DOI: 10.23883/IJRTER.2017.3285.NXGRE 139 PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF LEATHER WASTE POLYMER COMPOSITES A. Jacob Moses 1* , M. Sumathi 2 , Renjin J Bright 3 1, 2, 3 Department of Mechanical Engineering, JEPPIAAR SRR Engineering College, Padur, Chennai, 603 103, Tamil Nadu, India. Abstract : This study deals with the possible utilization of industrial wastes of leather industry and automotive glass industry as useful materials. For this study composite plates have been prepared with recycled Poly Vinyl Butyral (PVB) as matrix and wet blue leather trimming waste and buffing dust as reinforcement materials. PVB is the industrial waste from automotive glass industry. Buffing dust and wet blue leather trimming waste are the industrial wastes from leather industry. Weight fraction of matrix as well as reinforcement in the composite has been maintained as 50%. Both wastes were compounded using two roll mill at a temperature of 90°C. After milling, the composite plates were compression moulded at a temperature of 95°C to improve surface finishing and a final thickness of 3 mm has been obtained. Specimens for mechanical testing were punched out from the composite plates as per ASTM standard. Characterization result indicates that these composites could be used as a replacement of conventional O-ring and insulation materials. Proper utilization of these waste materials not only reduces the production costs but also drive down environmental pollution. Keywords: Compounding; Trimming Waste; Buffing Dust; Weight Fraction; Compression Moulding. I. INTRODUCTION Generation of solid and liquid wastes during manufacturing processes is unavoidable in major industries. India alone yields more than 960 Mega tons of solid waste from various industries. Domestic operations and dumping of these wastes in wastelands causes severe environmental threats. Proper recycling of these wastes would indubitably save the energy and conserve the resources. Waste management has become a major problem in modern society, especially solid wastes with potential toxic effects. The search for innovative solutions for the reuse of solid waste increased in the late 20 th century and has intensified with growing urgency for environmental preservation [1-3]. Many waste management solutions aim to add value to wastes through the development of new materials and processes [4]. 1.Materials Leather is wasted during each and every operation while transforming it to final product. Each operation leads to the generation of different kind of wastes [5]. Tannery generates huge amount of solid wastes during each stage of processing. Leather wastes such as Buffing Dust (BD) and Trimming Waste (TW) have been potentially utilized for this study. Both wastes were collected from leather industry, Chrompet, Chennai. BD obtained from chrome tanned leather is impregnated with chromium and synthetic fat. The BD and TW were mixed with PVB under necessary temperature and pressure.