Study of the weathering variables on chrome-tanned leather ageing

Abstract

Since upholstery leather is considered a very high-tech product, a long service life is expected by the costumer. However, this type of leather can undergo extreme environmental conditions that may cause premature ageing. This work deals with the study of the effect of temperature, relative humidity, and UV radiation on leather ageing. Leathers with chrome tannage were exposed to weathering effects using a climatic chamber in order to identify the most important variables affecting this weathering process and to check for interactions. Both a multilevel centralized factorial experimental design and an analysis of variance (ANOVA) have been employed as statistical tools for estimating the effects of the parameters.