Articles - Leather Technology Magazine Nş76
Tests for Dirt Resistance and Cleaning Ability of
Car Upholstery Leather
Patricia Casey Silvia Metz Gustavo Altobelli
Curtiembres Fonseca S.A. Buenos Aires Argentina
pcasey@fonseca.com.ar altobellig@fonseca.com.ar
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Tests for Dirt Resistance and Cleaning Ability of
Car Upholstery Leather
Work presented at 3rd Symposium of the Tanning Industry, Bs. As. November 2010
Key Words: resistance to dirt – cleaning ability – staining
ABSTRACT
In the last years, high resistance to dirt and suitable cleaning ability have
become part of the most important requirements in car upholstery.
High-quality car upholstery is no longer completely black or dark gray;
car interior designers have turned their preferences towards lighter, pastel
colors, such as the various shades of beige, gray, light brown or even white.
Therefore, leather for car seats must not only be pleasant to the touch,
resistant to wear and tear, rubbing, bending, etc. but also, after prolonged
use, it should still look untouched.
The finishing of the different leather types should be easily cleaned, making
them recover their initial appearance.
This property is not only related to the aesthetic of leather, but also to
environmental aspects. The evaluations of the life cycle of leather items,
which has grown in importance, not only include evaluating the leather
manufacturing process but also, to a great extent, the properties of use,
resistance to dirt and cleaning ability.
Dirt means the constant and regular exposure of leather to contaminants
because of the daily use.
The most frequent contaminants are: dust, oils, carbon compounds, artificial
colors used to dye fabric (especially the fabric used to manufacture jean or
denim garments).
Staining, instead, may be defined as an accidental event by which a liquid or
solid gets in contact with leather, for example, coffee spills, several types of
alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages, lipstick stains, pen inks, etc.
This work describes the main methods used by car companies to measure
resistance to dirt, the degree of dirt before and after cleaning with different
products and, consequently, the impact of such processes on the original
properties of leather.
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