Abstract

This paper focuses on the effect of temperature and humidity on the moisture permeability of thin sheep leather before and after acrylic coating. The arrangement of its protein fibres was studied by scanning electron microscopy. The fitted equations for the relationship between the moisture permeability of two types of leather and temperature and humidity at 1atm were obtained by analysis. The equation for thin sheep leather was derived: Y1= 0.02357T 2+ 0.002228TH – 0.003354H 2 – 1.814T + 0.3431H + 26.34 and the equation for thin sheep leather after acrylic coating was:Y2= 0.004074T 2 – 0.001988TH + 0.001366H 2 – 0.2051T – 0.1127H + 8.859. Combined with a molecular dynamics simulation, the reasons for the difference of moisture permeability between the two kinds of leather are analysed from the microscopic point of view, The RMSD values of 1cgd before binding to acrylic acid molecules were found to fluctuate more at 40°C. At the same time, the Rg value is larger, so the molecular motion is more intense, the transfer rate of water molecules is faster, and the moisture permeability is greater.

RMSD (root mean square deviation of atomic positions) refers to the deviation between the structure of protein molecules and the initial structure in the process of molecular dynamics simulation. Rg refers to the geometric mean of the distance between all atoms in the protein molecule and the protein molecular mass centre.