangled filament web to bundles of at least one microfine filament;
• (4) impregnating an elastic polymer consisting essentially of a polyurethane elastomer into the entangled non-woven fabric;
• and
• (5) forming a surface layer by napping the at least one microfine filament in the bundles on a surface of the entangled non-woven fabric to obtain at least one napped microfine filament and then ordering the at least one napped microfine filament, or by ordering the bundles on the surface of the entangled non-woven fabric and then napping the at least one microfine filament in the bundles, such that the artificial leather has metallic gloss producing (1), the producing (2), the producing (3), the impregnating (4), and the forming (5),
• wherein the napping and the ordering are conducted by brushing the surface of the entangled non-woven fabric with a roll comprising a brushing tool having a roughness corresponding to 280 to 1200 mesh of a sandpaper, thereby winding up the entangled non-woven fabric at a speed of 3 to 20 m/min while rotating the roll at a speed of 200 to 800 rpm, such that the surface layer comprises the at least one microfine filament or comprises the at least one microfine filament and the elastic polymer, that the surface layer is substantially free of bundles of the at least one microfine filament, that the microfine filament in the surface layer is oriented in the same direction, and that the surface layer satisfies an equation:
• X/Y≥1.5
• where
• X is the number of cut ends of the at least one microfine filament in a region from a surface to a 20 μm depth in a first cross section of the artificial leather,
• Y is the number of cut ends of the at least one microfine filament in a region from a surface to a 20 μm depth in a second cross section perpendicular to the first cross section, and
• X>Y.