Comparison of cut-resistance performance of gloves made from virginand recycled Para-Aramid fibres

Abstract

Application areas of high performance fibres are increasing day by day due to their superior physical, thermal and chemical properties. Para-aramid is one of these high-tech fibres which is extensively used for making technical textiles like cut-resistant gloves, cut-protective seat covers, and puncture-resistant fabrics, etc. As the use of this fibre has increased manifold,an attempt has been made to assess the performance of recycled fibres in comparison with the virgin fibres, by opening the para-aramid knitted fabric rags into fibrous state and convert the reclaimed fibres into yarn for making cut-resistant cost effective gloves. Four yarns, each of 70 tex, were spun on a DREF 3000 friction spinning machine. Two yarns were made from 100% virgin para-aramid fibres, the first one was the core-wrapped yarn consisting of a 50 micrometer steel wire in its core and the second one without it. The other two yarns were spun from a blend of 50% virgin and 50% recycled para-aramid fibres, one yarn with a 50 micrometer steel core while the other without it. The test results on the manufactured gloves from these yarns showed that the cut-resistance performance of the gloves made from 50:50 blend of virgin and recycled para-aramid fibres was comparable with the gloves made from virgin para-aramid fibres