Feasibility of Cement Mortar System with Textile Waste

Abstract

Fabric wastes are commonly burned or recycled into practical goods, they do not stay usable long enough before they return to being wastes once again. Massive textile waste generation due to the high demand for textile products, textile waste management was considered as one of the critical areas that need situational awareness. Hence, implementing textile waste as part of building material is most welcome, especially in this era when waste recycling is the most discussed issue worldwide. The feasibility of textile waste used in mortar to improve the performance of traditional mortar was studied in this study. Cotton rich and Polyester rich textile fibres were used to prepare Textile Fibre Reinforced Mortar (TFRM) by varying the textile content from 0% to 25% with a 5% increment by the weight of cement. The addition of textile waste caused a considerable reduction in dry and wet density while increasing the capacity of water absorption. TFRM with 5% of textile fibre significantly improved the abovementioned properties together reducing its brittleness, and Cotton fibre showed more strength gain than Polyester fibre mixed TFRM.