Zhihao: Tips for Caring for Light-Colored Leather
Release Time:
2019-03-08 14:51
Source:
Colleagues engaged in leather care often have this feeling: from the color perspective, black and dark colors are easier to handle, while light colors, especially bright light colors, are relatively difficult. In recent years, during technical exchange activities across the country, it has also been found that leather care shops have more issues with bright light colors. Today, I would like to share and discuss this issue with peers.
Care for Light-Colored Leather Products
The reason why light-colored leather care is difficult Light colors generally have poor coverage; spraying several times still cannot cover, and sometimes stains appear darker the more you spray. We are dealing with worn or used leather products that have various problems, such as some special stains that cannot be cleaned thoroughly, and improper cleaning operations can cause serious color aggregation and color spots. If we do not master the operation skills and relevant knowledge of leather finishing, it is difficult to achieve perfection.
I. Common Mistakes
1. To improve coverage, increasing the pigment concentration and reducing the proportion of film-forming agents (resins) is a common mistake among beginners. This approach is harmful in every way, leading to color fading, poor resistance to dry and wet rubbing, worse hand feel, and in severe cases, cracking and peeling of the coating.
2. Spraying multiple times and increasing the thickness of each coating is also an inadvisable practice. Firstly, it enhances the plastic feel, weakens the genuine leather feel, creates unnatural gloss, and changes the style (which is the last thing leather care professionals want to see); secondly, it worsens the hand feel and wearing comfort, and in severe cases, may cause peeling.
II. So how to solve this problem? How to properly care for light-colored leather?
As you know, leather care is an extension and supplement of the leather processing industry. Although the operation methods of leather care and leather processing differ greatly (leather factories use modern equipment such as spraying lines, while leather care is mainly manual), the chemicals and basic principles we use are similar. During leather processing, situations requiring coverage also occur. To improve coverage, coloring agents mainly use pigments (color paste), and film-forming agents are chosen to be opaque materials, or fillers that enhance coverage are added to the prepared color paste to create diffuse reflection of light, making surface defects less visible. For example, through clear glass, we can clearly see the other side, but if the glass is frosted, we cannot see clearly; the principle is the same.
Figure 1 Resin Film Adhesion Test
We can learn from leather processing technology and mechanisms: if you want coverage, choose high-fineness color paste and opaque materials for film-forming agents (most film-forming materials on the market are transparent). Zhihai Chemical's "Matte Coverage Resin" forms an opaque film, and the "Ultra-Soft Repair Agent" contains matting fillers that also improve coverage. The specific ratio is for reference only: 1 part high-fineness color paste, 2-3 parts matte coverage resin, 2 parts ultra-soft repair agent. To improve adhesion strength, a small amount of strong adhesive resin can be added. This ratio provides excellent coverage without issues like color fading or cracking.
Care for Bright Light-Colored Leather Products
Bright light colors add another level of difficulty compared to ordinary light colors. Besides poor coverage, the color brightness often diminishes after coloring.
When working on such products, use ultra-bright color paste as the coloring agent; ordinary color paste cannot produce very bright colors. For example: onion green, bright purple, bright pink, pink purple, bright orange, fluorescent yellow, etc. To maximize the characteristics of ultra-bright color paste, resins should be selected that can enhance color brightness, such as Zhihai Chemical's special resin for bright light colors. This product not only has super strong coverage but also significantly improves color brightness, solving another problem for the leather care industry. Bright light color resin is a concentrate and needs to be mixed with an equal amount of purified water before adding according to the normal ratio.
Figure 2 Zhihai Chemical Products
Post-treatment: After using matte coverage resin for coverage, gloss issues may occur, requiring post gloss enhancement. Modern leather chemicals are very powerful, with many gloss-enhancing materials such as leather care rejuvenators, optical wax solutions, high-gloss fixatives, etc. Therefore, gloss enhancement is easy to achieve and can also be assisted by physical methods like ironing and polishing.
Light-colored leather care is somewhat difficult, so leather care personnel need not only proficient operational skills but also knowledge of leather chemicals and leather finishing mechanisms.
Contributed by Zhihai, Expert in China's Laundry and Dyeing Industry
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