Studies have been made of the reactions which take place when zirconium compounds and vegetable tannins react with chromium tanned leather, in order to elucidate the mechanisms of the reactions which occur on retannage. Statistical procedures have been used in all investigations because of the variable nature of the substrate, and computer techniques have been applied to the repetitive statistical computations. Although chromium and vegetable tannages are well understood, further information on the reaction of zirconium with collagen was necessary before attempting to interpret the results of the studies of combination tannages with chromium, and this has been obtained by a comparative study of the reactions of chromium and zirconium with modified collagen. It is concluded that the mechanism of the reaction of basic zirconium sulphate with collagen is multipoint attachment of the tanning material by residual valency forces, although charge effects with basic groups may be supplementary. Zirconyl chloride reacts with carboxyl groups but does not form satisfactory, stable cross-links with collagen. Further evidence for this theory was obtained from the investigation of the reaction of zirconium compounds with chromium tanned collagen. Zirconyl sulphate does not interfere with effective chromium tannage and therefore can have little affinity for the carboxyl groups on the protein, but it displaces chromium complexes loosely held by auxiliary valencies without reducing the shrinkage temperature of the chromium leather Zirconyl chloride, although only fixed to a limited extent, apparently forms co-ordination compounds with the carboxyl groups, disrupting the chromium tannage because there is an over-all loss of hydrothermal stability. There is no evidence that zirconium co-ordinates with, or releases acid from chromium-collagen complexes, since combination chromium/zirconium tanned leathers are stable on storage. Retannage of chromium tanned leather with vegetable tanning materials generally results in loss of strength and a product which tends to deteriorate on ageing. Lower initial strength is probably due to the increased avidity of chromium tanned pelt for vegetable tannins, resulting from the liberation of internally neutralised reactive sites which are not normally available in vegetable tannage, and from the co- ordination of vegetable tannins and non-tannins to the chromium complex with the displacement of sulphate radicals. From a study of the retannage of chromium tanned modified collagen, it appears that basic groups probably play an important part in the rapid absorption of vegetable tannin. These reactions result in overloading of the fibre and an increased number of cross-links, both of which tend to produce weak leather. Deterioration with age is primarily a hydrolytic degradation of the protein which is catalysed by acid liberated from the chromium complexes by the entry of vegetable tannins, those factors which favour the formation of acid causing greater and more rapid deterioration.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:rhodes/vital:4512 |
| Date | January 1969 |
| Creators | Williams-Wynn, David Ernest Arthur |
| Publisher | Rhodes University, Faculty of Science, Chemistry |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Doctoral, PhD |
| Format | 220, 164 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Williams-Wynn, David Ernest Arthur |
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