Abstract:

An esterification product was formed by reacting lauric acid with polyethylene glycol-400. The maleation of this ester was performed and the product was then sulfonated with sodium sulfite to form the disodium polyethylene glycol fatty acid ester sulfosuccinate. The structure of the product was characterized by FT-IR. The emulsion particle size, surface tension, contact angle, foaming power and antibacterial property were also tested. The microscopic state and morphology of leather before and after fat liquoring were compared by SEM, and the mechanical properties of leather were also studied. The results show that the prepared polyethylene glycol fatty acid ester sulfosuccinate disodium salt has an emulsion particle size of 4.77 μm, Zeta potential of 97.26 mV, foam volume of 646 mL, critical micelle concentration （cmc） of 8.59×10 ^-4 mol/L, and contact angle of 63.1°. It is sensitive to Aspergillus niger, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, and the minimum inhibitory concentrations （MIC） are 15, 20 and 15 g/L, respectively. The SEM results show that the fiber bundle of the leather is finer and the fiber spacing becomes larger after fat liquoring. The tensile strength of leather is increased from 22.07 MPa to 28.24 MPa, and the elongation at break is decreased from 64.7% to 36.4%.

Key words: sulfosuccinate, lauric acid, polyethylene glycol, bacteriostatic activity, leather fat liquoring