Investigation of Usability of Waste Textile Fabrics in Composites

Nowadays, the use of environmentally friendly ecological materials has become very important with increasing environmental awareness and raw material costs. The use of reinforcements such as cotton, jute, bamboo and sisal in natural-fiber-reinforced composite materials has become very popular in terms of low cost and raw material richness. In addition, there is also a growing interest in natural-fiber-reinforced composites due to their mechanical properties, significant operation advantages and chemical resistance, as well as environmental reasons. In recent years, it has become necessary to investigate how other fiber types affect the engineering properties of composites. How these fibers change the mechanical and physical properties of the composite is a matter to be investigated, and it is important to provide scientific data in the areas where ecological-fiber-reinforced composites can be used. In this study, in order to recycle waste fabrics (modal, micromodal, Tencel, viscose, hemp) collected from textile factories, economic composites were produced by using the vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding method and their mechanical properties were examined. As a result, the best tensile strength was observed for modal composites; the best compression strength, for viscose composites; and the best flexural strength, for micromodal composites.