Structure-Property Relation between Non-Mulberry Silk Fabrics and Goat Suede Leather

Abstract

Lack of availability of good quality leather and growing demand for products force the researchers to find alternative materials or to partially substitute the usage of leather in products. Eco-friendly biodegradable materials are the need of the hour owing to growing environmental issues associated with the synthetic polymers. This study aims at assessing the physical, comfort, structural and thermal properties of non-mulberry silks such as eri, muga and a blend of eri and muga (EM) fabrics for their suitability to combine with goat suede leather for apparel application. It was found that all the selected fabrics exhibit comparable or even better comfort and mechanical properties to that of goat suede leather. Indeed tensile strength of muga fabric is much superior to goat suede leather. On the other hand, goat suede leather dominates in percentage elongation compared to all the selected fabrics. Scanning electron microscopy and FT-IR spectroscopic analysis provide convincing evidences on the fact that all the selected silk fabrics are based on non-mulberry varieties. The thermal stability of all the three silk fabrics is better than goat suede leather. The results of this study suggest that the selected silk fabrics can be used for making apparel as well as other variety of products in combination with leather.