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Journal of Natural Fibers

ISSN: 1544-0478 (Print) 1544-046X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wjnf20

Recycling of cotton and polyester fibers to producenonwoven fabric for functional sound absorptionmaterial

Sakthivel Santhanam, Bharani M., Selamu Temesgen, Desalegn Atalie &Gashaw Ashagre

To cite this article: Sakthivel Santhanam, Bharani M., Selamu Temesgen, Desalegn Atalie &Gashaw Ashagre (2018): Recycling of cotton and polyester fibers to produce nonwoven fabric forfunctional sound absorption material, Journal of Natural Fibers

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15440478.2017.1418472

Published online: 09 Jan 2018.

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Recycling of cotton and polyester fibers to produce nonwovenfabric for functional sound absorption materialSakthivel Santhanama, Bharani M.a, Selamu Temesgena, Desalegn Atalieb,and Gashaw Ashagreb

aDepartment of Textile Engineering Kombolcha, Institute of Technology,Wollo University, Kombolcha, Ethiopia;bEthiopian Institute of Textile and Fashion Technology, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

ABSTRACTRecycled fibers are commonly used in dissimilar applications and one of themost important applications is sound absorption. Recycled fiber nonwovenscurrently are in greater demands in industries because of their advantagessuch as low cost, biodegradability, acceptable mechanical and physicalproperties, and so on. Sound absorption materials, renewable, and eco-friendly nonwovens have been developed using recycled cotton and polye-ster fibers. This research provides a contribution to the body of knowledgeon the sound absorption properties of nonwovens using recycled fiberswhich contain cotton and polyester by means of spun-laid technique andprovides a better understanding of the effects of a number of manufactur-ing processes on nonwovens noise control performance and also contri-butes to the wider adoption of nonwovens as sound absorbers. The soundabsorption coefficients were measured according to ASTM E 1050 by animpedance tube method. The results revealed that the average of thesound absorption coefficients increased with the thickness of the nonwo-vens, but decreased with the nonwoven fabric density.

摘要

再生纤维在不同的应用中广泛使用，其中最重要的应用之一是吸音。再生纤维非织造布目前，因其具有成本低、可生物降解的优势在行业的要求越来越高，可接受的机械和物理性能等。吸声材料，可再生能源和环保无纺布已使用再生棉和聚酯纤维的开发。这项研究提供了对使用再生纤维包括棉、纺涤纶非织造布放技术手段的吸声性能的知识体的贡献，提供了一个更好地了解一个制造工艺对非织造布的噪音控制性能的影响，也有助于更广泛的采用无纺布的声音吸收剂。吸声系数由ASTM E 1050通过阻抗管法测量。结果表明，吸声系数的平均值随非织造布厚度的增加而增加，但随着非织造布密度的增大而减小。

KEYWORDSRecycling; cotton/polyester;spun laid; nonwoven; soundabsorption; non wovendensity

关键词

回收; 棉/涤; 纺丝成网; 无纺布; 声吸䔶; 非织造密度。

Introduction

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 reprodu-cing fibers is limited and people have always tried to control consumption. In times of textile rawmaterial scarcity, the recycling of end-of-life textiles became a necessity, and craftsmen or even therecycling industry tried to achieve higher output this way. Textile waste was looked upon as avaluable source of raw material. Resources to make primary synthetic fibers are becoming less andless and the world population is rising, so it is clear that textile recycling needs to stay on the agenda

CONTACT Sakthivel Santhanam sakthi.texpsg@gmail.com Department of Textile Engineering Kombolcha, Institute ofTechnology, Wollo University, Kombolcha, Ethiopia-208.Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/wjnf.© 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERShttps://doi.org/10.1080/15440478.2017.1418472

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(Braun, Levy, and Sifniades 1999, Realff, Ammons, and Newton 2004). This is what makes itnecessary to develop processes to design textiles that are easy to recycle. Designers are expected tofeel responsible for production waste and for end-of-life products. This is what they have been facedwith for a long time. Both in the clothes-making industry and in enterprises such as processing andfinishing of textiles, production waste is generally defined and much is suitable to be reused. Forend-of-life industrial textiles, including mainly technical textiles, recycling systems are generally notyet sufficient (Brown 2001). One of the reasons that there are only few vehicle fields in which were-use them. However, if they were designed to be easily recycled, such fields could well be found. Withthe significant production of waste fibrous materials, different companies are looking for applica-tions where waste materials may represent an added-value material (Mwaikambo 2006). Textiles foruse in the automotive industry are often composites. This is how they can best achieve thecharacteristics or the functionality required. Cost is also of interest in this context (Realff,Ammons, and Newton 2004). The textiles-based stamped parts used in the vehicle interior aretypical representatives. High-grade decorative materials hide a blend of a variety of fibers. This iswhat the structural strength depends upon. Decorative and base materials are generally inseparablybonded by means of gluing the full surface to be bonded. The whole system serves to stop soundwaves resulting from the car body, in particular from the front wall of the engine compartment andthe bottom plate of the interior. Noise control applications of nonwoven fabrics include wallcladdings, acoustic barriers and acoustic ceilings, passenger vehicle noise absorbers, and variousothers. Nonwoven fabrics made from recycled fibers can also be more advantageous in terms ofenvironmental friendliness compared to conventionally used polyurethane foams which cannot berecycled and are produced with environmental damaging manufacturing methods. Kozłowski et al.(2008) developed nonwoven from recycled fibers that can be applied in buildings as a filling andfacing insulation materials. Structural and insulation materials made of synthetic raw materials (e.g.polyester and polypropylene) ensure full and active “breathing” of the whole structure elementgiving users a real feeling of building comfort. This more environment-friendly composite that canbe compression molded into a wide range of parts has a greater bending stiffness, is more resistant tofire, less expensive and without the odor problems that accompany many recycled fibers by (Bradleyand Greer 2011) formation of composites by using reclaimed polyester fibers and biodegradable meltblown (PVA, PLA, and PEA). Polymers as main components have been studied by Muller andKrobjilowski (2004).

Experimental methodology

Materials

Current research focuses on the development of a waste-free system to make textile-based stampedparts for the automotive industry. This production process is characterized by high quantities ofwaste which, so far, can hardly or not at all be reused. Yet textile-based thermoplastic compositesshow good material potential and are suited to recycling (Braun, Levy, and Sifniades 1999, Brown2001). In this research work, the recycled cotton and polyester materials are used to make the blendsof recycled fiber with spun-laid techniques.

The purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding of acoustical properties ofnonwovens, and to model the noise control behavior in terms of material and treatment parameters.Treatment of the noise receiver may not always be a practical solution, as each receiver must betreated individually. Hence, treatment of the noise path is conceptually the simplest and the mostcommon approach in noise reduction (Braccesi and Bracciali 1998). Secondary noise controlconstitutes enclosure of noise sources, vibration isolation, noise barrier, noise absorption, reactiveand dissipative silencing. The present paper focuses on the absorption phenomenon of sound.Nonwoven fabrics, which are fibrous porous materials, have an important use in noise reduction.Nonwovens have some advantages over cellular absorbers, that is foams, such as low production

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costs and low specific gravity. Nonwovens can also be more environmental friendly than conven-tional sound absorbers of polyurethane foams which are unable to be recycled and have environ-mental damaging manufacturing methods. Human ears can detect sound waves in the frequencyrange of 16 Hz to 20,000 Hz generally. The range below the audible range is called the infrasonicrange, and the range above the upper limit of hearing is called the ultrasonic range. Whereas there isno lower limit for infrasonic range, the upper limit of ultrasonic range is of the order of 1013 Hzdepending on the medium. At 1013 Hz, the wavelengths reduce to values which are comparable tothe distances between atoms in liquids and solids (Saha 1994).

Measuring the sound absorption coefficient in recycled nonwoven fabric

The image 1 shows measuring the sound absorption of recycled nonwoven fabrics. According toASTM E 1050, the shape and size of each specimen were the same as the tube cross-section (acircular form, 40 mm in diameter). The normal incident sound absorption coefficients (α) weremeasured by an impedance tube, which was kindly provided by Automotive Research and TestingCenter (ARTC, Taiwan). The mechanisms of the instrument are shown in image 1. The arithmeticaverage (α) of sound absorption coefficients over six frequencies 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, and4000 Hz was calculated by

α ¼ α125 þ α250 þ α500 þ α1000 þ α2000 þ α40006

(1)

SEM analysis of recycled cotton and polyester fibers

The image 2 shows the recycled fibers nonwoven samples perimeters measured with scalex planwheel XLU, by using SEM photograph of the reclaimed nonwoven fabrics. The recycled cotton andpolyester fibers nonwoven samples are measured three times and final average values were taken as afiber perimeter. The surface area of the fibers was calculated by multiplying the perimeter and thetotal fiber length in the fabric. The surface area of the non fabrics was obtained by 25 × 4 × 25 × 4.

Results and discussions

The sound absorption reclaimed nonwoven fabrics processed at 180°C for 20 min and its composi-tion of recycled PET/Cotton fragments is 50/50 with 4 mm in mesh diameter. Sound absorptioncoefficient can be determined by the given equation.

Image 1. The apparatus and instrumentation of the impedance tube.

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αn¼ Sound energy absorbed b a surfaceSound energy incident in that surface

(2)

αn¼ 1� Energy reflectedEnergy incident

(3)

Table 1 shows that the sound absorption coefficient varies from zero (0) to one (1). Soundabsorption performance is a function of frequency and is performed generally with the increase infrequency. Performance improves with the increase in thickness. Material thickness should be at least1/10 wavelength of sound to justify the use (i.e., offer any benefit) and ¼ wavelength of sound to beeffective. Sound absorption coefficient is affected by parameters of material such as porosity,thickness, density, air space between the absorber and the wall, perforation, and facing. The samefinding was observed by (Saha 1994; Shoshani 1990) Shoshani and Yakubov (2000). A nonwovenweb to have a high sound absorption coefficient, porosity should increase along the propagation ofthe sound wave. Figure 1 presents a typical curve of the sound absorption coefficient as a function ofthe sound frequency for the recycled nonwovens. As the nonwovens consisted of a melted polyesternonwoven granules, fragments, and fibers, the recycled nonwoven porous structure possessed

Image 2. SEM photographs of recycled nonwoven fabrics made from recycled cotton/polyester fibers.

Figure 1. Sound absorption coefficient recycled nonwovens.

Green line: 20 mm thickness.Black line: 40 mm thickness.

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excellent performance for absorption of high-frequency sound waves, especially above 2000 Hz.However, the application of the reclaimed nonwovens for low-frequency (1000 Hz) sound waveabsorption is restricted. One of the most important qualities that influence the sound absorbingcharacteristics of a fibrous material is the specific flow resistance per unit thickness of the material.The characteristic impedance and propagation constant, which describes the acoustical properties ofporous materials, are governed to a great extent by flow resistance of the material. Fibers interlockingin nonwovens are the frictional elements that provide resistance to acoustic wave motion. In general,when sound enters these materials, its amplitude is decreased by friction as the waves try to movethrough the tortuous passages. The same trend was observed by Fung and Hardcastle (2001).

The influence of nonwoven’s thickness on the sound absorption coefficient is shown in Figure 2,and the values of the sound absorption coefficients at the six frequency and their averages are givenin Table 1. It found that increasing thickness obviously improved the sound absorption efficiency ofthe recycled nonwoven samples at medium and low frequency, and also the value of α. In practice,this kind of characteristic can usually be used to redeem the shortcomings of the porous structure forsound absorption. The thicknesses of the nonwoven material are the most influencing factor on theirsound absorbing capacity. The thickness of nonwoven is less than 3.5mm little sound absorption isachieved, if the thickness is more 9.03mm best sound absorption is achieved. The same finding wasobserved by Shoshani (1990) and Fung and Hardcastle (2001).

Figure 3 shows the influence of nonwoven materials density on the sound absorption coefficient.The sound absorption efficiency of the nonwoven samples was decreased as the nonwoven densityincreases, especially for medium- and high-frequency sound wave. The density of recycled non-woven is 0.144–0.174g/cm3 the increase of sound absorption values in the middle and higherfrequency as the density of the nonwoven samples were increased. The number of fibers increasesper unit area when the apparent density is large. The energy losses increase as the surface frictionincreases, thus, the sound absorption coefficient increases. Thus most of the waves are absorbed

Figure 2. The influence of recycled nonwoven thickness on the sound absorption coefficient.

Green line: 20 mm thicknessBlack line: 40 mm thicknessRed line: 50 mm thicknessViolet line: 70 mm thickness

Table 1. The sound absorption coefficients of the six frequencies and their averages of the recyclednonwovens.

ThicknessIn mm

Frequency (Hz)

α 125 α 250 α 500 α 1000 α 2000 α 3000 Α

20 0.11 0.23 0.45 0.56 0.64 0.86 0.47540 0.12 0.26 0.56 0.64 0.66 0.90 0.52350 0.11 0.31 0.64 0.72 0.74 0.94 0.57370 0.20 0.35 0.68 0.78 0.86 0.96 0.638

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rather than reflected. To make the recycled nonwoven structure more compact, the interconnectedvoids in the nonwovens are relatively decreased with increasing nonwoven density. Most of theincident sound waves are reflected, rather than absorbed. In this research, recycled polyester andcotton in the nonwovens have the effect on the sound absorption efficiency. The sound absorptioncoefficients are a little decreased on the medium sound frequency (1000–2000 Hz). The same resultswere obtained by Vaughn, Boston, and Tascan (2003) and Wu et al. (1996).

Comparison of reclaimed nonwoven and thermo plastic polyurethane honey comb structure

In this research work, a comparison of sound absorption measurement for recycled nonwoven materialsbased on the specifications of the sound absorption materials has been developed. This samemethod hasbeen used to measure the thermo plastic polyurethane honey comb structure and alternative proposedmaterials, the recycled cotton/polyester nonwovens. The results showed that the recycled cotton/polyesternonwovens aremore resilient than tested thermo plastic polyurethane honey comp structure. Indeed, thisstructure enables a vertical orientation of fibers; this vertical orientation of fibers has the effect to providemaximum resilience to the material. On the other hand, it has been shown that the recycled nonwovensdissipate more sound absorption than thermoplastic polyurethane honey comb structure. This result hasdemonstrated the ability of the fibrous structure to be reorganized under compression stress. All theseresults underline the ability of this reclaimed nonwoven structure materials to replace polyurethane foamin sustainability purpose. The same findings were observed by Koizumi, Tsujiuchi, and Adachi (2002).

Conclusion

Consider the ecological issues and the possible market development for the environmentallycompassionate recycled cotton/polyester nonwoven materials as sound absorption. In this researchwork the recycled cotton and polyester fibers are used to make the blends of reclaimed fiber webwith spun-laid techniques to produce nonwoven fabrics. The recycled fibers nonwoven samplesperimeters are measured with scalex plan wheel XLU, by using SEM photograph of the recyclednonwoven fabrics. The surface area of the recycled non fabrics thus obtained is 25 × 4 × 25 × 4. Therecycled nonwovens samples were tested for sound absorption by ASTM E 1050. The results exposedthat the porous recycled nonwovens possess excellent performance in absorption of high-frequency

Figure 3. The influence of recycled nonwoven density on the sound absorption coefficient.

Green line: 20 mm thicknessBlack line: 40 mm thicknessRed line: 50 mm thicknessViolet line: 70 mm thickness

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sound waves, especially above 2000 Hz. The sound absorption efficiency of the recycled nonwovensamples at medium and low frequency can be enhanced evidently by increasing the thickness.However, it is decreased, at the same time as the recycled nonwoven density is increased. Thedensity of recycled nonwoven is 0.144–0.174g/cm3 it has been concluded that the thickness decreaseswith increasing material density. The comparison was made of sound absorption measurement forrecycled nonwoven materials and thermo plastic polyurethane honey comb structure. The resultsexposed that the recycled nonwovens dissipate more sound absorption than thermoplastic polyur-ethane honey comb structure. The acoustical properties of these recycled nonwoven materials areuseful for the proper application in products such as sound barriers, walls, road surfaces and used asinterior linings materials for auditoriums, halls, apartments, automotives, aircrafts, and ducts andencloses for noise equipments and insulations for machineries.

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