Tuftable carpet backings and carpets with enhanced tuft holding properties

Abstract

Primary carpet backings for tufted carpets comprise, in one embodiment, fabric woven from warp tapes comprising polypropylene and weft yarns in a plain, closed weave with an average warp count of about 18 to 32 tapes per inch and a lower average weft count, wherein the warp tapes have deniers of about 250 to about 800 and the weft yarns comprise polypropylene tapes that are thicker and of greater denier than the warp tapes. In another embodiment carpets comprising a primary backing as described above tufted with carpet face yarn to provide a pile surface comprising a plurality of face yarn tufts on one side of the backing and a plurality of stitches of the face yarn on an opposite, stitched side of the tufted backing and, optionally having a secondary backing laminated to the stitched side of the backing, have good tuft holding properties for a wide range of carpet face yarn deniers, carpet pile surfaces and styles.

Description

[0001] This invention relates to tuftable and tufted fabrics and, more particularly, primary carpet backings with good tuftability and tuft holding capabilities and tufted backings and carpets with improved tuft hold. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Primary backings for tufted carpets in the form of flat fabrics woven from tapes of synthetic polymeric resins, also commonly referred to as ribbons, ribbon yarns, slit film yarns and flat yarns, are well known and described in U.S. Pat. NO. 3,110,905. A wide range of yarn compositions and configurations and their use in various backing fabric designs have been described in the literature. In actual practice, woven polypropylene tape fabrics are and have been long preferred primary backings for commercial manufacture of carpets due to important features such as strength, mold and mildew resistance, cost, tuftability and compatibility with other aspects of carpet manufacturing operations.

[0003] Primary backings conventionally used in ...

Examples

example 1

[0049] Tapes were prepared from a common, commercially available polypropylene homopolymer resin having a melt flow rate of abut 3.5 g / 10 min., determined according to ASTM D-1238 at 230° C. and under 2.16 kg load, by extruding a film of melted resin, cooling the melted film in a cold water quench bath, passing the film over a series of cutting blades to slit it along its length into a plurality of narrow lengths, drawing the slit film over a series of rotating heated roll pairs operating at successively higher rotation rates to provide an overall draw ratio of 6:1 and then passing the resulting drawn tapes over a series of annealing rolls. Dimensions and properties of the warp and weft tapes were as shown in the following table.

PropertyWarp TapesWeft TapesDenier (g / 9000 m)4751400Thickness (mils)1.82.3Width (mils)50115Tenacity (g / denier)4.24.0Elongation (%)2835Shrinkage (% at 270° F.)2.51.8

[0050] The warp and weft tapes were woven in plain, 1 / 1 weave on a wide width projectile loo...

example 4

[0061] The primary backing fabric of Example 2 was tufted with a 2-ply nylon carpet face yarn on a 5 / 32 gauge pattern loop tufting machine. Carpet face weight was about 48 osy. The tufted primary backing was then beck dyed. Tuft bind was measured on the dyed, tufted primary backing according to the procedure of ASTM D-1335. The average of 15 tests was 1.5 lbs.

[0062] A woven fabric according to Control B was tufted in the same manner and beck dyed. Tuft bind of the dyed, tufted primary backing, measured according to ASTM D-1335 as an average of 15 tests, was 1.2 pounds.

[0063] Both dyed tufted backings had excellent pattern definition. The increased tuft bind results with the primary backing fabric of Example 2 indicates a reduced tendency for loops to be pulled out in the dyeing process.

example 5

[0064] A woven primary backing fabric made as in Example 1 was tufted with a two-ply, 5000 denier nylon BCF carpet face yarn. The primary backing was tufted on a 5 / 32 gauge loop pile tufter at a stitch rate of 7.5 per inch. Face weight was 27 osy. The tufted primary backing had excellent pattern definition. It was tested for tuft hold, with the results that a Maximum Load of 2.8 lbs. and an Average Peak Load of 1.8 lbs. were measured.

[0001] This invention relates to tuftable and tufted fabrics and, more particularly, primary carpet backings with good tuftability and tuft holding capabilities and tufted backings and carpets with improved tuft hold. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Primary backings for tufted carpets in the form of flat fabrics woven from tapes of synthetic polymeric resins, also commonly referred to as ribbons, ribbon yarns, slit film yarns and flat yarns, are well known and described in U.S. Pat. NO. 3,110,905. A wide range of yarn compositions and configurations and their use in various backing fabric designs have been described in the literature. In actual practice, woven polypropylene tape fabrics are and have been long preferred primary backings for commercial manufacture of carpets due to important features such as strength, mold and mildew resistance, cost, tuftability and compatibility with other aspects of carpet manufacturing operations.

[0003] Primary backings conventionally used in ...

Examples

example 1

[0049] Tapes were prepared from a common, commercially available polypropylene homopolymer resin having a melt flow rate of abut 3.5 g / 10 min., determined according to ASTM D-1238 at 230° C. and under 2.16 kg load, by extruding a film of melted resin, cooling the melted film in a cold water quench bath, passing the film over a series of cutting blades to slit it along its length into a plurality of narrow lengths, drawing the slit film over a series of rotating heated roll pairs operating at successively higher rotation rates to provide an overall draw ratio of 6:1 and then passing the resulting drawn tapes over a series of annealing rolls. Dimensions and properties of the warp and weft tapes were as shown in the following table.

PropertyWarp TapesWeft TapesDenier (g / 9000 m)4751400Thickness (mils)1.82.3Width (mils)50115Tenacity (g / denier)4.24.0Elongation (%)2835Shrinkage (% at 270° F.)2.51.8

[0050] The warp and weft tapes were woven in plain, 1 / 1 weave on a wide width projectile loo...

example 4

[0061] The primary backing fabric of Example 2 was tufted with a 2-ply nylon carpet face yarn on a 5 / 32 gauge pattern loop tufting machine. Carpet face weight was about 48 osy. The tufted primary backing was then beck dyed. Tuft bind was measured on the dyed, tufted primary backing according to the procedure of ASTM D-1335. The average of 15 tests was 1.5 lbs.

[0062] A woven fabric according to Control B was tufted in the same manner and beck dyed. Tuft bind of the dyed, tufted primary backing, measured according to ASTM D-1335 as an average of 15 tests, was 1.2 pounds.

[0063] Both dyed tufted backings had excellent pattern definition. The increased tuft bind results with the primary backing fabric of Example 2 indicates a reduced tendency for loops to be pulled out in the dyeing process.

example 5

[0064] A woven primary backing fabric made as in Example 1 was tufted with a two-ply, 5000 denier nylon BCF carpet face yarn. The primary backing was tufted on a 5 / 32 gauge loop pile tufter at a stitch rate of 7.5 per inch. Face weight was 27 osy. The tufted primary backing had excellent pattern definition. It was tested for tuft hold, with the results that a Maximum Load of 2.8 lbs. and an Average Peak Load of 1.8 lbs. were measured.