Effect of Chain Transfer Agents During Graft Polymerization in Leathers

Abstract

In recent years intensive work has been carried out in this and other laboratories (1–4) in attempts to modify the properties of leather by in-situ grafting of monomers onto the leather substrate. Such work has followed the interpretations used in other areas where grafting onto other natural materials has been employed (5–7). These interpretations classify extractable polymer as “homopolymerized,” i.e., not covalently bonded to the substrate, and unextractable polymer as “grafted,” i.e., covalently bonded to the substrate. Recent work summarized in another paper to be presented in this book (8) casts some doubt on this interpretation as to how much of the strongly bonded polymer is actually covalently bonded. Nevertheless, in this paper, to simplify discussion and to be in accord with historical perspectives, the term graft polymer will be employed for the bound unextractable polymer.