At the FIMEC international leather fair
in Brazil, LANXESS will be exhibiting a
comprehensive range of products for leather production. The focus will be on new
developments in the X-Grade and X-Tra
finishing systems, on fatliquoring agents and on the company’s tried and tested dyestuffs. ‘As a modern company, we set benchmarks in the leather industry with our products and technologies’, says Tomas Vallendor,
marketing manager for leather at LANXESS Industria de Produtos Quimicos e Plasticos Ltda, Brazil.
The innovative X-Tra system comprises numerous specialities such as waxes, oils, polyurethanes and caseins for the finishing of modern leathers that have to meet very high demands. These new products not only enable leather manufacturers to obtain the effects required by the latest fashion trends, but also give upper leathers with excellent physical fastness properties. The surface touch, gloss, weather resistance, light stability and flexibility can all be adjusted to suit individual requirements by selecting the right combination of LANXESS finishing agents. The aliphatic polyurethanes Bayderm X-Tra Finish MD and Bayderm X-Tra Finish D
also impart good abrasion resistance.
The X-Grade system represents a completely new generation of finishing products that conceal small and medium-sized hide defects such as pinholes and scratches with amazing success. As a result, a higher area yield is obtained. The new, licensed technology, based on microcapsules, also leads to more uniform print retention, giving the surface structure a very natural appearance. The X-Grade system uses special microcapsules which expand on exposure to high temperatures when the finish is plated or embossed. This then produces the desired filling effect.
For the production of this season’s fashion colours on leather, LANXESS offer their Levaderm range of dyestuffs. These anionic brands are characterised by brilliance and high fastness properties. They are also
dust-free and simple to monitor, which makes them easy to handle. Levaderm dyestuffs are added during the dyeing and finishing
operations and are used for upper leather – also for outdoor footwear – and for furniture upholstery leather.
LANXESS will also be exhibiting fatliquoring agents from Atlas Refinery Inc, Newark, USA, for use in the retannage and finishing
of all types of leather. Atlas, a well-known supplier of fatliquoring agents, and LANXESS signed a sales cooperation agreement in the middle of July 2005 under the terms of which LANXESS markets all Atlas’s leather chemicals in the leather industry and offer Atlas their worldwide technical service.
