Leather Treatments using Silicones

CHT offers a wide range of silicones and waxes to be used in leather and synthetic leather markets. We offer solutions for both wet-end and finishing. Moreover, we have fluids, emulsions and dispersions.

Sustainability and safety are a key focus for the CHT group. Hence, we offer mainly water-based products and cyclic-free alternatives.

Our products are perfectly suited for luxury fashion goods such as touch modifiers or water-repellent/waterproofing additives. Other key additives include antisqueak, rub-fastness improvement and antistatic/anti-soiling used in the automotive market.

LEATHER CONDITIONING

Our products for leather conditioning include two groups.

The first group includes silicones (cationic and non-ionic) used in finishing formulations that bestow a wide spectra of touch modifications spanning from dry and slippery to fatty and full.

The second group includes functional additives to improve technical performances.

• Wetting and levelling agents
  • Polyether-modified siloxanes decrease the surface tension between leather and liquid, providing noticeable wetting and levelling features
• Anti-squeak agents
  • These versatile silicones provide a soft and smooth touch while reducing the coefficient of friction value. This provides the anti-squeak behavior that is required in the automotive market.
• Rub fastness and Taber resistance is an important feature for the car upholstery segment. CHT offers innovative and environmentally friendly solutions.
• Silicone and carbon-based wax additives are well suited for the shoe upper and garment finishing. They impart anti-swelling and add the ability to polish multiple times.

SILICONE SOLUTIONS FOR LEATHER SOFTENERS

Our special silicone solutions exhibit hydrophobicity thanks to chemical functionalities on the polymer chains. This feature allows an excellent distribution of the humidity along leather fibres, providing a high-quality, soft and “full” sensation.

Our silicones softeners are suitable for wet-end and finishing applications for formulating fat-liquors, pre-grounds or touch modifiers.

CHT wet-end additives are typically used in the wet-drum stage. Also, if correctly diluted can be applied by spray process or roller in finishing applications.

See our solution guides for leather softeners and contact us for formulating assistance.  

FLUOROCARBON FREE SILICONES FOR WATERPROOFING LEATHER

CHT offers formulation assistance with water-resistant silicones for wet-end and leather finishing.

Formulators need an appropriate carboxy-functional polydimethylsiloxane to impart water repellence for wet-end processing. This process exploits the carboxy functionalities to bind the silicone to the leather fibre. Leaving the silicone to exploit its natural hydrophobicity to protect the leather. CHT products transform formulations to significantly enhance the penetration within the fibres and improve the final performance.

Special reactive emulsions can be used alone or in combination with standard anionic waterborne binders in leather finishing. These can replace fluorocarbon resins which are known to cause environmental issues, especially in wastewater. For this reason, CHT offers sustainable solutions for replacing fluorocarbons in leather formulations.

Click here to view our epaper - Silicones for leather formulators

We want to boost your formulations with our high-performance additives: CHALLENGE US!!

For technical and formulations assistance or sample requests, please visit our contact page.