Development of Needle Punched Nonwovens from Natural Fiber Waste for Thermal Insulation Application

ABSTRACT

The growing environmental awareness throughout the world has triggered a shift toward developing environmentally friendly materials from renewable resources. This work aims to develop needle punched nonwoven fabrics from textile waste for thermal insulation application and also to analyze the influence of porosity and air permeability of the nonwovens on thermal insulation performance. The needle punched nonwovens were manufactured using comber noil, silk cocoon waste, and polyester/cotton flat strip waste. Also, a nonwoven has been developed by blending comber noil with silk cocoon waste (50/50%). It was found that the nonwoven developed from 100% silk cocoon waste has better thermal insulation value (0.201 m²K/W) compared to 100% comber noil and polyester/cotton flat strip waste. It was also found that blending silk cocoon fiber with comber noil improves the thermal insulation of the nonwovens. 50/50 silk cocoon/ comber noil nonwoven has a good thermal insulation value (0.212 m²K/W) among the developed nonwovens. There is an increase in thermal insulation observed with an increase in porosity of nonwovens. The test results showed that all the developed nonwovens have excellent thermal insulation performance and are comparable with that of conventional insulation materials.

摘要

全世界日益增长的环境意识促使人们转向利用可再生资源开发环保材料. 本研究旨在利用纺织废料开发用于隔热的针刺非织造布, 并分析非织造布的孔隙率和透气性对隔热性能的影响. 针刺非织造布是利用精梳落棉、蚕茧废料和涤棉扁带废料生产的. 此外, 通过将精梳落棉与蚕茧废料 (50/50%) 混合, 开发了一种非织造布. 结果表明, 与100%精梳落棉和涤棉扁条废料相比, 由100%蚕茧废料开发的非织造布具有更好的隔热值 (0.201 m2K/W). 研究还发现, 将蚕茧纤维与精梳落棉混纺可提高非织造布的隔热性能. 50/50蚕茧/精梳落棉非织造布在已开发的非织造布中具有良好的隔热性能 (0.212 m2K/W). 随着非织造布孔隙率的增加, 观察到隔热性增加. 试验结果表明, 所研制的非织造布均具有优良的保温性能, 与传统保温材料相当.

KEYWORDS:

• Air permeability
• comber noil
• needle punched nonwoven
• silk cocoon
• thermal insulation

关键词:

• 透气性
• 精梳落棉
• 针刺非织造布
• 蚕茧
• 隔热

Acknowledgments

The authors thank M/s PSG TECHS COE INDUTECH, Coimbatore for providing facilities to carry out this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).