Investigation of usage and biodegradability performance of fabrics produced by different raw materials

In this study, usage and biodegradability behavior of fabrics with different raw materials (cotton, viscose, Modal, Tencel, polylactic acid (PLA), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyacrylonitrile (PAN)) were investigated. Burial method was selected for biodegradability test and three different burial periods (one, four and eight months) were applied. Before fabric production and biodegradability tests, yarn count, yarn twist, yarn breaking strength and breaking elongation, yarn unevenness properties of the yarns made of these raw materials were tested. After knitting, fabric structural, mechanical and air permeability properties were measured and compared with each other to evaluate the usage performance of produced fabrics. Unlike previous studies on biodegradability, this study simultaneously investigates both the biodegradability of fabrics and the soil samples that fabrics buried in. To evaluate the biodegradation behaviour of fabrics, different methods were used such as visual inspection, taking photographs, determination of weight loss and analysis of morphological changes. Total organic carbon content, total number of bacteria and total number of fungi were also determined to investigate the soil content during degradation behaviour. The study showed that cellulosic fabric samples changed physically and chemically even after one month burial period. After eight months of burial period, all fabrics having cellulosic fibres were completely disappeared in the soil. Weight loss occurred only in PLA fabric amongst synthetic fabrics after four months, At the end of the eight-month burial test, slightly weight loss values were obtained for all synthetic fabrics.