Incorporating Textile-Derived Cellulose Fibers for the Strengthening of Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate for 3D Printing Feedstock Materials

Unprecedented levels of production and consumption has led to solid waste accumulation in landfills and oceans. Two significant landfill constituents are textile waste and discarded plastic bottles. Since there is a finite amount of space available for landfill use, solutions that reuse these post-consumer products are imperative. The work presented here is a methodology for producing natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites (NFRPCs) from pseudo-raw materials. Post-consumer textile waste and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) water bottles were made compatible by way of surface modifications. Melt compounding was used to form a monofilament feedstock for extrusion-based 3D printing platforms. Hydrolysis and functionalization of cellulose fibers from white denim cloth was performed. It was found that adding recycled textile fibers to the recycled PET matrix had a toughening effect. Materials characterization involving dynamic mechanical analysis, attenuated total reflectance, impact testing, melt flow index, and scanning electron microscopy were carried out to verify the efficacy of the functionalization process and to ascertain the robustness of the filler/matrix interface. The outcome is a demonstration of a feasible method for the repurposing of waste products for 3D printing applications.