Abstract

The influence of enzyme action—during hair-saving unhairing—on the grain layer and grain surface of two kinds of leather (upholstery and a firm upper leather) is described in this paper.

Two experiments were performed involving two variations of the unhairing process: hair-saving enzymeassisted unhairing and hair-saving “chemical” unhairing. The first experiment involved upholstery leather and the second involved firm upper leather.

The unhairing processes were applied at CITECs experimental plant, by using five cattle hides for each unhairing. The pelt was processed in the tannery’s production line, to the semi-finished leather stage. At this stage, a subjective inspection was performed and an official sampling area was taken from every leather to evaluate their physical—mechanical properties. Then, both types of leather were finished at the tannery. The results obtained led to the following conclusions:

• the physical—mechanical properties of the leather were not impaired when compared with the figures corresponding to normal production leather.
• for both types of leather (upholstery and firm upper leather), the “buffing effect” on the grain was more noticeable in the “enzyme-unhaired” leathers.
• In tanneries producing corrected grain leathers, an enzyme-assisted unhairing process could be used, especially for finished leather. Concerning articles made without a film-covering finish, our observations of an uneven dye absorption in enzyme-unhaired leather should be noted.