Study on the application of a new multiepoxy reinforcement agent for sheep leather

Content: Leather is a kind of natural biomass composite material which is made of animal skin as material by a series of chemical and physical processing. Its main structure is Collagen fibers of three-dimensional network structure. As we all know sheep leather always exist a common problem with low strength, while the strength of leather depended on the woven degree of collagen fibers. Through the past decades, many methods have been tried to improve the properties of sheep leather. The most commonly used methods are retanning. However, the strength enhancement of sheep leather is extremely limited by retanning, although the fullness and softness may be improved. In this study, a new type of multi-epoxy reinforcement agent (IGE) and IGE with the synergistic effect of polyamine (IGE-PA) were used to enhance the strength of sheep leather in tanning and fatliquoring process. Comparing with chromium tanned leather, it was found that under the optimized conditions (dosage: 10%, pH: 8, Temperature: 35℃ for penetration and 45℃ for fixation, tanning time: 10 h) with IGE as the main tanning agent, the tearing strength was increased 56.8%. While when the polyamine as the synergetic agent for IGE, the tearing strength was significantly increased 87.9%. While IGE and IGE-PA were used in fatliquoring process, it has significant reinforcement effect for tetrakis hydroxymethyl phosphonium (THP) salt tanned leather. It was found that under the optimized conditions (Dosage: 2.5%, pH: 7-8, Temperature: 50℃, Time: 2h) with IGE in fatliquoring process, the tear strength was increased 50.24%, while the IGE-PA was used, the tear strength was increased 64.3%. Furthermore, TGA results showed that decomposition temperatures of IGE and IGE-PA enhanced leather were all higher than traditional chromium tanned leather. In addition, SEM results showed that IGE and IGE-PA enhanced leather obtained better opened-up fiber structure. Take-Away: 1. A new type of multi-epoxy tanning agent (IGE) has reinforcement effect for sheep leather especially in tear strength. 2. IGE with the synergistic effect of polyamine (IGE-PA) were used in tanning process, which has a significant enhancement for the sheep leather. 3. IGE and IGE-PA can be also used in fatliquoring process to enhance the strength of sheep leather