Experimental study of the behaviour of leather under vacuum conditions

A characterization of the device-pumping behaviour of our vacuum reactor for plasma treatment of materials at low pressure is presented. The analysis of the pumpdown curves measured both in the viscous and in the molecular regimes was made to study the outgassing flowrates of several leather materials. Estimates of the relevant flowrates in different pressure ranges and measurements of the flow composition have been obtained. Such data can be interpreted in the framework of simplified desorption models and could be used in order to design the pumping system needed for vacuum treatment of such materials. We have also measured other related quantities such as the moisture uptake and the weight loss.