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Title: PHYSICAL PROPERTY STUDIES FOR LEATHER LUBRICATED WITH VARIOUS TYPES OF FATLIQUORS

Author
item Liu, Cheng Kung
item Latona, Nicholas - Nick
item Dimaio, Gary

Submitted to: Journal of American Leather Chemists Association
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/20/2002
Publication Date: 11/1/2002
Citation: LIU, C., LATONA, N.P., DIMAIO, G.L. PHYSICAL PROPERTY STUDIES FOR LEATHER LUBRICATED WITH VARIOUS TYPES OF FATLIQUORS. JOURNAL OF AMERICAN LEATHER CHEMISTS ASSOCIATION. 2002. V. 97. P. 431-440.

Interpretive Summary: Fatliquoring is an oil-addition process and is one of the key steps in leather manufacturing. Its function is to lubricate the leather's fibrous structure, and consequently it provides softness to the leather. There are many types of fatliquors currently available in the market. Information regarding their performance in terms of physical properties is lacking. We etherefore carried out this comparison study to determine how the physical properties were affected using a wide variety of fatliquors. Our study has shown that the type of fatliquor applied in a fatliquoring process can affect the results immensely. It appears that one of the key functions of fatliquoring is to reduce the resistance of leather to a small deformation. We believe that the methodology and information reported in this study will assist leather manufacturers in their selection of fatliquors.

Technical Abstract: The use of fatliquors is critical to attain the required physical characteristics for leather products. Currently a wide variety of fatliquors are being used in leather manufacturing. There is a lack of information, however, regarding their performance in terms of physical properties. Such information certainly is very informative for the leather rmanufacturers to select the right fatliquors to meet quality demands. We have therefore recently conducted a comparison study on the physical properties of leather prepared with various types of fatliquors. Observations showed that the fatliquor derived from fish oils gave the highest softness to vacuum-dried leather as indicated by both the manual assessment and the Young's modulus, which was measured from the initial slope of the stress-strain curve. Observations also revealed a close relationship between Young's modulus, elongation, and tear strength. Data indicated that a lower Young's modulus induced higher elongation, which resulted in increased tear strength. It appears that one of the key functions of fatliquoring is to reduce the initial deformation resistance. This behavior is reflected by a lower Young's modulus, an indication of a lower resistance of deformation.