| abstract |
A nonwoven fabric having an intermingled structure constituted of ultrafine-denier fibers prepared by dividing delaminable conjugate short fibers composed of two of more components, which satisfies the requirements that the single-fiber fineness of each ultrafine-denier fiber is 0.01 to 0.5 denier, that the apparent density of the nonwoven fabric is 0.18 to 0.45 g/cm3, that the ultrafine-denier fibers are intermingled with each other at random to take a dense nonwoven fabric structure, and that the section of the nonwoven fabric has such a homogeneous structure that the average area of empty spaces among fibers in the section is 70 to 250 νm2 with a standard deviation of the area thereof lying in the range of 200 to 600 νm2 as determined by the image analysis of the section with a scanning electron microscope; and sheetlike materials produced by impregnating the nonwoven fabric with polymeric elastomers. The nonwoven fabric and sheetlike materials are advantageously usable as bases of synthetic leathers. |