engleski

Plasma Pre-treatments Improves Antimicrobial Properties of Bovine Splitted Leather

This paper presents the application of oxygen and argon plasma pre-treatments in combination with 1, 2, 3, 4 - butantetracarboxylic acid (BTCA) and chitosan, as part of research of pre-treatment processes for bovine leather tanned with various tanning agent. Pre- treatments of leather-tested substrate were conducted using different gases in order to assess different impacts of chemically reactive oxygen and inert argon gas on leather surface properties. The tests were carried out on bovine chrome tanned cleaved leather. Simple drop test was used for testing hydrophilicity of the sample, while the surface morphological changes were analysed using SEM microscopy. In order to examine leather performance in conditions of usage, the permeability of alkaline sweat solution under defined conditions was measured. Antimicrobial efficacy of treated leather sample was tested according to agar diffusion plate test against two bacterial species Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Based on the obtained results it can be concluded that applied plasma pretreatments in optimized process conditions can contribute to the improvement of functional (antimicrobial) properties as well as wearability in conditions of use, primarily intended for footwear insole and similar products.

Plasma surface pre-treatments, semi-processed bovine splitted leather, chitosan, SEM analysis,

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