Abstract

This paper focuses on the effect of masking agents and tanning with zinc and zinc-titanium metal complexes. Sodium formate, sodium acetate, sodium citrate and sodium tartrate were used as masking agents. The best masking condition was chosen corresponding to the highest shrinkage temperature. Zinc sulfate and titanium sulfate, in different concentrations, were chosen as tanning agents in mixedtanning experiments. The highest shrinkage temperature of the wet-white was 77°C, and the attendant zinc content in its leather was 3.63%. After retannage with chrome powder, the shrinkage temperature of the resultant leather increased as expected, and reached 96°C. The wet-white was successfully split which lead to the use of non-chrome pre-tanning, the finished leather was able to meet the requirements.