Resistance of the leather-rubber adhesive joint when making the shoe upper

Abstract

The professional literature dealing with specific aspects of adhesive joints
in the footwear industry is mainly devoted to the procedures of preparation,
bonding and testing of the connection between the upper and the sole material
of fashion and sports footwear. However, there is little research related to
the requirements and quality testing of adhesive joints of shoe upper parts.
Safety and occupational footwear, which is intended for specific occupations
such as firefighters, police officers, soldiers and others, as such has specific
requirements in terms of resistance to various types of solvents, high and/
or low temperatures, shocks, etc., and in addition it should be comfortable
and long-lasting. For these reasons, the upper of this type of footwear differs
significantly from the footwear used in everyday life. It is usually a very complex
construction and is made of a large number of different natural and artificial
materials such as: leather, rubber, polyurethane, synthetic membranes, etc.,
which are interconnected by bonding or stitching. The aim of this study was to
examine how the number of adhesive coatings and their characteristics affect
the strength of the natural leather – rubber adhesive joint in the manufacture
of shoes for special purposes. The strength of the leather-to-rubber adhesive
joint depends significantly on the number of adhesive coatings and the viscosity
of the adhesive.