Recycling of cotton and polyester fibers to produce nonwoven fabric for functional sound absorption material

What is it about?

Recycled fibers are commonly used in dissimilar applications and one of the most important applications is sound absorption. Recycled fiber nonwovens currently are in greater demands in industries because of their advantages such as low cost, biodegradability, acceptable mechanical and physical properties, and so on. Sound absorption materials, renewable, and ecofriendly nonwovens have been developed using recycled cotton and polyester fibers. This research provides a contribution to the body of knowledge on the sound absorption properties of nonwovens using recycled fibers which contain cotton and polyester by means of spun-laid technique and provides a better understanding of the effects of a number of manufacturing processes on nonwovens noise control performance and also contributes to the wider adoption of nonwovens as sound absorbers. The sound absorption coefficients were measured according to ASTM E 1050 by an impedance tube method. The results revealed that the average of the sound absorption coefficients increased with the thickness of the nonwovens, but decreased with the nonwoven fabric density.

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Why is it important?

For centuries, fibers have been reclaimed from end-of-life textiles and made into textile products, which has become a well-proven and effective way of recycling. The natural availability of reproducing fibers is limited and people have always tried to control consumption. In times of textile raw material scarcity, the recycling of end-of-life textiles became a necessity, and craftsmen or even the recycling industry tried to achieve higher output this way. Textile waste was looked upon as a valuable source of raw material. Resources to make primary synthetic fibers are becoming less and less and the world population is rising, so it is clear that textile recycling needs to stay on the agenda.

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