Thermal degradation kinetics of leather fibers treated with fire-retardant melamine resin

Fire-retardant leather was prepared from wet blue leather treated with melamine resin. Kissinger, atava-estak and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa methods are used to process the thermogravimetric data from wet blue leather and fire-retardant leather at different heating rates. The E (a) values of wet blue leather are, respectively, 123.46, 124.61 and 121.04 kJ mol(-1) based on Kissinger, atava-estak and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa methods. Accordingly, the E (a) values of fire-retardant leather are 161.29, 151.48 and 160.81 kJ mol(-1). It is shown that fire-retardant leather has better thermal stability and fire-retardant performance. The results of applied research show that the mechanical properties of fire-retardant leather have also been improved remarkably.