Abstract

Pickled skins were individually tanned with different commercial tanning agents, including chromitan [chrometan], glutaraldehyde and vegetable tannin extracts. The flammability of the tanned leathers were tested by the Oxygen Index test method (ASTM D 2863-77) and the Vertical Flame test (ALCA Method E 50). The densities of the tanned leathers were also measured to show the relationship between fibre’s tightness and leather’s flammability. The results show that the three tannages can enhance the flame resistance of leather and that the performance of tanning agents on leather can be ranked as: tannin extracts>chromitan>glutaraldehyde. The ranking of the leather density results is the same as the flammability sequence. The results should be useful as a basis for the options in tanning fire-resistant leather.