Abstract

Production of soft and strong leather requires a coordinated approach to all chemical and physical processing steps. The composition and nature of the fatliquors is only partly responsible for the leather’s softness. Opening up of the structure, neutralization and tanning influence the fatliquoring process and resulting leather as well. Knowledge about the changes of the dermal structure during beamhouse processing and its impact on the reaction of fat with leather is necessary for monitoring the fatliquoring process. Two different methods of opening up of the dermal structure – ‘lime-free’ and ‘lime’ – were used in our experiments to determine the relationship between the parameters mentioned above and the fatliquoring effect.