Study on the Dry-Cleaning Process of Mink Fur Based on Subcritical Solvent

Abstract

It is significant to apply environmentally benign technology to fur processing. In this paper, subcritical extraction with n-pentane was used to dry clean mink fur and the effect on the quality of mink fur was studied. The dispersion degree of the leather fibers and the morphology of the wool fiber were characterized with SEM, the mechanical properties, shrinkage temperature and oil content left in fur were determined and analyzed. The results showed that the fibers of mink fur were well separated and no excess lipids in the fibers or on the surface of mink fur and the hair of the mink fur is not damaged. The tensile strength and elongation of mink fur show slight increase respectively, and the shrinkage temperature of mink fur that was treated by subcritical solvent was significantly increased compared with that of the mink fur treated with tetrachloroethylene by conventional dry cleaning method.