Thermal Degradation of Hide Collagen and Tanned Hide Collagen

The thermal degradation of hide collagen and tanned hide collagen was investigated by means of differential thermal analysis and infrared analysis. The hide collagen began to decompose at about 220°C and decomposed almost completely at around400°C in both air and nitrogen gas atmosphere. The weight losses due to the decomposition were near 70 percent of dry material in both air and nitrogen gas. The tanned hide collagen began to decompose at higher temperature in both air and nitrogen gas than the untanned hide collagen. But the combustion of the tanned hide collagen oc-curred drastically in air. TG-DTA curves of the tanned hide collagen were different, dependent on the content and kind of chromium complexes. It seems that sulfato chro-mium complexes increase the thermal stability of collagen more greatly than hydroxo chromium complexes.