Abstract

Fatliquors are involved in leather making process to separate fibres of leather from each other and impart soft hand feeling. Fatliquors are chemically modifications of vegetable and animal oils. Castor oil is suitable as a basic raw material for the preparation of fatliquor due to hydroxyl functionality on ricinoleic acid. In this paper, castor oil based synthetic fatliquors were synthesised by two step processes. In a first step castor oil is condensed with maleic anhydride at varying mole ratio from 1 to 3. In the second step castor maleic adduct was sulphited with sodium metabisulphite at varying mole ratios from zero to 1.5. Solubility behaviour with viscosity changes were observed at different mole ratios of reactants. Structural changes in synthetic fatliquors were studied by FTIR spectroscopy.

Fatliquoring properties of the stabilised fatliquors were comparatively evaluated on goat crust leather. Comparative analysis of leather softness, tear and tensile strengths, elongation at break, light fastness and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the fatliquored leathers were studied and comparatively better results were found in leather using the synthetic fatliquor which was synthesised at optimal conditions of castor oil to maleic anhydride mole ratio of 1:1.5 and further sulphitation of the castor maleic adduct with sodium metabisulphite at a mole ratio of 1.