The Antioxidant Effect of Collagen Hydrolysate on Improving Lightfastness and Mechanical Properties of the Granofin Easy F90-Mimosa-Tanned Leather

The effect of antioxidants on the properties of Granofin easy-F90-mimosa-tanned leather is explored in the present paper. The fresh bovine hides were prepared through soaking, liming, de-liming, and bating processes before being tanned with Granofin Easy-F90 and mimosa. Granofin easy-F90 (G) and mimosa (M) were used as cross-linking agents and collagen hydrolysate (C) was used as an antioxidant. The molecular structure, lightfastness, mechanical properties, morphology, and shrinkage temperature (Ts) of leather were measured using Attenuated total reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), Xenotest Alpha and Beta LM, tensile strength testing machine, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and a leather shrinkage temperature tester, respectively. The results indicated that the lightfastness, shrinkage temperature, tear strength, tensile strength, and elongation at the break of the sample treated with collagen hydrolysate were improved. The Granofin easy-F90-mimosa-collagen hydrolysate (GMC) tanned leather sample offered a lightfastness, shrinkage temperature, tear strength, tensile strength, and elongation at break of 4, 95°C, 37.8N/mm, 25N/mm2, 42%, and the Granofin easy-F90-mimosa-tanned leather sample gave 3-4, 91.5°C, 30.5 N/mm, 24.2 N/mm2, 44.6%, respectively. Considering these results, it is proved that collagen hydrolysate had a positive impact on leather properties.