Journal of Material Sciences & Engineering

Investigating Tensile and Flexural Strength Properties of Grey Cotton Fabric with Textile Solid Waste Composite Materials

Abstract

Melese Shiferaw*, Asmamaw Tegegne and Assefa Asmare

Currently, in Ethiopia and around the world, large amounts of ante and post-mortem waste, such as clothing waste, plastic waste, and cotton waste, contribute to air pollution. This waste is simply discarded and thrown into the environment. Studying and characterizing this waste has many advantages. This work focused on the characterization and study of the tensile and flexural strength properties of these wastes for lightweight automotive body applications such as hoods. For the experiment, the specimen was fabricated using cotton fabric and garment waste reinforcing layer with a weight ratio of polyester–cotton rag-hardener (79%-19%-2%, 59%-39%-2%, 39%-59%-2%, 19%-79%-2%), and the better surface bonding obtained at 59%-39%-2% combination respectively. The reinforcing layer is arranged as a sandwiching form; Cf Cf Cf Cf (cotton fabric-cotton fabric-cotton fabric-cotton fabric), Cf Gw CfGw, CfGwGwCf, GwGwGwGw, and GwCfCfGw. From those sandwiching forms, CfGwGwCf has shown a better surface finish and maxing structure. The test results indicated the newly formed composite material has the best properties. The maximum tensile strength of 115.918 MPa was obtained on the CfGwGwCf combination and the minimum value of 64.894 MPa was obtained in Cf Cf Cf Cf lamination. Also, the maximum and minimum flexural strength of 107.95 MPa and 52.71 MPa were obtained on Chopped and Cf Cf Cf Cf lamination of the reinforcing respectively. Finally, as indicated in the result that it will apply to many structural applications like car hoods with additional studies.