Haojie Qin,
Xiaojun Shen*,
Yuye Chai and
Xiaohong Xu
Zhejiang Province Key Lab of Leather Engineering, College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou 325035, Zhejiang, China. E-mail: shenxj@wzu.edu.cn
First published on 17th January 2025
Waterproof fatliquoring agents can transform leather from a hydrophilic state to a hydrophobic state in the wet process of leather production. However, traditional waterproof fatliquoring agents may cause environmental pollution. Fluorocarbons in fluorinated fatliquoring agents are difficult to degrade, and polyacrylic acid fatliquoring agents require chromium powder fixation. In this work, we proposed a simple and green leather waterproofing strategy through the wet process. The strategy used silane coupling agents, water, and ethanol to waterproof the fatliquored leather. The results indicated that leather exhibited excellent waterproof performance when treated with 20% hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (TMS16), 20% water and 300% ethanol at 30 °C for 6 hours. The water contact angle (WCA) of leather was greater than 120° and maintained lasting hydrophobicity, which can still sustain a high contact angle after 30 minutes. In addition, the physical properties of the leather were significantly improved. After the TMS16 treatment, the tensile strength of the leather increased from 4.82 MPa to 12.45 MPa, the tear strength increased from 77.07 N mm−1 to 125.01 N mm−1, and the elongation at break increased from 47.03% to 66.71%. This leather waterproofing strategy is environmentally friendly, and the process is simple.
Leather is formed by interweaving natural fibers, and there are micropores between the fibers. Water can enter the leather through the spaces between the fibers. At the same time, the active polar groups, such as amino and hydroxyl groups, in the side chains of the collagen fibers can be connected with water molecules by hydrogen bonding, thus wetting the fibers.7,8 Therefore, the principle of leather waterproofing treatment must be focused on reducing the surface tension of collagen fibers, closing the gaps between the collagen fibers and increasing the surface roughness of the leather.9
Previously, many treatment schemes for producing hydrophobic leather have been proposed. For instance, Marta Fadda et al. developed a water-protecting coating using only two food byproducts: epoxidized soybean oil and the fatty acid trimer Pripol. These two building blocks were deposited on leather and then crosslinked to create a strong network, making the leather hydrophobic, with a water contact angle >120°.10 Ma et al. prepared a super hydrophobic leather coating by spraying polyacrylate emulsion followed by hydrophobic silica nanoparticles in an ethanol dispersion system.11 However, these treatments only make the surface of the leather hydrophobic, and the inside of the leather is not hydrophobic. Once the hydrophobic coating is damaged by mechanical wear, the leather will be hydrophilic again.12 Luo et al. polymerized oil with maleic anhydride and then grafted dodecafluoroheptanol to prepare a fluorinated polymer fatliquoring agent. Fatliquored leather has excellent waterproof properties.13 Jin et al. synthesized two polymer nanoemulsions containing carboxyl groups and used them as waterproof fatliquoring agents for chrome-tanned leather. However, chromium is required to be fixed during the fatliquoring process.4 Both hexavalent chromium and fluorocarbon will cause environmental pollution.
Silane coupling agents can chemically bond with organic and inorganic materials, connecting the two materials with vastly different properties to improve the performance of the composite materials.14 The general formula is Y–Si–(OR)3. When the –OR groups hydrolyze into hydroxyl groups, silanol (Si–OH) groups are generated, which can form a covalent bond with the inorganic/polymer interface with hydroxyl groups.15 Among them, long-chain alkyl siloxanes have flexible long chains, which can significantly reduce the surface energy of substances and make them hydrophobic.16 Therefore, it is an ideal hydrophobic material. Nano SiO2 is hydrophilic due to the presence of hydroxyl groups on its surface, which limits its application in some fields. Xu et al. used hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (HDTMS) to modify the hydrophobicity of nano SiO2 and the WCA reached 170.9°, which was super hydrophobic.17 Adeleke A. Oyekanmi et al. enhanced the hydrophobicity of macroalgae polymer films with silane. Compared with the unmodified membrane, the modified membrane with silane coupling agent not only improves the hydrophobicity of the polymer membrane but also further improves the strength and thermal stability of the polymer membrane.18 Xu et al. tanned the leather with a silane coupling agent, and the treated leather had excellent and long-lasting hydrophobicity and a good tanning effect. However, the crust leather is different from the traditional leather and the post-tanning for this kind of crust leather should be further investigated.19
In this work, we proposed a simple and green leather waterproofing strategy, using silane coupling agents for the waterproofing treatment of fatliquored leather. Under the right reaction conditions, the hydroxyl group hydrolyzed by the silane coupling agent was chemically combined with the hydroxyl group on collagen fiber (Fig. 1). The silicon carbon chain acts as a hydrophobic backbone. The reaction conditions and treatment technology were explored. The hydrophobicity of the treated leather was evaluated. In addition, the physical properties and thermal stability of leather were also investigated.
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Fig. 1 Schematic illustration of the waterproofing treatment method and the reaction mechanism of silane coupling agents. |
In a typical waterproofing treatment, 30.0 g of the dried sheepskin, 6.0 g of TMS (TMS8 or TMS12 or TMS16), 6.0 g of water and 90.0 g of ethanol were mixed in a drum. After rotating the mixture in the drum at 30 °C for 6 hours, it was kept standing overnight. Finally, the leather was dried and tumbled. The wet finishing process is shown in Table 1.
Process | Materials | Dosage/% | Temperature/°C | Time/min | pH |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chrome retanning | |||||
Neutralizing | Water | 150 | 35 | ||
Sodium formate | 2 | 30 | |||
Sodium bicarbonate | 1 | 60 | 5.5–5.8 | ||
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Washing | |||||
Fatliquoring | Water | 200 | 50 | 60 | |
Fatliquoring | 8 | ||||
Agent | |||||
Formic acid | 1.5 | 10 + 30 | 3.3 | ||
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Washing, drying | |||||
Waterproofing | TMS | 20 | 30 | ||
Water | 20 | ||||
Ethanol | 300 | 360 | |||
Drying, softening |
With the increase of the TMS16 dosage, the WCAs of leather increases gradually, and the change of WCAs decreases with the extension of time (Fig. 2a). Among them, the leather treated with 20% TMS16 has the best hydrophobic effect. After 30 minutes, WCAs dropped from 126.2° to 111.9°, a decrease of only 14.3°. The 24 h static water absorption rate of 20% TMS16 leather was the lowest, which was 61.2% (Fig. 3a). But excessive use of TMS16 can also have negative effects. Too much condensation of TMS16 on the leather surface, produces white flocculent affecting its penetration in the leather interior, resulting in a decrease in leather hydrophobicity.
Water plays an important role in the hydrolysis process of silane coupling agents. As shown in Fig. 2b, leather treated with 20% water content has the best hydrophobic effect, and the WCA did not significantly decrease over time. After 30 minutes, WCA was 101.9°. However, too much or too little water can affect the hydrophobicity of leather. The more water content in the system, the poorer the hydrophobic durability. After 30 minutes, the WCA of leather treated with 80% water content was only 50.8°. This is because the water content is too high. Silane coupling agent rapidly hydrolyzes on the surface of the leather, undergoing self-condensation, and reacting with collagen fibers. This hinders its penetration and distribution inside the leather. Too little water in the system can also affect the hydrophobicity of leather. Due to little water, the silane coupling agent cannot fully hydrolyze and cannot react with collagen fibers or itself, only physically adsorbing with collagen fibers. Fig. 3b shows the same pattern. The static water absorption of leather treated with 20% water was the lowest.
The carbon chain length of the silane coupling agents also has a significant impact on the hydrophobicity of leather. The influence of the carbon chain length was explored (Fig. 2c), with the amounts of TMS8, TMS12 and TMS16 controlled to 20%. Leather treated with TMS16 had the best hydrophobic effect. After 30 minutes, WCA only decreased by 9°. The hydrophobic effect of the leather treated with TMS8 was worse than that of untreated leather. After 5 minutes, WCA quickly dropped to 0°. The results show that the longer carbon chain in the silane coupling agent is beneficial to the hydrophobic effect.
Fig. 2d and 3d show the influence of the reaction temperature on the hydrophobicity of leather. Both high and low temperatures can reduce the hydrophobicity of leather. When at high temperatures, the silane coupling agent is rapidly hydrolyzed and condensed on the surface of the leather. This affected the distribution and reaction of silane coupling agents inside the leather. Low temperature led to a slow hydrolysis rate of the silane coupling agent and less reaction between the collagen fibers and themselves.
The reaction time can also affect the hydrophobicity of leather (Fig. 2e). The hydrophobicity of leather was not good when the reaction time was too short. WCA rapidly decreases over time. After 30 minutes, the WCA was less than 100°. Approximatively, the static water absorption rate of leather with a reaction time of 6 hours and overnight is the lowest, at 66.9% (Fig. 3e). This is because when the reaction time is too short, the silane coupling agent is not fully hydrolyzed, and the binding with collagen fibers is lower. Meanwhile, due to the short reaction time, the penetration and distribution of silane coupling agents in leather are uneven.
Fig. 2f shows the effect of proportionally increasing or decreasing the overall dosage on the hydrophobicity of leather. By proportionally reducing the dosage, WCA rapidly decreased over time. After 5 minutes, it had dropped below 90°. Meanwhile, the smaller the dosage, the more significant the decrease in WCA. Fig. 3f shows the same pattern. This is caused by the reduction of silane coupling agents. By proportionally increasing the dosage, the WCAs of the leather slightly increased. It is probably because the amount of the silane coupling agent has reached the critical point, and increasing the amount has little effect on the hydrophobicity of leather. At the same time, due to the proportional increase in dosage, serious condensation occurred on the leather's surface, resulting in a large number of white spots. In addition, leather cannot absorb all ethanol. Excess ethanol dissolved the fatliquoring agent in the leather, affecting its performance.
From Fig. 4a–f, it can be observed that the reaction conditions are not properly controlled, and white particles will deposit on the leather surface. This was caused by the accumulation of silane coupling agents on the surface of the leather. A large amount of silane coupling agent was deposited on the leather surface, which hinders its penetration and distribution inside the leather. It further affected the hydrophobicity and appearance of leather. In too little water, the silane coupling agent cannot be fully hydrolyzed, and only physical adsorption occurs (Fig. 4a). Too much water or too high temperature will cause the hydrolysis rate of the silane coupling agent to be too fast, and white particles will appear on the leather surface (Fig. 4b and c). Excessive silane coupling agent condensation on the leather surface can also cause this phenomenon (Fig. 4d and e). When the reaction conditions are properly controlled, white particles will not appear on the leather surface (Fig. 4f). At the same time, leather had excellent hydrophobicity.
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Fig. 5 WCAs of the grain layer, flesh layer and middle layer of untreated leather and TMS16 treated leather. |
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Fig. 7 (a) Cross-section SEM images of untreated leather. (b) Cross-section SEM images of TMS16-treated leather. (c) EDS-mapping of the cross-section of TMS16-treated leather. |
As shown in the EDS mapping of the cross-section, similar to C and N, Si was almost evenly distributed in the cross-section of the TMS16-treated leather (Fig. 7c), which favored the overall hydrophobicity of the leather. The results indicated that the penetration of the silane coupling agent into leather is comprehensive. The full penetration of the silane coupling agent ensures the overall hydrophobicity of leather.
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Fig. 8 (a) Tensile strength curves, (b) elongation at break, (c) tear strength, and (d) softness of the sheepskins with different treatments. |
After treatment with the silane coupling agent, there was no significant change in the softness of the leather (Fig. 8d), and excellent softness was still maintained. This indicates that the introduction of silane coupling agents will not affect the softness of leather. It is worth noting that ethanol needs to be added during the waterproofing treatment, but excessive ethanol can dissolve the fatliquoring agent in the leather, causing the fatliquoring process to lose its effectiveness. Therefore, reasonable control of the amount of ethanol will not affect the fatliquoring process, and leather will still have excellent softness.
In addition, we investigated the water vapor permeability of leather, which impacts the essential functional properties such as the breathability and comfort of leather products.34,35 The water vapor permeability of the untreated leather was 19.6 (mg cm−2 h−1). After the TMS16 hydrophobic treatment, the water vapor permeability was 16.4 (mg cm−2 h−1). After the hydrophobic treatment, the water vapor permeability of the leather decreased slightly. This is because the untreated leather is hydrophilic and has excellent moisture absorption. However, the water vapor permeability decreased a little, which indicates that the hydrophobic treatment has little effect on the water vapor permeability of leather.
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Fig. 9 (a) Various droplets (water, coffee, milk, tea, and dye droplets) on the leather grain layer, (b) the photo of untreated leather and TMS16-treated leather in water. |
To investigate the effect of different treatment methods on the overall hydrophobicity of leather, we evaluated the hydrophobicity of the middle layer of leather (Fig. 10a). The leather surface after spraying had hydrophobicity. However, the hydrophobicity of the middle layer was poor. After 30 minutes, the WCA dropped to 55.9°. The middle layer of the drum-soaked leather still exhibited excellent hydrophobicity. After 30 minutes, the water contact angle remained at 122.2°. This is because of the spraying method, the silane coupling agent only stays on the surface of the leather and does not penetrate the interior of the leather. The hydrophobicity of drum-soaked leather is all over, and the silane coupling agent completely penetrates and evenly distributes throughout every part of the leather.
In addition, we investigated the effect of the waterproofing treatment sequence on the hydrophobicity of leather (Fig. 10b). Unfatliquored leather treated with TMS16 had poor hydrophobicity. At the same time, after hydrophobic treatment of the unfatliquored leather, there are difficulties in leather wetting and absorption of the fatliquoring agent in the subsequent fatliquoring process (Fig. 10d). Therefore, it is best to arrange the waterproofing treatment in the last process of wet process.
After soaking in water and ethanol for 24 hours, the WCA of the leather treated with TMS16 remained at around 120° (Fig. 10c). Leather had hydrophobic persistence. However, after soaking in isopropanol for 24 hours, the hydrophobicity of the leather decreased. However, after 30 minutes, the water contact angle was still greater than 90°. These results indicate that the combination of the silane coupling agents and collagen fibers endows leather with lasting and stable hydrophobicity, which can resist complex external environments.
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