Study on Fibre Reinforced Composites Developed by using Recycled Fibres from Garment Cut Waste

Abstract

Garment cut wastes from apparel industries are used for various applications in various industries. Normally garment cut wastes and recycled fibres from garment cut wastes are used in textile, furniture, carpet, paper, automobile, construction, and agricultural industries in low mechanical performance applications. In this research, composites are developed by using recycled fibres obtained from garment cut wastes as reinforcement and with different types of matrices. Recycled fibres used as reinforcements are obtained from garment cut wastes of cotton, polyester and cotton/polyester fabrics to develop these composites. These composites are developed by using Epoxy resin, Kaolinite, Polypropylene sheet as matrices. Reinforcements and matrices have used in different compositions and combinations to develop these composites. The main advantages of this type of composites are to combine the different properties of different materials to obtain unique and high-performance material. Technical properties like thickness, mass per unit area, Tensile strength, Flexural strength, Impact strength, Water absorbency and Scanning Electron Microscope of developed composites were tested and analyzed. The outcome of the results demonstrates that many of the composite proportions with different blend, reinforcement and matrcies show superior mechanical performances when compare it with each other, and it can be recommended for many potential applications.