New Composites: Diversifying material sources in a circular textile economy

新型复合材料：循环纺织经济中的材料来源多样化

• 批准号: AH/Z505511/1
• 负责人: Kate Goldsworthy
• 金额: $ 12.07万
• 依托单位: University of the Arts London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FZ505511%2F1
• 关键词: New; Composites; Diversifying; material; sources

The fashion and textile industries are significant contributors to pollution, resource depletion, and climate change. To steer human activity back within the limits of the earth's carrying capacity, the way we produce, use, and dispose of textiles needs to undergo radical transformation. This work is embedded in principles of sustainability such as reducing negative social and environmental impacts at each stage of a product or material's lifecycle, alongside circularity as a leading approach to sustainability, which endeavours to circulate resources without waste. The New Composites project aims to increase the diversity of resources used in textile design as a contribution to sustainability targets while embedding recyclability in textile design.The industry currently relies in overwhelming majority on two types of fibres, cotton and polyester, which together account for 76% of all global textile production (Textile Exchange, 2021). While improvements can be made in these fibre categories by using organic or recycled input, it is imperative that a wider variety of fibres should complement their use. The current focus on such a narrow range of resources leads to a lack of resilience in the sector as current price spikes or major disruptions caused by conflict or other obstructions of trade routes have shown. The project tackles the environmental and social impacts linked to the reduced biodiversity which comes from a focus on conventional fibres.Exciting and diverse innovation is currently taking place in the sector of alternative materials, for example materials made from pre- and post-consumer recycled fibres, bio-polyesters from corn, or regenerated cellulose from agricultural waste. However, these innovations are often not fully transparent in their composition and are difficult to access at scale. Moreover, as current guidelines for circular design focus on the fibres with the highest market share, little is known about how these new fibres are best employed in products designed for recirculation.The New Composites project aims to increase understanding of the circularity potential of these new fibres to encourage fibre diversity across the industry. The challenges that it tackles are: first, the lack of information on composition, production processes and recyclability criteria for alternative materials, second, the access barriers for these materials in terms of cost and performance. The first objective is to gather and cross-reference information from material providers and recyclers so that it is accessible as guidelines for designers who intend to use these materials. This builds on existing research in this area by the project team. The second objective will be achieved by blending alternative fibres with other sustainable yet more accessible resources. The realisation of this second objective will take the form of a series of prototype textile samples in collaboration with UK-based production and design companies that shows the application of new materials in blends designed for circularity.The outcomes of the research will be a set of guidelines with associated physical demonstrators to highlight the possibilities of designing with alternative materials for circularity. The guidelines will show ways in which these materials can be combined in compatible blends which respect the criteria of existing and emerging recycling technology, and how design for disassembly can be employed when non-compatible resources are combined. It is hoped that these outcomes will enable an increased uptake of new materials and a shift away from polluting and mono-culture resources.

时尚和纺织行业是造成污染、资源枯竭和气候变化的重要因素。为了引导人类活动回到地球承载能力的限度内，我们生产、使用和处置纺织品的方式需要进行根本性的转变。这项工作植根于可持续发展原则，例如减少产品或材料生命周期每个阶段的负面社会和环境影响，以及将循环性作为可持续发展的主要方法，努力在不浪费的情况下循环资源。新复合材料项目旨在增加纺织品设计中使用的资源的多样性，作为对可持续发展目标的贡献，同时将可回收性纳入纺织品设计中。该行业目前绝大多数依赖于两种类型的纤维：棉和聚酯，这两种纤维合计占 76占全球纺织品产量的百分比（纺织品交易所，2021 年）。虽然可以通过使用有机或回收材料来改进这些纤维类别，但必须有更多种类的纤维来补充它们的用途。当前对如此狭窄范围的资源的关注导致该行业缺乏弹性，正如当前价格飙升或冲突或其他贸易路线障碍造成的重大破坏所表明的那样。该项目解决了由于对传统纤维的关注而导致的生物多样性减少所带来的环境和社会影响。替代材料领域目前正在发生令人兴奋和多样化的创新，例如由消费前和消费后再生纤维制成的材料、来自玉米的生物聚酯或来自农业废物的再生纤维素。然而，这些创新的组成往往并不完全透明，并且难以大规模获得。此外，由于当前的循环设计指南侧重于市场份额最高的纤维，因此人们对这些新纤维如何最好地应用于再循环产品中知之甚少。新复合材料项目旨在加深对这些新纤维的循环潜力的了解。纤维，以鼓励整个行业的纤维多样性。它解决的挑战是：首先，缺乏替代材料的成分、生产工艺和可回收性标准的信息，其次，这些材料在成本和性能方面的准入障碍。第一个目标是收集和交叉引用来自材料供应商和回收商的信息，以便为打算使用这些材料的设计师提供指导。这是建立在项目团队在该领域现有研究的基础上的。第二个目标将通过将替代纤维与其他可持续且更容易获得的资源混合来实现。第二个目标的实现将采取与英国生产和设计公司合作的一系列原型纺织品样品的形式，展示新材料在循环设计的混合物中的应用。研究成果将是一系列与相关物理演示的指南，以强调使用替代材料进行循环设计的可能性。该指南将展示如何将这些材料组合成兼容的混合物，并尊重现有和新兴回收技术的标准，以及当组合不相容的资源时如何采用拆卸设计。希望这些成果能够增加新材料的采用，并摆脱污染和单一文化资源。