Leather and leather-like materials are used in various products such as baseball gloves, furniture, clothing, shoes, car interiors, phone cases, etc. One comes in contact with these types of mate-rials through normal daily activities. Leather is made from animal skin. The skin is composed of a fibrous collagen network. Collagen is a structure-forming protein consisting of three peptide chains in a triple helix structure.
Leather-like materials can comprise different polymers, including polyurethane, nylons, polycarbonate, polyethers, and polyesters. They are often a combination of these materials.
Pyrolysis GC-MS is useful for identifying polymers, such as leather and faux leather. It can easily distinguish between the two types of material.
This study used the GERSTEL pyrolysis system, in combination with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, to analyze leather and leather-like materials.