Abstract

Shaving scrap is collagen fibre, that is the leather waste occurring during thickness adjustment during the natural leather manufacturing process, and may cause problems such as environmental contamination because of the chromium (Cr) contained when it comes to reclaiming processes. Various studies applying to shaving scrap are currently being conducted in many countries across the world with an initiative by the EU. Amongst those applications, the regenerated leather is being highlighted as a substitute for natural leather. However, since the regenerated leather uses latex as a binder, it accordingly entails a high weight, which is deemed as a disadvantage due to its dense internal tissues compared to other synthetic leathers. To address such disadvantages, this study employed the thermally expandable microspheres (TEMs) to improve its density and light weight by alleviating the internal structure. This is a study on the manufacturing of foamed regenerated leather using shaving scraps. In the study, the shaving scraps were forced to foam at under 100~120°C with consideration for the heat resistance of collagen fibre after applying the thermally expandable micro sphere, and then the effect was analysed. In the analysis results, the most effective foaming rate was exhibited when the shaving scraps were treated at under 110°C for 8 minutes using TEMs T110.