A seat cover is a product designed to protect vehicle seats from wear and tear, dirt and spills. It can also be used to enhance the appearance of a car interior. It can be made from leather, faux leather, fabric or neoprene. The choice of material is important for comfort, durability, and appearance. Fabric covers are cheap but may not be as comfortable as leather or neoprene, and they can be easily stained or damaged by liquids and food.
Woven fabrics have better abrasion resistance than knit fabrics, but they tend to have lower elasticity. In order to improve this elasticity, some elastomeric fibers have been used, such as polybutylterephthalate (PBT), which has superior abrasion resistance. In addition, there is a growing interest in using high-abrasion-resistance materials such as aramid, which are known to have good tear strength and tensile properties.
Seat cover fabrics are usually treated with different finishing processes such as stentering, which provides a flat, tension-free substrate for lamination and subsequent seat fabrication [3]. Some fabrics have been coated to enhance their performance characteristics, for example, woven velvets that are often coated to improve pile pull-out properties. Other coatings have been developed to maintain the integrity of the fabric structure and improve dimensional stability, colourfastness to light, and abrasion resistance.