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

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.