Abstract
The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) has been used to determine the structure and to study the mechanical and chemical stability of natural and artificial leathers in wear and after testing in the laboratory. Artificial leathers, such as impermeable coated fabrics and poromerics which are permeable to water vapour, have been used more frequently in the last decade for clothing and footwear.
The mechanical flex cracking of leather and poromerics is discussed and the SEM studies have enabled the type of failure of the material in laboratory tests to be compared with that found in worn footwear.
Recent work has demonstrated that chemical degradation of poromerics is due to hydrolysis of the Polyurethane used in the microporous layer and these results have been confirmed by SEM studies. Reasonably good correlation between laboratory hydrolysis tests and chemical deterioration of the poromerics in wear has also been found.
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Paper presented to Institute of Physics and Physical Society Conference “Scanning Electron Microscopy in Materials Science”. Newcastle, 7–9 July, 1970.
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Hole, L.G., Whittaker, R.E. Structure and properties of natural and artificial leathers. J Mater Sci 6, 1–15 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00550284
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00550284