Recycling of waste nylon 6/spandex blended fabrics by melt processing

A unique approach for reclaiming waste nylon 6/spandex blended fabrics was demonstrated by melt processing through mixing and molding. Spandex from the waste fabrics was removed by hydrolysis under controlled conditions. Morphological analysis showed that the fracture surface was homogeneous for samples of neat nylon 6 and treated fabrics, and voids were observed for samples from untreated fabrics. Thermal analysis indicated that the materials from waste fabrics exhibited both similar melting temperature (around 220 °C) and similar crystallization temperature (around 185 °C). Infrared spectroscopy showed nearly the same main absorption peaks of neat nylon 6 and samples from nylon 6/spandex fabrics. The viscosity of treated fabric samples was lower than that of untreated fabric composites at low and medium frequencies, as an effect of the spandex removal after treatment. The recycled plastics from treated fabrics exhibited good mechanical properties with a tensile strength of 46.6 MPa and a Young's modulus exceeding 2.4 GPa.