Progress 06/02/14 to 05/31/18
Outputs
Target Audience:Louisiana producers of alligator skins, particularly the tanning alligator leather industry, are the first beneficiaries of the projected investigations. The interested audience was extended todesigners and merchandisers of fashionable items made totally or partially of alligator leather (viz., attires, boots, belts etc.) for which the knowledge of leather characteristics needs to be related to the end use. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Professional development: increased knowledge of TAM graduate and undergraduate students in the expertise area of assimilation of exotic skins, of Louisiana alligator leather in particular, with textile materials by individual study, research and application in fashion products. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Louisiana alligator industry has been infirmed through the Louisiana Alligator Council via a magazine publication on the alarming content of chromium in alligator skins tanned in Louisiana and/or tanned and imported back from other countries (e.g., Singapore). Two manuscripts on the assimilation of alligator leather as textile products have been prepared for American Leather Chemists Association (to be published in the Journal of the American Leather Chemists Association) and US leather and textile industries (to be published in the Journal of Industrial Textiles). Cooperation with faculty experts on apparel design, as well as on merchandising, from the LSU Department of Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising was promoted in order to enhance the dissemination of results in US fashion industry and abroad (China). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In recent years the United States tanned less than 10% of all alligator skins produced in Louisiana. The rest has been tanned in countries of Europe or Asia. Tanneries convert the raw hides into finished alligator leather. Chromium may be present in the finished leather as trivalent Cr3+or hexavalent Cr6+cationic species. It has been proved that hexavalent chromium Cr6+ is toxic to humans, animals, and aquatic life (if discharged waste waters from tanneries contain Chromium). It can produce lung tumors when inhaled and readily induces skin sensitization Therefore Cr6+ is closely monitored by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Moreover, in 2015 Denmark proposed a ban of Chromium tanned leather on the European Union market, with negative consequences for marketing of Louisiana Alligator leather if tanned with chromium salts. The ban became effective in 2018 through the regulation of European Union (EU) 2018/1513 stating that articles with leather parts, which come into contact with the skin, shall not contain Cr6+ with 1 mg/kg (1 ppm) or more. Therefore, the following major goal outlined in the Project Initiation section was particularly addressed in the project: 2. Investigation of the chemistry of chromium tanned leather Results: Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) of Louisiana alligator leather specimens tanned both in Louisiana tanneries or abroad (Singapore) and brought back to US showed alarming amounts of Cr species present in the samples, proving that the alligator skins have been tanned with chromium salts.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Ioan I. Negulescu. (2018) Reducing Carcinogens in Tanned Alligator Skins. Louisiana Agriculture, Fall 2018, page 34.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Ioan I. Negulescu. Characterization of Alligator Skins and Comparisons to Traditional Leathers. Journal of American Leather Chemists Association (Manuscript)
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Ioan I. Negulescu. Textile Properties of Tanned Alligator Leather. Journal of Industrial Textiles. (Manuscript)
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Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17
Outputs
Target Audience:US producers of alligator skins, particularly from Louisiana, are among the first beneficiaries of the projected investigations. The interested audience may comprisedesigners and merchandisers of fashionable items made totally or partially of alligator leather (viz., attires, boots, belts etc.), both from business and academia, for which the knowledge of alligator leather characteristics needs to be related to the end use. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Professional development: increased knowledge of graduate and undergraduate students at LSU Department of Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising in the expertise area of leather assimilation with textiles. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The faculty in the LSU Department of Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising, promoted in 2017 the utilization of alligator skins in various garments and products in a series of local, national and international (China) academic presentations and fashion shows. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?A manuscript presenting data collected on physical characterization of finished alligator skins tanned with Chromium salts will be submitted for publication in the Journal of American Leather Chemistry Association. A manuscript promoting the use of alligator skins as a textile material will be submitted to American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists Journal of Research. Copies of these manuscripts and of the final report of this project will be forwarded to Louisiana Alligator Advisory Council.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Collection of comparative characterization results of alligator skins versus other similar data acquired on cowhide and pig leathers, all tanned with chromium salts: mechanical analysis of breaking load and tearing force.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Negulescu I. et al., Physical Characterization of Finished Mississippiensis Alligator Leather for Textile Applications. Journal of American Leather Chemistry Association, JALCA (2018)
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Ioan Negulescu. Louisiana State University Textiles Apparel and Merchandising TAM 4043 Textile Science Laboratory Manual; Lab # 14 Examination of Exotic Leather & Skins, page 69, Fall 2017.
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Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Louisiana producers of alligator skins are the first beneficiaries of the project investigations. The interested audience was extended todesigners and merchandisers of fashionable items made totally or partially of alligator leather (viz., attires, boots, belts etc.), both from business and academia, for which the knowledge of leather characteristics needs to be related to the end use. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training activities: HUEC 7091 Independent Research in Human Ecology (Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising) graduate course. Professional development: increased knowledge of TAM graduate and undergraduate students in the expertise area of leather assimilation with textile materials by individual study and research How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The faculty in the LSU Department of Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising promoted in 2016 the utilization of alligator skins in a series of local and national academic presentations and fashion shows. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Data collected on physical characterization of finished alligator skins tanned with Chromium salts will be published. Cooperation with faculty experts on apparel design, as well as on merchandising, from the LSU Department of Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising will continue to be promoted in order to enhance the dissemination of results.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Investigation of the chemistry of chromium tanned leather: Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) of Louisiana alligator leather specimens 10-15 years old and of Louisiana leathers tanned abroad (Singapore) and brought back to US showed similarly alarming amounts of Cr species present in the samples, proving that the alligator skins have been tanned with chromium salts. Mechanical characteristics: Preliminary determinations of viscoelastic properties of alligator leather by Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) pointed out a collagen transition at ambient temperatures in spite of the protein crosslinking with chromium salts.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Louisiana State University Textiles Apparel and Merchandising TAM 4043 Textile Science Laboratory Manual; Lab # 14 Examination of Exotic Leather & Skins, page 69, Fall 2016.
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Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Louisiana producers of alligator skins are the first beneficiaries of the projected investigations. The interested audience was extended todesigners and merchandisers of fashionable items made totally or partially of alligator leather (viz., attires, boots, belts etc.) for which the knowledge of leather characteristics needs to be related to the end use. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training activities: TAM 3091 Reading and Research in Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising course with one-on-one work with Professor I. Negulescu as mentor. Professional development: increased knowledge of TAM graduate and undergraduate students in the expertise area of leather assimilation with textile materials by individual study and research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Data collected on characterization of finished alligator skins have been disseminated by a poster displayed at LSU in the Department of Textile Science, Apparel Design and Merchandising. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Data collected on physical characterization of finished alligator skins will be published. The presence of Chromium in finished alligator skins will be reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Cooperation with faculty experts on apparel design, as well as on merchandising, from the LSU Department of Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising will be promoted in order to enhance the dissemination of results.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In recent years the United States tanned less than 10% of all alligator skins produced in Louisiana. The rest have been tanned in countries of Europe or Asia. Tanneries convert the raw hides into finished alligator leather. Chromium may be present in the finished leather as trivalent Cr3+or hexavalent Cr6+cationic species. It has been proved that hexavalent chromium Cr6+ is toxic to humans, animals, and aquatic life (if discharged waste waters from tanneries contain Chromium). It can produce lung tumors when inhaled and readily induces skin sensitization. Therefore Cr6+ is closely monitored by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Moreover, in 2015 Denmark proposed a ban of Chromium tanned leather on the European Union market, with negative consequences for marketing of Louisiana Alligator leather if tanned with chromium salts. Therefore, the following major goal was outlined in the Project Initiation section to be addressed in the project: 2. Investigation of the chemistry of chromium tanned leather Results: Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) of Louisiana alligator leather specimens tanned both in Louisiana tanneries or abroad (Singapore) and brought back to US showed alarming amounts of Cr species present in the samples, proving that the alligator skins have been tanned with chromium salts.
Publications
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Progress 06/02/14 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Louisiana producers of alligator skins are the first beneficiaries of the projected investigations. The interested audience was extended to designers of fashionable items made totally or partially of alligator leather (viz., attires, boots, belts etc.) for which the knowledge of leather characteristics needs to be related to the end use. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Training activities: HUEC 3091 Reading and Research in Human Ecology course with one-on-one work with Professor I. Negulescu as mentor. Professional development: increased knowledge of graduate and undergraduate students in the area of leather assimilation with textile materials by individual study and research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Data collected on mechanical strength of finished alligator skins have been disseminated in a poster competition for undergraduate research investigators organized at LSU. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Data collected on mechanical strength of finished alligator skins will be published. Cooperation with faculty experts on apparel design and on merchandising from LSU Department of Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising will be initiated in order to enhance the dissemination of results of further investigations of finished alligator skins.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The following investigations of physical and mechanical characteristics of finished alligator skins samples (harvested fromdifferent body parts) have been accomplished: measurements of thickness, determination of tensile resistance (stress and strain at break), anddetermination of tearing force (stress).
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Ioan I. Negulescu, Ashley E. Hilliard, Ashley R. Lewis, and Langchao Zhang. Physical Characterization of Finished Mississippiensis Alligator Leather for Textile Applications. 2014 Undergraduate Research Grant Poster Competition. LSU Blake Hall Lobby
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