Harnessing of mussel shells in textile sandblasting
[EN] The nice worn look that provides sandblasting to denim clothes, hides a toxic abrasive process caused by poor working conditions. Rather than improving worker safety of workers, this process has been replaced by oxidising/chemical and thermal laser treatments, which are even more toxic and prod...
| Autores: | , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad del País Vasco |
| Repositorio: | Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/75704 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10810/75704 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | mussel shells sandblasting denim life cycle assessment (LCA) |
| Sumario: | [EN] The nice worn look that provides sandblasting to denim clothes, hides a toxic abrasive process caused by poor working conditions. Rather than improving worker safety of workers, this process has been replaced by oxidising/chemical and thermal laser treatments, which are even more toxic and produce different textures. On the other hand, the world’s increasing production of delicious mussels results in a large quantity of shell waste ending up in landfills. The Sustainable Development Goals have raised awareness of the need for thoughtful waste management and the promotion of a circular life-cycle for goods. In order to find a solution for mussel shells, this work proposes to use the hard, fragile shells as an abrasive to replace the unhealthy silica sand in denim blasting. The physical properties of mussel shells have been assessed experimentally, and performance tests a have been conducted to characterise them. The performance of ground mussel shells in denim sandblasting of has been compared with that of industrial-grade garnet sand. Spectrophotometry measurements have observed similar fading performances for both garnet and mussel shells on denim under the same blasting conditions. Despite shell’s lower density, the smallest grit size (108 – 180 μm) achieved the best results. This reveals the importance of the number of impacts rather than the energy of each impact in denim sandblasting. This study confirms that mussel shells can replace silica in sandblasting processes, opening up new possibilities for using mussel shells as an abrasive material and reactivating sandblasting in the denim industry. |
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