Comparative Study on the Light Fastness Properties of Different White Tanning Agents

The main causes of leather goods damage is fading as well as the damages caused by sweat and body grease, mechanical deformation and ageing. Tanning agents have varied efficiency on the UV durability and stabilization of collagen. It is because they have different bond strengths and binding mechanisms with leather. In this study, light fastness properties of the leathers tanned with the most commonly used white tanning agents were aimed to evaluate by using ATLAS XENOTEST ALPHA+ test instrument according to ISO 105-B02 standard test method and the leathers tanned with chromium tanning agent were used as a comparison. Blue wool test references were evaluated according to grey scale, and the evaluation of the color change for the tanned and dyed leathers against UV application of an artificial light source representative of natural daylight was carried out. In addition to light fastness test, colorimetric measurements of the treated samples and color changes before and after the UV application were also spectrophotometrically determined by Konica Minolta CM-3600d test device. The results showed that chromium tanned leathers provided the best light fastness results compared to other leathers tanned with white tanning materials. Zirconium and phosphonium tanned leathers had the same values and better than aluminum and vegetable tanned leathers.