STUDY ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF LEATHERS REINFORCED WITH SUPPORTING MATERIALS

Abstract

Depending on the design chosen for the production of leather goods, leather can be used alone or together with various supporting materials which give form and strength to it. Reinforcements are extremely important component of leather goods whether wallet or purse, handbags or suitcases, belts or portfolio. Reinforcements which provide support to the leather are used to change the drape and handling of leather goods. The physico-mechanical properties of the leather goods may vary depending on the supporting material used. In this study, the mechanical properties of leather for handicrafts reinforced with supporting materials, in particular, salpa and syntex with different thicknesses were examined. For this purpose, the measurement of thickness, tear load, tensile strength and percentage extension have been performed. The highest tensile strength and tear load results were obtained for the leather used with syntex 1 and syntex 2 as 23.5 N/mm2 and 397.5 N, respectively. In spite of high values of the percentage extension of syntex 1 and syntex 2, these values were decreased when they were used with leather. It was also determined that the tensile strength and tear load values of the leather adhered with salpa are increased with the increased thickness of salpa materials.

Keywords

• leather
• leather handicrafts
• reinforcement materials
• salpa
• syntex