Microbiological and Mechanical Properties of Nonwoven Fabrics Produced with Textile Defibration

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The textile industry has a high production of nonwoven fabrics. Under these circumstances, there is need to innovate in the manufacture of these materials, with a view to minimizing the environmental impact, especially with solid waste reduction. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop and evaluate the behavior of a nonwoven fabric composed of polyester (PES) fibers and textile defibration (TD). First, the fibers used were characterized by identifying mesophilic bacteria and scanning electron microscopy. Subsequently, different nonwoven fabric samples were produced with different TD percentages (20, 30, and 40%), as well as a 100% PES control sample. After thermal nonwoven fabric consolidation, the samples underwent tests for resilience, identification of mesophilic bacteria, and tensile strength. The results showed that the presence of up to 30% TD did not harm the fiber veil consolidation in the nonwoven fabric. The samples with 20 and 30% TD in their composition showed the best height recovery behavior compared to the control sample. The tensile strength test showed that TD addition to the nonwoven fabric allowed a positive effect on strength in machine direction (MD). Bacterial inoculation results in the standard samples and with the nonwoven fabric with 30% DT showed a significant reduction for both S. aureus and E. coli throughout the incubation period, reinforcing the biological safety of both production routes. The conclusion is that using TD in nonwoven fabrics is a viable and sustainable practice, reducing waste and creating value-added products.