Evaluation of Combination Tanning and Natural Finishing on Sheep Leather with Uncaria Gambir Roxb Extract

The discovery of natural local resources for tanning and coloring agents are growing dramatically to sustain a cleaner leather manufacturing technology. Gambir (Uncaria gambir Roxb) has been found potential as tannin and dyestuffs for leather and textile industry. Therefore, to explore these issues, a combination tanning and finishing system were evaluated to observe the efficiency of this extract on leather processing. A combination tanning system based on chrome or glutaraldehyde – gambir and followed by gambir as coloring agent with different concentrations (100 - 200 parts/L) have been applied. In this FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy) analysis of gambir extract showed the presence of phenolic hydroxyl group. Our results revealed that chrome - gambir and glutaraldehyde - gambir finished leather product with 150 parts/L of gambir extract showed excellent rub fastness, color fastness to perspiration and washing. Most of the result values obtained were generally at satisfactory levels which were between 3/4 and 5 fastness values. Visual evaluation reported that chrome-gambir finished leather product with 150 parts/L of gambir extract exhibited better uniformity of colour fastness.