Abstract

Chrome tanned bovine leather has been dried under uniaxial strain and its relative bending modulus has been determined as a function of the amount of strain applied during drying and of the angle h between the test piece and the applied strain axis (long axis of sample). The orientation distribution of collagen fibres in the leather was also examined using wide angle X-ray diffraction at the Synchrotron Radiation Source at Daresbury. It was found that the bending modulus showed a marked dependence on both the amounts of applied strain and the angle h. This dependence could be understood in terms of the changes in fibre orientation caused by the action of the strain applied during drying.