Modified Polyacrylates as a new Leather Retanning Agents

Acrylic resins have affinity for chrome tanned leather, for this reason, they are widely used as a retanning products. Its main use as a retanning agents is to produce full leathers. However, the leathers retanned with them have lower colour intensity and poorer structural properties because of their high anionicity which change the cationic surface of the leather causing a lower interaction of dyeing and fatliquoring agents with leather. This study proposes the use of modified polyacrylates as a new retanning agents. They were applied in leather versus traditional acrylic resins. The properties of the retanned leathers were evaluated concluding that this type of resins improve some leather properties avoiding the dyeing and fatliquoring problems of the traditional acrylic resins. The structure and the molecular weight of the modified polyacrylates play an interesting role in the improvement of the fixation of dyes and fatliquors, but also its lower anionic charge in comparison to the traditional acrylic resins. It has been observed that final leathers have a better colour intensity and softness. Moreover, its use as retanning agents favours the absorption of dyes and fatliquors which means an environmental improvement for the wet end process