Textile waste-derived fabric formwork for concrete and mortar: Enabling geometric flexibility
Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Fashion and textile industry generate substantial volume of waste, during the production phase, as well as in the consuming phase. This waste is disposed in the landfills or incinerated significantly affecting the environment. At the same time, construction industry faces its own demands to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, to reconsider, among other things, the approach to the conventional formwork systems, being resource intensive and disposed after the use. This paper explores the feasibility of the usage of the textile waste in the form of the flexible formwork, for the casting of the elements made of concrete and mortar. The properties of textile, such as deformability and tensile capacity are used to make the formwork of non-standardized geometry while minimizing the material consumption. This paper shows performances, adaptability and the consequences of the application of textile waste fabric formwork in non-structural architectural products. The results obtained show that the recycled textile waste can be used as efficient and low-cost alternative to traditional formwork, while providing flexible geometrical shapes of the products and the reducing the environmental impact. This paper can be seen as a contribution to the development of the circular economy strategy in the cement-based construction industry, while introducing the new sustainable practices in architectural engineering.
DOI: 10.5937/ct_iti26497v
Institution: University of Belgrade
Subfield: Building and Construction
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W7204455416