Recycling of denim fabric wastes into high-performance composites using the needle-punching nonwoven fabrication route

Abstract

At present, a large number of waste textiles are disposed through incineration and burial, which cause serious environmental pollution. Therefore, recycling textile wastes into high mechanical products with eco-friendly method is an urgent issue. Based on the above status quo, three kinds of 3D waste denim fiber needled felts/epoxy composites (3DWECs) with different areal densities of the mono-layer fiber web were designed and fabricated, and the effect of the areal density of the mono-layer fiber web on its mechanical properties was studied in this work. The cross-section morphologies of 3DWECs were also examined. Tensile, bending and compressive test results revealed that 2# 3DWECs (the planar density of mono-layer fiber webs was 557 g/m2) possessed better mechanical properties than 1# 3DWECs and 3# 3DWECs. Both the static and dynamic mechanical testing results showed that 3D waste denim fiber needled felts acting as the reinforcement played an essential role in the bearing function. Moreover, the peel tests indicated that the peel strengths of the 3DWECs were above the limits of the Chinese National Standard for particle board. The composites have the potential as a substitute for some particle boards.

Fabrication and performance evaluation of waste cotton and polyester fiber‐reinforced green composites for building and construction applications

“…They showed that the developed composites are potential materials for furniture materials. Xue Meng et al [ 25 ] developed epoxy composites reinforced with nonwovens produced using fibers extracted from waste denim for construction and building materials. Sadikoglu et al [ 26 ] developed composites reinforced with polyester textile waste and urea‐formaldehyde as a matrix for replacing fiberboard and medium‐density fiberboard.…”

Eco-Sustainability of the Textile Production: Waste Recovery and Current Recycling in the Composites World

“…From the experimental analysis, it has been verified that the tensile, bending, and compressive resistance was higher in the case of intermediate areal density among the three choices. Yet, given the effective ability of the fibers, regardless of the type, in the load bearing for all cases, the realized composites have been considered satisfactory for the replacement in some particle boards [ 57 ].…”

Modal analysis of 3D needled waste cotton fiber/epoxy composites with experimental and numerical methods

“…Figure 1 shows the main production process of the 3DNWCFCs. Waste jeans were transformed into waste cotton fibers (length: 10–25 mm 9 ; diameter: 15–25 µm 29 ) by the cloth opener apparatus (HY2-15). Afterwards, the waste cotton fibers were combed into original fiber webs, which would be laid layer upon layer by the web-forming machine (WL-GP-B-800) to form fiber webs with certain thickness, strength and uniformity according to the FVCs.…”

“…5–8 Waste textiles and fibers with wide application prospects can be used in the field of composite materials to replace some part of the composite products. 9–11 Our previous studies have shown that the waste cotton fiber reinforced composites have good mechanical properties. 9 The mechanical properties of the waste cotton fiber reinforced composites we made are better than that of the best particle board on the market.…”

“…9–11 Our previous studies have shown that the waste cotton fiber reinforced composites have good mechanical properties. 9 The mechanical properties of the waste cotton fiber reinforced composites we made are better than that of the best particle board on the market. Therefore, the composite can be used as load-bearing structures.…”