Hybrid composites based on textile hard waste: use as sunshades

Hybrid composites have gained exceptional interest from researchers and industry sectors in the last couple of decades with an aim to improve existing and/or develop new composites to cater for a wide variety of applications. In this research, hybrid composites utilizing glass fibre combined with textile hard waste were fabricated. A control sample and 7 hybrid composite samples including glass-polyester hard waste, glass-mercerized cotton hard waste and glass-cotton hard waste were developed as part of this study. Density, tensile strength and thermal conductivity of all developed samples and that of a commercial composite (purchased from the market) were measured. The results revealed that the control sample developed at the lab scale showed similar or higher values of density, tensile properties and thermal conductivity. Hybrid composites based on unmercerized and mercerized cotton showed very low tensile properties and similar conductivity, so they are not suitable for sunshade application. On the other hand, a composite made from polyester provided with highest tensile properties amongst all the hybrid composites but was still quite lower than a commercial sample. Polyester hybrid composite has enhanced thermal insulation properties suggesting that it has the potential to replace the existing composite, but a compromise needs to be made between the physical and thermal properties of the sunshade.