Floor mat is one very common car accessory, which is usually made of leather. The raw material of leather will be adjusted by adding additives when the floor mats are produced. Those additives including organic solvent, liming auxiliary agent, degreasing agent for leather, soaking auxiliary agent, preservative, mildewcide and surfactant, etc. are usually liable to volatile especially in an environment where the temperature is high.

The volatile components of the leather may float in the air and influence the air quality in the interior of automobiles or even condense on the surface of the auto glass and interfere the driver’s view in driving, which may become a potential threat to the driving safety. Therefore, it is quite necessary to test the fogging characteristics of the leather floor mat before using it in the interior of automobiles.

This article provides a simplified test method of the fogging characteristics of leather floor mat for your reference. The testing instrument used for the tests is Labthink’s FT-F1 Fogging Tester.

Figure 1. Leather Floor Mat for Automobiles

Currently there are mainly 2 test methods of the fogging characteristics of trims used in interior of automobiles i.e. reflectometer method and gravimetric method. Labthink’s FT-F1 Fogging Tester conforms to ISO 6452: Rubber- or plastics-coated fabrics-Determination of fogging characteristics of trim materials in the interior of automobiles and BS EN 14288-2003: Leather-Physical and Mechanical Tests-Determination of Fogging Characteristics.

In the tests, the preconditioned specimen is heated and evaporates in the beaker; the volatile constituents condense on the glass plate or aluminum foil treated in cooling chamber.

The tests shall be performed according to the following procedures.

(1) Clean the glass beaker, glass plate and sealing cushion and let them dry completely.

(2) Cut 3 pieces of specimen from the provided sample material. The diameter of the specimen shall be 80mm. Condition the specimens in a desiccant container for 1 day.

(3) Switch on the fogging tester and set test temperatures, maintaining temperature of high temperature bath at 100℃.

(4) Measure the gloss value of the marked surface of the glass plate.

(5) Place the specimens into 3 glass beakers respectively. Add 10±0.1g Diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP) into another glass beaker for comparison test. Then place sealing ring, filter paper and glass plate which have been measured with gloss meter, successively on the top of glass beaker. The testing surface of the glass plate shall face downward.

(6) Place the glass beakers into the high temperature bath (100℃). Connect the cooling device. The temperature of cooling water is 21℃ heated for 3 hours.

(7) When the test is finished, remove the glass plate. Then place the glass plate in a desiccant container for 1 hour. The surface with condensed volatile constituents shall face upwards. Then measure the gloss value of the glass plate.

(8) Finally compare the gloss value of the glass plates after and before the fogging tests and calculate the ratio.

The average value of the 3 test specimens is the final test result. Generally, the higher the ratio is, the more volatile constituents are. The qualified leather floor mat for automobiles shall have a comparatively small test result.

For more details about FT-F1 Fogging Tester, please visit www.labthink.com

About Labthink Instruments Co., Ltd:

Labthink Instruments Co., Ltd is one leading supplier of packaging testing instruments, which is headquartered in Jinan, China and operated in Boston, U.S.A.