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The Textile industry is the second most polluting sector in the world, accounting for the 10% of the total world's carbon emissions. Contributes to a complex, profuse, and fast generating post-consumer waste stream of unprecedented rate; estimated of 92 million tons in 2015. The relevance and key advantage of this end-of-life waste stream relies in the latent potential of a material blend rich in complex polymers and bio-polymers, which the traditional waste management protocol of incineration or landfill disposal has become obsolete, due to its major detrimental environmental consequences. This research targets the recovery of assorted end-of-life textiles with the emphasis on promoting multi-stage cascading use of mixed fibre bulk, as a low-carbon alternative feedstock, for the advancement of textile fibre reinforced composite (TFRC) materials, for building applications. For this purpose, a series of five novel multiphase blends were engineered. A homogeneous micro-fibrillated randomly oriented fine fleece constituted by polymers and bio-polymers mixture of thermoplastics (i.e. polyester, acrylic), lingo-cellulosic (i.e. cotton), and protein polymers (i.e. wool) were studied as the main filler phase. The effect of residual fine wood fibres was examined as secondary filler; and fibrillated polypropylene textile waste, was incorporated as the thermoplastic matrix phase, optimizing the filler/matrix interfacial adhesion with maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene coupling agent as 6 wt%. The sheet panel prototypes were manufactured under isothermal hot-compression moulded in a steel die. The material properties for mechanical performance, interfacial adhesion, moisture absorption, fire resistance, surface roughness and microstructural characteristics are reported. The experimental results indicated the series of innovative TFRCs presented optimal performance for moisture resistance, as well as for load-bearing and non-load bearing applications, in comparison to standard wood-based particleboards. The highest performance for mechanical strength (34.9 MPa) and low-moisture absorption (2.4%) was achieved by the specimens formulated with polypropylene textile matrix phase as 40 wt%. Highest flame retardant property was achieved by the prototype with wood fines as secondary filler.

These results confirm an effective compatibility between diverse fibre wastes as composite blend mixture for TFRCs, providing a non-toxic low-carbon alternative material for high-end building applications. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.