Chrome-melamine Syntan: A Step Towards Developing Fuller Leather

Abstract

The leather industry operates in stages. Many of the finished leather manufacturers source their wet blue leathers from various regions or tanners. In order to have uniformity of metal oxide content, almost all the leathers are rechromed. For this, the industry employs masked chromium(III) salts provided by the leather auxiliary industry in the form of complexes co-linked to phenol/ naphthalene condensates. Also, tanners who use hides/skins from ill fed animals treat their tanned substrate with melamine condensates, so as to get a preferential filling of the belly region. Metal ion complexes co-linked to melamine condensates are rather scarce. For the first time, this paper reports the application studies using a chromium melamine condensate devoid of formaldehyde as cross linker. The said product has been employed in rechroming and evaluated for multiple properties such as providing an equalization of chrome content and filling of belly region. Our studies clearly indicate a marked advantage of employing such a product in the place of commercial chrome syntans alongside melamine condensates, more so for ill fed cowhides.