High-performance hybrid composites made of recycled Nomex, Kevlar, and polyester selvages: mechanical property evaluations

In modern age, prosperous business, industrial, social, and leisure activities improve and ensure the quality of lives considerably, but are inevitably accompanied with insecurity and dangers that lurk anywhere anytime. People are concerned about safety and have increasing demands on self-protection in terms of working/living environment, accidents, and raising crime rates. The increasing demands of protective textiles cause the mass production of high performance fabrics, leaving considerable amount of high performance selvages. In this study, three kinds of high performance recycled selvages, including Nomex, Kevlar, and PET selvages, are used to make high-performance hybrid composites. The recycled selvages are smashed into staple fibers using a nonwoven manufacturing process. Each recycled staple fibers are individually combined with low-melting-point polyester (LPET) fibers at ratios of 9:1, 7:3, and 5:5, and processed with thermal compression. The LPET fibers contribute to the hybrid composites with thermal bonding points, which decrease the voids between fibers, limit the fiber slide, and enhance the friction force between fibers. The shearing, expelling, and friction functionalities of LPET fibers are expected have a positive influence on the mechanical properties of the high-performance hybrid composites. The morphology of hybrid composites is observed using a scanning electron microscope, and the air permeability, tensile strength, tearing strength, and bursting strength of hybrid composites are evaluated, examining the optimal parameters.