Green Textile Waste Composites for Domestic and Industrial Applications

Textile waste is a significant environmental problem that contributes to landfills and pollution that causes greenhouse gas emissions. Recycling and reusing textiles and developing a product from waste is feasible. Moreover, it can bring new opportunities in the recycling industry and contribute to the circular economy. However, choosing a material to produce a composite and finding out all its properties is a big challenge that needs to be explored more. This research is based on the characterization of a natural fiber composite from textile waste for domestic as well as industrial applications. It involves the production of composite material from textile waste, which has suitable mechanical strength and impact properties for use in the construction, automotive and ballistic industries. Three recycled non-woven wastes – cotton, polyester and cotton/polyester blend – are used. A roller speed of 200 rpm is chosen to produce carded mesh. The shredded textiles are then mixed with epoxy resin. The pressing technique with the help of compression moulding is used to produce composite samples. Mechanical tests were carried out to evaluate the young ' s modulus, tensile strength, flexural strength, impact strength and breaking elongation of the composites. It was found that with an increase in the volume percentage of fibers, the storage modulus of the prepared composites shows a higher value. Young's modulus, elongation at break, flexural strength and impact toughness increase with volume fraction up to 40 percent, but then the properties start to decrease again when mixing is done above 40 percent to 50 percent. The novelty lies in utilizing pre and postconsumer textile waste, including discarded personal protective equipment (PPE) and other textile wastes from the COVID-19 pandemic, as reinforcing fibers which contributes to textile waste recycling and also providing a better alternative to existing materials like pine wood, maple, oak and wood plastic composite for possible use in domestic items as well as construction and automotive industry at a lower cost.