Polyolefin fibres with waste raw material content

When companies process waste-drinkbottles, after the poly(ethylene terephthalate) flakes have been isolated, a waste mass remains which includes mainly the polymers of bottle caps manufactured from polyolefins, such as high density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP). This article presents the results of research aiming at checking the ability of using HDPE/PP polyolefin waste for spinning fibres. We have indicated that such material, after appropriate preparation, might be added to fibre-grade PP with a melt flow index (MFI) within the range of 25 to 35 g/10 minutes. Polyolefin staple fibres were spun with a 40% content of HDPE/PP waste raw material. The fibres with a linear density of 15 dtex were characterised by a tenacity of 17 cN/tex, elongation at break of 235%, a high degree of elasticity ER5% = 99%, as well as of resistance to the influence of acid media similar to that of PP fibres, and only a little worse to the influence of alkalis.