Research on Fabrication & Recycle of Natural Waste Composites

Due to the increased environmental awareness, there is a strong trend to reduce the generated amount of solid wastes and attempt to reclaim them. In particular, two types of solid waste appear to have a great economic potential for utilization; fibers and plastics. Last year, 230 million tons scrap fibers were generated all over the world. Only 33% of the waste fibers are utilized in useful products. The carpet industry has its share of solid waste production. Re- and postconsumer waste were estimated to be 3 million tons/year in the United States. Indeed, there is an essential need to efficiently utilize these wastes via a fundamentally different approach that provides a substantial added value to the waste materials. In the present work, we introduce the notion of developing reinforced composite materials from waste fabric and waste plastic. The composite material developed from this combination provides adequate mechanical and chemical characteristics. First, we discuss the technical challenges involved in developing composites from wastes then, the processing steps are outlined. Finally, a study and comparison of strength of different composites formed and some application. In addition, we will assess the mechanical, chemical and economic criteria of the devised composite mater. Composites consist of one or more discontinuous phases embedded in a continuous phase. The discontinuous phase is usually harder and stronger than the continuous phase and is called the 'reinforcement' or 'reinforcing material', whereas the continuous phase is termed as the 'matrix'. Properties of composites are strongly dependent on the properties of their constituent materials, their distribution and the interaction among them and mechanical properties, reduced tool wear, unlimited availability, low price, and problem free disposal. Wood fibre/particle provides a sufficient reinforcement at much lower cost than synthetic and mineral filled thermoplastic.