Abstract

In this study, the dry heat resistances of the leathers tanned with different agents such as vegetable, glutaraldehyde, zirconium, phosphonium and chromium were investigated. The morphological characterisation of the tanned leathers was performed by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) based on the grain surface and cross section of the leather samples. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was employed to analyse the molecular structure of the tanned leathers. The results showed that the tanned leathers have different dry heat resistances measured at 150°C and 200°C for 30 minutes which are not in parallel with their hydrothermal stability values. The study presented has established that because of the covalent bonding with collagen, usage of chromium is an effective tanning system in achieving the highest dry heat resistance. Because of good filling properties the dry heat resistance values for vegetable and zirconium-tanned leathers were found to be better among the other tanning processes.