Characteristics of natural leather finished with some ecofriendly mixtures of polymeric aqueous dispersions

• Published in: Journal of polymer engineering Vol. 35; no. 5; pp. 463 - 470
• Main Authors: Niculescu, Olga, Moldovan, Zenovia, Leca, Minodora, Chelaru, Ciprian, Alexandrescu, Laura, Aboul-Enein, Hassan Y.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: De Gruyter 01.06.2015
• Subjects: acrylic copolymer-epoxy resin; finishing agents; FT-IR and SEM analysis; leather; water based polyurethane
• ISSN: 0334-6447; 2191-0340
• DOI: 10.1515/polyeng-2014-0286

A series of mixtures of acrylic copolymer aqueous dispersions or acrylic copolymers and polyurethane water dispersions were used as environmentally friendly base coatings and an acrylic self-crosslinkable copolymer dispersion containing epoxy resin as top coating for natural leather. Samples finished with the proposed additives were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and physical-mechanical tests. FT-IR spectra show that the proposed ecofriendly dispersion used as top coating not only covers the surface of leather, but it is chemically bound with the base coat, assuring a resistant coverage. SEM images show smooth and uniform surfaces. Physical-mechanical characteristics are superior to those imposed by standards in force, demonstrating that the proposed dispersion is able to substitute successfully the top coating nitrocellulose aqueous emulsions (noted EMAL) commonly used as finishing agents, in which the nitrocellulose is dispersed as solution.