Fur-leather Testing

Fur leather testing mainly conducts scientific testing and analysis on physical and mechanical property testing, colour fastness testing, chemical safety performance testing, prohibited azo dyes and sensitizing dyes testing, chlorinated phenols and organotin compounds testing, and material identification and content analysis, objectively assessing the product quality grade and issuing a detailed test report, providing a basis for manufacturers' quality control and downstream users' product acceptance.

Testing Items

Physical and mechanical property testing: Mainly evaluates the durability and service performance of the fur leather. The key items include the tensile strength and elongation at break, reflecting the ability of the material to resist damage and deformation by external forces. The tearing strength tests its tearing resistance, and the abrasion resistance evaluates the surface wear through the Martindale or Taber method. The thickness and mass per square metre are the basic measurement items, ensuring the consistency of the product specification.

Colour fastness testing: Evaluates the ability of the fur leather colour to resist the action of various factors during processing and use. It includes the colour fastness to rubbing (dry/wet rubbing), colour fastness to perspiration, colour fastness to water spotting and colour fastness to light. These tests simulate the daily use environments such as friction, contact with human perspiration, rain wetting and light exposure, ensuring lasting and stable colour lustre and preventing the colour from fading and contaminating clothes or skin.

Chemical safety performance testing: Focuses on the hazardous chemicals that may exist in the fur leather, ensuring consumer safety. The core items are the determination of the formaldehyde content and the decomposable harmful aromatic amine dyes (azo dyes). In addition, it also includes the heavy metal content (such as lead, cadmium and hexavalent chromium) testing, pH value and dilution difference determination, to prevent the product from irritating the human skin or causing long-term health hazards.

Prohibited azo dyes and sensitizing dyes testing: This is the focus of the ecological safety testing. Through equipment such as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), it is precisely determined whether the fur leather contains the azo dyes that can decompose to release carcinogenic aromatic amines and are explicitly prohibited by regulations (such as REACH and OEKO-TEX® standards), as well as specific sensitizing disperse dyes such as Disperse Yellow 3 and Disperse Blue 1.

Chlorinated phenols and organotin compounds testing: Detects the specific harmful organic substances that may be used as preservatives, mildew inhibitors or bactericides in the production process of the fur leather. This mainly includes chlorinated phenols such as pentachlorophenol (PCP) and tetrachlorophenol (TeCP), and organotin compounds such as tributyltin (TBT) and dibutyltin (DBT). These substances are highly toxic and difficult to degrade, and their contents must be strictly controlled below the limit values.

Material identification and content analysis: Through technical means such as microscope observation, combustion method, dissolution method and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), the animal fur type of the fur side (such as wool, rabbit fur and mink fur) and the genuine leather property of the leather substrate are identified. For composite or artificial materials, the qualitative and quantitative ratios of the components of each fibre need to be further analysed.

Testing Scope

Raw hides and crust leather: Tests the raw hides before entering the production process or the crust leather that has been tanned but not dyed and finished. It mainly evaluates their basic physical and chemical indicators, defects, thickness uniformity and potential chemical residues, providing a basis for the subsequent process selection and quality control, and controlling the finished product quality from the source.

Finished fur leather garments and apparel: Covering all kinds of final consumer products made of fur leather fabrics, such as fur leather integrated coats, vests, gloves, hats, neck warmers and boots. Testing needs to comprehensively cover the physical properties, chemical safety and appearance quality, ensuring that they meet the wearing and use requirements and the relevant national or industry standards.

Fur leather furniture and household products: Including fur leather sofas, cushions, carpets, car seat cushions and decorative hanging pieces. This type of product focuses more on testing its abrasion resistance, colour fastness (especially the colour fastness to light), flame retardancy and the release amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), to meet the safety and durability needs of the home environment.

Fur leather products for children: For fur leather products used by infants and children, such as children's clothing and toy leather covers, stricter safety standards are implemented. In addition to the conventional items, special attention is paid to the safety of small parts, the content of phthalate plasticizers, accessible sharp edges and cord safety requirements, and the testing limits are usually stricter than those of adult products.

Fur leather commodities in import and export trade: Compliance testing is carried out in accordance with the mandatory regulations and standards of the target markets (such as the EU, the United States and Japan). For example, the requirements of the EU REACH regulation, the US CPSIA act and the Japanese Household Goods Quality Labeling Act need to be met, and the corresponding test reports are obtained as the technical documents for customs clearance and market access.

Ecological and green certified products: Applicable to fur leather products applying for international eco-label certifications (such as OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100, EU Ecolabel and LWG leather certification). The testing scope covers the environmental impact of the whole production chain and the safety of the whole life cycle of the product, involving the screening of hundreds of restricted substance lists.

Testing Methods and Standards

Physical property test methods: The tensile and tearing strengths often refer to standards such as GB/T 3923.1, ISO 3376 and ASTM D2209, and are carried out on a universal material testing machine. The abrasion resistance test is in accordance with GB/T 21196 (Martindale method) or ASTM D3884 (Taber method). The thickness measurement is carried out in accordance with QB/T 2709 or ISO 2589, using a standard thickness gauge to take multi-point measurements and the average value.

Colour fastness test methods: The colour fastness to rubbing is in accordance with GB/T 3920/ISO 105-X12, using a rubbing fastness tester. The colour fastness to perspiration and water spotting is respectively in accordance with GB/T 3922/ISO 105-E04 and GB/T 5713/ISO 105-E01, and the specimens are treated under specific temperature, humidity and solution conditions and then compared and rated. The colour fastness to light is in accordance with GB/T 8427/ISO 105-B02, using a xenon arc lamp aging test chamber to simulate light exposure.

Hazardous chemical substance test methods: For the formaldehyde content determination, GB/T 19941 (liquid extraction method) or ISO 17226-1 (high-performance liquid chromatography method) is commonly used. The prohibited azo dyes testing is in accordance with GB/T 19942 or ISO 17234-1, through reductive cleavage followed by instrumental analysis. For the heavy metal testing, GB/T 30157 (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, ICP-MS) is mostly adopted for accurate quantification.

Chlorinated phenols and organotin compounds test methods: Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is usually adopted. For example, after the pretreatment of the sample, the sample is extracted with a suitable solvent (such as ethyl acetate), then derivatized, and then separated, identified and quantitatively analysed by GC-MS. The methods can refer to the GB/T 18414 series or EN ISO 17070 standards.

Material identification methods: The morphological identification of animal fur fibres is mainly in accordance with GB/T 10685 or ISO 17751, observing the scale structure under an optical microscope or scanning electron microscope. The leather material identification can refer to GB/T 38400, combined with the combustion odour, ash morphology and chemical dissolution characteristics for judgement, and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) can provide molecular structure information for auxiliary confirmation.

Specific item standards: The pH value and dilution difference determination is in accordance with GB/T 7573/ISO 3071. The odour testing is carried out in accordance with GB/T 30399 or SN/T 3140, assessed by trained odour assessors. The flame retardancy test is carried out with reference to the standards of different fields such as GB 8624 (building materials) or 16 CFR 1610 (US apparel textiles) according to the final use of the product.

Testing Standards

Domestic Standards:

1. GB/T 3923.1-2013, Textiles — Tensile properties of fabrics — Part 1: Determination of breaking force and elongation at breaking force using the strip method

2. GB/T 3920-2024, Textiles — Tests for colour fastness — Colour fastness to rubbing

3. GB/T 3922-2013, Textiles — Tests for colour fastness — Colour fastness to perspiration

4. GB/T 8427-2019, Textiles — Tests for colour fastness — Colour fastness to artificial light: Xenon arc fading lamp test

5. GB/T 30157, Textiles — Determination of phthalates

International Standards:

1. ISO 3376, Leather — Physical and mechanical tests — Determination of tensile strength and percentage extension

2. ISO 17234-1, Leather — Chemical tests — Determination of certain azo colorants in dyed leathers — Part 1: Determination of certain aromatic amines derived from azo colorants

3. ISO 105, Textiles — Tests for colour fastness

4. ISO 13934-1, Textiles — Tensile properties of fabrics — Part 1: Determination of maximum force and elongation at maximum force using the strip method

Note: The applicable standard can be selected according to the product use and customer trade requirements; standards agreed in the contract take precedence over general standards.

Testing Instruments and Equipment

General physical property testers: The universal material testing machine is the core equipment for mechanical tests such as tensile, tearing and bursting, equipped with high-precision sensors and a data acquisition system. The Martindale abrasion tester and Taber abrasion tester are used to simulate the friction and wear in actual use. The thickness gauge (for leather and fur) needs to meet the pressure and area of the measuring head specified by the standards.

Colour fastness testing equipment series: The rubbing fastness tester provides the specified reciprocating friction motion and pressure. The perspiration and water spotting colour fastness tests need a constant temperature oven and specific stainless steel test plates. The xenon arc lamp aging test chamber is the key equipment for evaluating the colour fastness to light, and can precisely control the light intensity, chamber temperature, humidity and dark cycles.

High-end chemical analysis instruments: High-performance liquid chromatographs (HPLC) are used for the precise quantification of items such as formaldehyde and preservatives. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometers (GC-MS) are the main force equipment for detecting volatile and semi-volatile organic substances such as azo dyes, chlorinated phenols, organotin compounds and VOCs. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers (ICP-MS) are used for the determination of trace and ultra-trace heavy metal elements.

Sample pretreatment equipment: Including Soxhlet extractors, ultrasonic extraction instruments, microwave digestion instruments, solid-phase extraction (SPE) devices and nitrogen blowing concentrators. These equipment are used to efficiently and completely extract, purify and enrich the target compounds from the complex fur leather matrix, to meet the injection requirements of the subsequent instrumental analysis, and are an important link for ensuring the testing accuracy.

Auxiliary identification and measurement equipment: Optical microscopes and scanning electron microscopes (SEM) are used to observe the micro surface morphology of the fibres and leather. Infrared spectrometers (FTIR) carry out material identification by analysing the molecular chemical bond vibration spectra. The pH meter is used to determine the acidity and alkalinity of the extract. The standard light source cabinet is used for the visual grading of the colour and colour fastness under uniform lighting conditions.

Environmental simulation testing equipment: The constant temperature and humidity chamber is used to provide standard atmospheric equilibrium conditions for the physical test specimens, and can also be used for wet-state tests. The low-temperature embrittlement tester is used to evaluate the flexibility of the fur leather at low temperatures. The flame retardancy tester is configured according to the corresponding standards, such as vertical burning testers, horizontal burning testers or limiting oxygen index testers.