Development and characterization of protective gloves using waste para aramid fibers

Abstract

Increasing levels of textile waste have become a matter of great concern for the environment and the circular economy movement. Synthetic or man-made fibers are not decomposed in landfills and also generate toxic gases if incinerated. Waste of high-performance fibers has enormous potential to be used in the development of technical products. In this study, carding waste of para-aramid fibers was blended with virgin polyester fibers to produce needle punched nonwoven felts to be used in the development of protective gloves. Nonwoven webs of different blend ratios and three different weights (GSM) (100, 150, 200 g/m2) were produced. The nonwoven webs were then quilted with knitted polyester fabric to produce gloves. Cut resistance, abrasion resistance, tear resistance and heat resistance of the felts increased with the increase in GSM (g/m2). Particularly at lower GSM, an increasing percentage of aramid fibers showed significant enhancement in cut resistance. The nonwoven felts comprising aramid/polyester blends of 75/25 and 60/40 yielded level 3 cut resistance at 100 GSM which reduced to level 2 with a further decrease in aramid fiber content. The abrasion resistance and tear resistance of the gloves were at level 3 to 4 and showed little dependence on blend ratio but were relatively higher at higher GSM. At 100 GSM, the felts exhibited heat resistance level 1 which increased to level 2 at 200 GSM. The findings of this study suggest that waste of high-performance fibers can be used as cost control and environmentally friendly strategy in the development of protective textiles.