TREATMENT METHOD AND HIDES PRESERVED BY GAMMA IRRADIATION

摘要

The invention relates to a process for treating natural leather in various stages, such as raw hide, tanned leather of crust, using γ radiation, with a view to eliminating sodium chloride which is corrosive and difficult to remove from effluents and volatile biocidal organic substances that have a major impact upon the environment, the workers and consumers. According to the invention, the process consists in tightly packing the leather in polyethylene bags and introducing them into a SVST Co - 60/B type irradiator, with Co- 60 sources of 100000 Ci, for 12 hours, at a temperature of 18°C, meanwhile the samples rotate about the irradiation source until they accumulate a dose of 25 KGy, the so treated hides becoming sterile immediately after irradiation for 28 days following the treatment, with minimal physical-chemical changes as compared with the hides treated in the classic way.