Effect of Fatliquoring on Grain and Corium Quality of Leather Assessed by Ball Bursting and Tearing Tests

Leather quality depends largely on the physical, mechanical and organoleptic characteristics of the finished leather from which the final articles are manufactured. Tearing strength and ball burst tests are especially relevant for leather goods that will be subjected to significant tearing and bursting stresses during use. The influence of different fatliquors on tearing and ball burst tests is studied using wet-blue leathers from Ireland as startingmaterial. Leathers were retanned and dyed following a conventional process and then, they were fatliquored with nine different fatliquoring agents provided by Trumpler Espanola. A 7% of active matter (on shaved weight) was applied. After a final washing, a sample of the treated leathers was kept in "crust" state (without finishing), and the rest received a light finishing process following a conventional recipe. To estimate differences between sides, the central parts of them were fatliquored with the same combination used as reference (sulphited triglycerides of rapeseed oil/fatty polymer). The characteristic components of the fatliquoring agents used were a) Soy lecithin, b) Sulphited triglycerides of rapeseed oil, c) Acrylic polymer (waterproofing agent), d) Fatty Polymers (sarcosinates), e) Sulphated triglycerides of rapeseed oil, f) Phosphoric Ester, g) C14 Paraffin, h) Sulphonated paraffin, and i) Sulphited fish oil. Based on the experimental results, treatments with similar effects on tearing and ball burst test behavior were grouped, clustering the fatliquors with similar effects on these characteristics when compared with the results of the nonfatliquored leather. The effect of finishing has also been studied.