Abstract

The tensile properties of cowskin leather are expressed in terms of its important mechanical properties. Variation in the collagen of cowhide is the microscopic cause of the tensile properties of cowhide. The aim of this study was to perform molecular dynamics simulations for the collagen stretching process of clothing cowhide at the rate of 0.01nm/ps, on lengths of 10nm. The changes in the RMSD (root square mean deviation of atomic position), SASA (solvent accessible surface), potential energy, and hydrogen bonding of collagen throughout the stretching process were obtained. The RMSD of the collagen fluctuated during the stretching process and tended to equilibrate. SASA increased with increasing voltage and reached a critical condition at 900 ps. In the molecular unwinding and uncoiling stage, the potential energy remained constant and it increased rapidly in the stage of stretching backbone. The numbers of hydrogen bonds within the collagen gradually decreased but increased between collagen and the aqueous solvent, with both hydrogen bonds reaching a turning point at 900ps.