| Abstract [eng] |
A large amount of accumulated waste and the threat of a lack of non-renewable resources encourage not only industry representatives, but also scientists to look for innovative and more eco-friendly solutions. The development of new rubber-wood composites from ethylene vinyl acetate and beech wood flour waste generated during footwear production is described in this work. Polyamide (PA) powder waste, generated during the selective laser sintering process, was used in order to increase the adhesion between the components of the composite. Optical and electron microscopy showed that developed composites have a uniform structure and a strong adhesive interaction at the interphase of the components. It was found that the rubber-wood waste composite is thermally stable when the temperature seeks above 200 °C. The results of the performed tests revealed that as the amount of wood waste increase by 20 %, the values of composite water absorption increase by 40 %, while the elongation at break and tensile/flexural strength decrease by 45 %. Comparison of the composites with and without PA binder revealed that the addition of PA binder improves the tensile and flexural strength of the composite by 80 %. The calculations showed that replacement of commercial EVA sheets with the created composites could reduce the cost of a pair of insoles by about a fifth. The comparison of the properties of the created composites and the materials, typically used for footwear insoles and inserts, showed that commercial panels could be fully replaced by the composites, which were developed during the work. |
