Composite products from carpets process

Polymers from carpet waste produced by melt processing may be used to make products in a molding process, either alone or blended with virgin polymers. The recycled polymers may also be used as matrices in glass fiber reinforced composites. For such applications, the properties of the composites are dominated by the reinforcement (glass fibers), and therefore even recycled polymers without compatibilization could provide the composites with satisfactory mechanical properties. ... 

United Recycling Inc. (URI), which was in operation from the early 1990s to 1999, introduced two extruded blends (URI 20-(X)l and URI 10-(X)1) from postconsumer carpet waste for injection molding in 1993 [61]. These were the first commercial recycled carpet compounds. The process used both polypropylene and nylon carpet. Their products were described as proprietary blends containing polypropylene. The composition and properties of the two compoimds are listed in Table 16.5. The molding compounds developed by URI were used to extrude carpet tack strip. 

The tearing fibers produced according to the processes described can again reach the textile production process as raw materials. This happens, for example, in the field of woolen spinning (outerwear fabrics, carpet yarns), nonwoven production (sound and heat damping materials), and for the production of composites for the automobile industry (hat racks, inside covers). Additional applications are cleaning and wiping cloths made from woven friction yarns or from stitch-bonded nonwovens. 

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