Abstract

This review is concerned with some of the research work on leather rheology which has been published over the last fifty years and is divided into three main sections. The first section deals with how leather deforms when stress is applied to it, the second discusses work which has been carried out on plasticity and set and the third considers the important topic of rupture. Points of concern are how the structure of leather controls its rheological response and how knowledge from other branches of materials science might help towards further understanding of the behaviour of leather.