Mechanical properties of viscose filament : Made from recycled cotton textile and softwood dissolving pulp

Abstract: The textile industry is one of the largest industries in the world and it causes up to 10 % of the global greenhouse gas emissions. With large environmental issues of cotton- and oil-based textiles, other options are explored such as man-made fibers producing fibers like viscose and lyocell. Renewcell is a sustaintech company within textile recycling, producing Circulose®. Circulose® is a dissolving pulp made from 100 % recycled cotton material. It can be used to produce man-made fibers such as viscose or lyocell. The viscose process uses chemical modification to make man-made fibers for the textile industry. The process has changed during the years, but the main steps remains the same and was the outline for the method used in this thesis.  The aim of the thesis was to examine the mechanical properties dry tenacity, dry elongation and dry titer and how these change for various viscose filaments made from recycled cotton textile pulp and dissolving wood pulp from softwood. Evaluating the impact that different spinning conditions had on the mechanical properties. Quality of the viscose dope and the viscose filament was analyzed with ball-fall, filterability and microscopic imaging. The purpose was to gain an understanding for the new dissolving pulp made from recycled cotton textile pulp when used to produce viscose dope and viscose filament. By varying the spinning conditions, the impact it had on the mechanical properties for viscose filaments made of recycled cotton textile pulp could be evaluated.  In this thesis, 4 different types of viscose filaments were examined: 100 % dissolving wood pulp; 100 % recycled cotton textile pulp; a blend of 50 % recycled cotton textile pulp and 50 % dissolving wood pulp; and a blend of 70 % recycled cotton textile pulp and 30 % dissolving wood pulp. The filaments were produced by preparing a viscose dope from dissolving pulp, followed by wet spinning. The result showed that good viscose dopes and viscose filaments could be produced from all pulps and blends. Similar mechanical properties was obtained for 100 % dissolving wood pulp and 100 % recycled cotton textile pulp. The tenacity and titer changed with the different blends, and the spinning conditions affected mostly the elongation. The viscose dope’s containing recycled cotton textile pulp eventually had lumps forming and a slight increase in breakage.  The conclusion of this thesis was that viscose filament of 100 % recycled cotton textile pulp and blends with recycled cotton textile pulp was successfully spun, the mechanical properties obtained was promising and showed great possibilities for improvement by altering the spinning conditions. Using a larger amount of recycled cotton textile pulp could lower some sustainability issues regarding the viscose production. Several aspects of the laboratory viscose process can be improved by further research. A focus on optimizing the viscose dope and synthetic fiber handling, analyzing the black particles, lowering lumps and breakage for the viscose containing recycled cotton textile pulp would be optimal.