Effect of Through-the-Thickness Stitching on the Mechanical Performances of Textile Waste Reinforced Composites

Abstract

The objective of this work is to study the effect of through the thickness stitching on the mechanical performances of textile waste reinforced composites. For this purpose, nonwoven mats were stitched using an industrial sewing machine. In the first part of the work, the effect of stitch row spacing on the mechanical behavior of cotton nonwoven waste was investigated. Results showed that stitching improved the tensile properties of the nonwoven and the space row of 10 mm presented the best Young modulus and tensile strength. The effect of through the thickness stitching on the tensile behaviour of polyester nonwoven was also studied and results showed an increase of Young modulus up to 5 times in 0°. In the second part of the work, stitched and unstitched nonwovens were used to manufacture composite panels via resin infusion method. Mechanical performances of composite materials were later tested using tensile test, three points bending test and charpy test. All tests results indicated that stitching improved significantly the mechanical behavior of all composites. The Young modulus showed an increase of 55% for cotton-based composite and 40% for polyester based composite. While the bending modulus of composite made of polyester nonwoven increased by 83% and the impact resistance increased by 10%.