DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF WASTE NONWOVEN REINFORCED COMPOSITES

Among the applications of textiles, nonwovens are one of the fastest-growing segments of the textile industry and consequently the waste generated from this sector increases gradually every year. Improper practices, selvedges wastes, wastes in converting of nonwovens and wastes of used nonwovens are mostly recycled for textile applications as reclaimed fibers and an important amount of nonwoven wastes are disposed by burying or burning. The aim of this study is to produce waste nonwoven reinforced composite and analyze its performance. In this study, the selvedge wastes of needle-punched polyester nonwovens are used as reinforcement material, whereas both low density polyethylene and polypropylene polymers are used as matrix to produce functional polymer composites by extrusion method. Some part of the selvedge wastes are cut into small pieces and some are broken into granules and rest of them is opened into fibers. The effect of the form of reinforcement material on mechanical and thermal properties is investigated by various tests.