CN111455501A

CN111455501A - Method for manufacturing textile products from recycled flax material and related textile products

Info

Publication number: CN111455501A
Application number: CN202010073913.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 斯特凡诺·奇普里亚尼
Original assignee: Stefanozypriani
Current assignee: Stefanozypriani
Priority date: 2019-01-22
Filing date: 2020-01-22
Publication date: 2020-07-28
Also published as: IT201900000957A1

Abstract

A method of using waste flax material, primarily from pre-consumption and post-consumption, is illustrated. The method for realizing the recycling of the flax-based textile product comprises the following steps: the waste and scraps of linen are collected from pre-and post-consumption activities, sorted, converted into clean, homogenized and finished fibres, possibly mixed with fibres of a carrier material, and then woven by some technique. A yarn made from recycled flax containing at least 20% recycled flax is knitted or woven to make a household or clothing textile product made from recycled flax. A textile yarn comprising flax fibres and a textile product are also provided.

Description

Method for manufacturing textile products from recycled flax material and related textile products

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a method of using recycled flax material. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for making a textile product from recycled flax material. The invention also relates to a textile product comprising recycled flax material.

Background

Methods for recovering cotton from textile manufacturing processes and methods for recovering pre-consumer cotton fabrics are known. For example, a method for using regenerated cotton in the manufacture of cotton fabrics is described in US2011/0250425a 1. The regenerated cotton considered is cotton from waste cotton produced in various steps of the manufacturing process of cotton textile products. The waste cotton is collected, subdivided and sorted from the manufacturing process according to the specific manufacturing steps to produce the waste cotton, and then mixed, spun and woven to produce a regenerated cotton fabric. The above steps are carried out according to a specific formulation (formulation) which varies according to the final product to be obtained. The formulation used is designed to prioritize the alignment of the fibres and to significantly increase the twist of the fibres to obtain a yarn with a predetermined strength based on a suitable mix of types of waste, fibre length and fibre resistance.

However, the known method allows to recover waste material only from the manufacturing process and pre-consumer textile waste, without post-consumer waste material, mainly because up to 40% of all cotton fibers are discarded during manufacturing, thus representing an already very high percentage of all usable cotton waste. In addition, as far as flax is concerned, although processes for recovering waste flax fibres from the manufacturing process are known, processes for recovering pre-and post-consumer flax fabrics are not known.

Although linen represents a small part of the world's production of natural based textile products compared to cotton, and consequently linen waste represents also a smaller quantity compared to cotton before and after consumption, the amount of linen based textile products sent to landfills every year is very large. The fact that the average life of garments has been shortened in recent years, especially in most industrialized parts of the world, is also one of the reasons. By recycling the flax waste, not only can the space of a landfill be maintained and the environment be protected, but also the amount of soil, water, energy, pesticides and chemicals entering flax manufacture can be greatly reduced. Furthermore, the cost of flax is much higher than that of cotton, and so it may be economically very advantageous to recover even small amounts of flax from post-consumer waste.

There is no known method in the prior art for recycling flax waste, nor is it known that it is waste material from textile manufacturing processes, nor is there a known method for recycling pre-or post-consumer flax fabrics, and furthermore, methods for recycling cotton, some of which are mentioned above, are not feasible for flax because there are substantial differences in length, resistance and brittleness between the two types of fibers.

Disclosure of Invention

The object of the present invention is therefore to propose a method for using recycled linen, in particular linen from pre-and post-consumer textile waste.

Another object of the invention is to propose a method for making textile products from recycled flax material.

It is a further object of the present invention to propose a textile product comprising recycled flax material.

The aforementioned objects are achieved by a method using waste flax material, characterized in that it comprises the following steps:

-collecting waste linen from pre-and/or post-consumer activities;

-cleaning the collected linen fabric so that extraneous matter, such as zippers, buttons, coverings, labels, etc., can be removed to obtain a raw material consisting only of linen-based fabric;

-subdividing the collected linen based fabric based on a plurality of subdivision criteria comprising at least colour, to obtain a plurality of categories of waste linen fabric;

-selecting a linen fabric from one or more of the aforementioned categories;

-cutting the selected waste linen fabric into strips;

-dry fringing treatment of the selected strips of waste linen fabric;

-treating the waste flax fibres subjected to the fringing treatment to obtain a yarn comprising waste flax fibres.

The above process allows the use of pre-and post-consumer waste linen to obtain new linen textile products.

Advantageously, in the treatment of waste flax fibres, fibres of a carrier material having a fibre length of at least 38mm are added to the waste flax fibres.

Advantageously, the fibres of the carrier material are added in the form of a web during the carding step.

Advantageously, the carrier material is virgin flax or virgin cotton or a synthetic material such as polyester, nylon or viscose, or the carrier material is a combination of two or more thereof.

Advantageously, the fibres of the carrier material are added in an amount of 20 to 80% by weight of the yarn to be produced.

Advantageously, the carding step is followed by a spinning step by open-end technology, cotton ring spinning technology or vortex technology.

Advantageously, the aforementioned criteria for subdividing the collected waste linen fabric include: subdivided by mass suitable for identifying at least the knitted waste flax species and at least the tatting waste flax species.

Advantageously, in the processing step, a first carding step is carried out, in which the waste linen fibres treated with the fringes are homogenized and finished (straightened) to obtain a carded web of waste linen fibres, and a second carding step, in which the carded web of waste linen fibres is arranged (fed) together with the carded web of fibres of the carrier material.

Drawings

Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments thereof, given by way of example and not exclusively, with the aid of the accompanying drawings, as set forth in the claims, in which:

figure 1 shows a block diagram of the method steps according to the invention;

figures 2A to 2C show tables illustrating recipes for mixing waste flax material with other substances to obtain a waste flax based textile product according to the present invention;

fig. 3 shows a flow diagram of an embodiment of the weaving method according to the invention for producing a fabric from waste flax material.

Detailed Description

Some embodiments of the invention will be described below with reference to fig. 1 to 3. Each example is provided for the understanding of the present invention and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the related protection. The scope of the invention of course encompasses the embodiments described hereinafter as well as many other embodiments.

The method of making fabric from linen waste material before or after consumption according to the present invention can provide fabrics and knitwear of superior quality obtained from yarns having units from 6/1 to 40/1 units or higher, which can be finished (finished ) and colored as desired.

An important step in the process of the present invention is the collection of flax material waste and scraps. In particular, post-consumer linen waste, mainly household textile products and clothing products, must be cleaned by removing everything that is not linen. For example, labels and stitching must be eliminated from household textile products, while in clothing products, it is often necessary to remove buttons, zippers, tacks, coverings.

In order to carry out the method according to the invention, the collected waste flax material must be divided according to different subdivision criteria. The subdivision criterion, which is based primarily on quality, manufacturing process and color, is used to obtain a plurality of homogeneous (homogeneous ) waste flax material categories. In particular, the color-based subdivision of the collected waste flax material is very important and it is preferred to identify at least three color categories, which are non-pigmented materials and very light-colored materials, light-colored materials and dark-colored materials.

Thus, the method of realising a textile product starting from waste flax material may only consider using homogeneous waste flax material, thus belonging to the same category, or it may consider mixing several categories of waste flax material according to a certain proportion, according to the textile product to be obtained, in particular mainly according to the resistance and colour characteristics to be obtained.

In the method according to the invention, the loosening step is important, which is carried out first by cutting the waste linen into strips and then by means of a dry edge shaver, by means of which of course a wet edge shaver is preferably used. It is also advantageous to avoid the use of a rewinder which returns too short fibers.

The carding step is important for finishing and homogenizing the fibers. Preferably, during the second carding step, the mixing is carried out with a determined percentage by weight of support material, which must have a fiber length of at least 38 mm. In fact, the support material is necessary for most of the final products to be obtained, since the fibres of the waste flax material are much shorter than those of the original flax. The support material, which is preferably arranged as a card web together with a card web of waste flax fibers, may be a synthetic material, such as polyester or viscose, or it may be raw cotton or it may also be raw flax. Flax noil from the flax processing process may also be added to waste flax material from pre-and post-consumption activities.

In the method of the invention, a mixed carded web comprising fibres of waste flax material and support material is spun using the free end technique or using the vortex technique or using the cotton spinning ring technique.

The method of the invention thus provides knitting or weaving and finally a fixing (fix) and possibly a colouring step.

Referring to fig. 1, reference numeral 10 generally indicates an embodiment 10 of a method for making fabric from waste flax material in accordance with the present invention. The method 10 comprises the step of collecting 11 flax waste. Flax waste or collected waste flax from: pre-consumer activities, such as garment sewing, in which linen is cut, which generates waste of the linen; or from post-consumer activities where waste clothing, household textiles or also flax are collected.

The collected flax waste is subdivided 12, mainly by sorting according to quality and colour criteria, to create different waste flax categories, including for example:

white or natural knitting sewing (cutting) waste,

-dyeing of knitting sewing (cutting) waste,

-dyeing of the knitting sewing (cutting) waste,

-subdividing and cleaning the pre-and post-consumer knitted garments of the accessories by color,

-subdividing and cleaning the pre-and post-consumer fabric garments of the accessory by color.

The method for making a flax textile product according to the present invention may involve the use of flax from one or more of the above categories.

Specific amounts of waste from various species of seed flax waste are selected and mixed together to produce a yarn for a specific end use. For example, a recipe may be used that includes the percentage by weight of the waste type of the various kinds of flax waste based on the characteristics of the yarn to be produced. The formulation for each final product to be made can vary greatly depending on the size of the yarn and the final physical testing requirements of the product.

The subsequent steps of the method of the invention provide for a fringing treatment 13 to obtain fibres from the selected waste material, to clean the material and to remove impurities.

The waste flax fibers produced by the fringing process step 13 may be subjected to an additional debonding step 14 that uses a debonding apparatus to further clean and debond the waste flax fibers. The loosening can clean and separate the treated waste flax material to achieve an improved state. The improved waste flax fibers may also be passed through another debonding step that further mixes, penetrates, and cleans the waste flax fibers.

When the waste flax fibers are sufficiently fluffed and cleaned of impurities, they pass through the supply unit to a carding process 16, in which the carding machine further cleans and aligns the treated waste flax fibers. The carded web may be fed to a subsequent ironing step to better align and finish the fibers and create a more uniform web for subsequent further processing.

In addition to the manufacture of very coarse yarns (for example for the manufacture of sweaters or some types of carpets), the mixing 15 of the fibres of waste linen material with other support materials having a fibre length of at least 38mm is carried out before or during the carding step. The support material may be added in variable amounts of 20% to 80% by weight of the final product. The support material may be virgin flax fibers, virgin cotton fibers, synthetic fibers such as polyester, nylon, viscose or others. Mixing 15 can be carried out, for example, in a first carding or in a second carding, wherein the waste flax card web produced by the first carding is fed to a second carding machine together with the card web of support material.

In the tables of fig. 2A to 2C, there are shown embodiments of mixing according to the invention to obtain various types of end products, respectively household textiles, knitted fabrics for clothing and woven fabrics for clothing.

As can be seen from the above table, different types of finished products, such as items of clothing made in knitted or woven fabrics, bedding and towels, etc., have different final treatment and use requirements, and therefore the yarns used to make them must have different characteristics to meet the treatment and final use requirements. In view of the above, it is possible to select combinations of waste flax material from different categories and combine one or more support materials in amounts to improve the quality of the process and the end product, while achieving acceptable or superior levels of recycled waste flax material.

The carded web with mixed fibres of waste flax fibres and fibres of support material exiting from the carding 16 can be spun 17 with a ring spinning or ring spinning cotton or vortex machine.

The yarns may be formed into a fabric, such as a knitted or woven fabric. The arrangement of the knitting or weaving machine can be the same as a conventional linen yarn made of raw linen. These fabrics may be dyed and finished in a conventional manner or finished using only the initial color of the sorting operation 12. In addition, these fabrics may be cut and sewn in a conventional manner into garments, bedding, bedspreads, towels, and the like.

As mentioned above, the yarn may comprise up to 80% recycled flax from waste flax material. For yarns made with 80% recycled flax, the yarn may have units between about 6/1 and about 14/1. For yarns made with a lower content of recycled flax and a higher content of long fiber support material, the yarn units may also be larger than 40/1 with 20% recycled flax.

With reference to fig. 3, an embodiment variant 20 of the method according to the invention provides for the selection 21 of waste linen material collected from pre-or post-consumer linen. The selection 21 is mainly based on quality 22 and color 23 criteria. Quality criteria 22 essentially produce a subdivision of knitted and woven waste material. The color standard 23 essentially produces a subdivision of natural colors or very light color classes and light or dark color classes.

There is therefore a debonding step 24, which consists of cutting into strips and fringing, in which the textile waste of the waste linen is broken down into fibres, which are cleaned of impurities.

In a first mixing step 25, the fibers of the waste flax material are added with the original flax fibers constituting the support material, after which the mixed fibers are fed to a carding 26. Between the first carding and the second carding, a further mixing 27 with a second support material, for example polyester, for example raw cotton, is carried out.

The resulting card web is then spun 28 with a textile operation selected from the group consisting of open end spinning 29, vortex spinning 30 and ring spinning 31.

The resulting yarn is knitted by knitting 32 or by weaving 33 depending on the finished product to be obtained.

Thus, the method of the invention provides: it is decided whether to continue dyeing the fabric 34 or to retain the natural color 35.

After possible dyeing, fixing 36 is carried out to obtain a fabric 37 and then a finished product 38.

The process according to the invention described above allows to efficiently use all waste flax material, thus making the process a truly sustainable process which reduces landfill landfills, water consumption, energy and harmful chemicals used during planting as well as dyeing of fabrics. A large percentage of waste flax material can be used, which can contribute to the sustainability of the manufacturing operations of the flax yarn, allowing a substantial saving of raw materials. Furthermore, by using a large amount of waste flax material, more waste flax material can be regenerated, i.e. recycled and reused, to increase the positive environmental impact.

The described method and the products that can be produced as shown in the attached tables are mentioned only by way of example, so that other variants can of course be considered without losing the advantages of the invention and without departing from the scope of protection provided by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for using waste flax material, characterized in that it comprises the following phases:

-collecting waste linen from pre-and/or post-consumer activities;

-selecting a linen fabric from one or more of the aforementioned categories;

-cutting the selected waste linen fabric into strips;

-dry fringing treatment of the selected strips of waste linen fabric;

2. Method for using waste flax material according to the previous claim, characterized in that in said step of treating said waste flax fibers, fibers of a carrier material having a fiber length of at least 38mm are added to said waste flax fibers.

3. Process for using waste flax material according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the fibres of said carrier material are added in the form of a web during the carding step.

4. A method of using waste flax material according to claim 2 or 3 wherein the carrier material is selected from virgin flax, virgin cotton, polyester, nylon and viscose or is a mixture of two or more thereof.

5. A method of using waste flax material according to claim 2 or subsequent claim wherein the fibres of the carrier material are added in an amount of 20 to 80% by weight of the yarn to be produced.

6. A method of using waste flax material according to claim 2 or a subsequent claim, wherein in said treatment step a first carding step is carried out in which the waste flax fibres subjected to the selvedge treatment are homogenized and finished to obtain a carded web of waste flax fibres, and a second carding step in which said carded web of waste flax fibres is brought together with a carded web of fibres of a carrier material.

7. Process for using waste flax material according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that in said treatment step the carding step is followed by a weaving step by free end technique, cotton ring technology or vortex technology.

8. Method for using waste linen material according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said criteria for subdividing the collected waste linen fabric comprise: subdivided by mass suitable for identifying at least the types of knitting waste flax and the types of tatting production waste flax.

9. Textile yarn comprising flax fibers, characterized in that it is made by a method according to one of the preceding claims.

10. A textile product, characterized in that it is made by knitting or weaving a yarn according to the preceding claim.