THE INFLUENCE OF FATLIOURING PROCESS ON GARMENT LEATHER DRAPEABILITY

Abstract

Fatliquoring process is of importance due to the impact on the comfort and mechanical properties of the leathers. In this process, leathers are lubricated to minimize the fibre friction, to ensure the comfort properties like softness, drapeability and flexibility, to provide the required mechanical and touch properties. And the comfort of a leather product is explained as the satisfaction of a person in the wear material. Thus the fatliqouring process, the types and the proportion of fatliqours used in the process become the main focus in terms of drape behaoivors and physical characteristics of the leathers. For this purpose, the effect of fatliqouring process on the drapeability behaiovurs of the garment leathers was aimed to investigate. In the study, fifteen wet-blue leathers and the mixture of synthetic, sulphited and sulphonated fatliqouring agents were used for the garment leather production. The leathers were treated with the fatliqouring agents in five different proportions such as 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12%. Subsequent to mechanical operations, crust leathers were evaluated in accordance with the standards of TS ISO 3801 - Determination of mass per unit length and mass per unit area, TS EN ISO 2589 - Determination of thickness, TS 9693 - The Assessment of Drape of Fabrics, TS 1409 - Stiffness Determination of Woven Textiles and ASTM D1388 - Standard test method for stiffness of fabrics. As a result of the study, it was revealed that the increase in the amount of fatliqours led the enhanced drapeability characteristics of the garment leathers.

Keywords

• Fatiquoring
• leather
• softness
• drapeability
• bending rigidity
• stiffness