Mechanical Properties of Carbon Nanotubes Modified Textile Waste/basalt Fibre Hybrid Composites

Abstract

The awareness regarding the importance of recycling and reusing textile waste has been often overlooked. The widespread disposal of textile waste resulted in a slew of environmental problems. Utilising textile scraps as composite materials, numerous studies and research have been conducted. Basalt fibre is well known for its established mechanical properties. It has been used as an alternative for many synthetic fibres widely. The hybridisation of basalt fibre and textile waste is expected to further improve the mechanical properties of the composite. This would offer up many possibilities in terms of environmental sustainability in the future, leading to less pollution from textile waste. On the other hand, incorporating multi-walled carbon nanotubes is expected to further improve the properties of the matrix system. In this study, the effect of fibre hybridisation and nanomodification on the mechanical properties of the composite material is investigated. The composite specimens were fabricated using the compression molding technique in a silicone rubber mold. Mechanical properties of the composite materials were identified by conducting mechanical tests. The results have proven that hybridisation of fibre and matrix nanomodification improves the composites' impact, tensile, and compressive properties.