Oxidation Stability of Leather

The production of leather goes back to prehistoric times. Primitive humans used different treating methods that have remained largely unchanged for centuries, exposing it to the smoke or putting it in contact with water or leaves. Nowadays, the leather manufacture is usually divided into three processes: preparatory stages, tanning and crusting. During the process of tanning, fat is dissolved from the animal skin. These small quantities of oil, known as fat liquors, make a significant difference to the handle, i.e. the fullness, softness and flexibility, among other factors. This application note evaluate the effect of adding an antioxidant treatment on leather, comparing the oxidation stability of leather with and without the addition of antioxidant agent. OXITEST is able to determine the oxidation stability of various sample types, directly on the whole sample, without any fat separation.