Effects of needle punching and hot pressing on mechanical properties of composite geotextiles

Abstract

This study proposes to make geotextiles from recycled materials. Polyester fibers, recycled polyester fibers, and low melting point polyester fibers are blended and needle punched to make the polyester fabrics, the mechanical properties of which are then evaluated to determine the optimal parameters. The polyester nonwoven fabrics are needle punched with various densities. Afterwards, the resulting polyester nonwoven fabrics, glass fiber woven fabrics, and polypropylene selvages are combined, needle punched, and hot pressed to form geotextiles, the properties of which are tested by tensile strength, tearing strength, burst strength, puncture strength, and water resistance tests. The test results show that polyester fabrics containing 50 wt% of polyester fibers have the optimal mechanical properties. Furthermore, needle punching at 90 needles/cm2 results in a greatest increase in mechanical properties of the polyester nonwoven fabrics. The tensile strength, tearing strength, and water resistance of the geotextiles increase as a result of hot pressing, and the bursting strength and puncture resistance are primarily associated with the needle punching densities. This study successfully creates composite geotextiles with reinforced mechanical properties by needle punching and hot pressing recycled polyester fabrics and polypropylene selvages.