Cellulose-protein blended sustainable biodegradable flexible composite: a step towards a leather alternative

A new method of manufacturing flexible composite has been developed by using cellulose-protein fibre blended needle punched non-woven structure and suitable chemical formulation of natural rubber, sulphur dispersion, accelerator, activator, stabilizer, natural filler antioxidant. Scoured proteinous wool fibre was used in different blend proportion with bleached cellulosic ramie fibre (ramie: wool = 80:10 and 80:20) for making non-woven structure having grammage of around 250 g/m². One side of the developed fibre reinforced flexible composite was spray coated with optimised formulation of pigment and polyurethane in two phases (base coating and top coating), followed by hot-pressing and wax polishing. Physical properties like abrasion resistance, tensile strength, tear strength, puncture resistance, permeability and porosity of the developed product have been examined and compared with a marketed artificial leather and wet blue goat leather having same thickness and weight. The developed leather alternative presented tensile strength values 30% smaller than the natural goat leather, and both presented similar values of tear strength. Extensibility of the developed composites was within 23–27% whereas natural leather showed 70% extensibility. Ramie-wool reinforced rubberised flexible composites have shown 20–25% more thickness recovery as compared to the only ramie based flexible composites in dynamic loading test. Developed composite products were scientifically characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and compared with marketed synthetic leather. Biodegradability and antimicrobial property of the developed product were also examined as per standard test methods. Besides, commercialization prospect of the product with cost analysis also has been represented in the current context.