Select Your Carpet
Carpet Construction
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Understanding the components of carpet construction and how they influence appearance and performance is an essential part of the specification process. Some elements contribute primarily to aesthetics, while others impact performance. |
Colour and Pattern
Colour is an important aesthetic consideration, but it also determines the amount of soil hiding in carpet. While light colours show soil more readily, dark colours show light-coloured soil and lint. Medium-value colours most effectively reduce the visible effects of soiling. Pattern also plays a role in hiding soil.
Solid colours show soil most easily, followed by heathers and tweeds. More effective, are regular patterns, such as organic, geometric and linear:
- Organic - A design using free-form, contour lines to create objects within a pattern.
- Geometric - A design using straight lines to create shapes within the pattern.
- Linear - A repeat in design that clearly represents either horizontal or vertical movement.
Finally, random patterns, which allow for random colour placement, provide the best soil hiding capabilities.
For more heavily trafficked areas, multicoloured carpets with medium-value colours and random patterns should be considered for optimal performance.
Texture
Texture is the second major aesthetic factor to consider in creating the overall look of the carpet. With carpets of Antron® Nylon, you can choose from a wide variety of textures:
- Level loop-loop pile with one pile height
- Textured loop-loop pile with slight height variation
- Multilevel loop-loop pile with more than one pile height
- Cut and loop-combination of cut pile tufts and loop pile tufts
- Tip shear-a multilevel loop with the high loops sheared to give a cut and loop look
- Cut pile-all tufts cut; can be one or more than one pile height
For high-traffic areas, loop, cut and loop with mostly loop, or tip shear with mostly loop yield the best performance.
Carpet Type/Construction
You should make your choice between tufted or woven broadloom and modular carpet based on styling preference, budget considerations, backing performance needs (moisture impermeability) and facility requirements (installation, floor access).
- Tufted broadloom-carpet manufactured on a tufting machine; a row of needles inserts yarn into primary backing
- Woven broadloom-carpet manufactured on a loom
- Modular tile-carpet manufactured in squares measuring 18" x 18" or 50cm x 50cm
- Fusion-bonded tile-yarns sandwiched between two backings then split to form two carpets simultaneously (typically cut pile)
Your local flooring contractor or mill representative can help you evaluate options for your specific environment.
Fibre Type
Antron® Nylon can be specified for all carpet constructions. Both Antron® Legacy™** nylon and Antron® Lumena™* solution dyed nylon offer outstanding soil resistance and crushing and matting resistance, plus built-in static protection. In addition, Antron® Lumena™* solution dyed nylon offers unsurpassed acid stain cleanability.
Generic fibre terms you can specify:
- Type 6,6 nylon-provides unsurpassed resistance to crushing, matting and abrasive wear
- BCF (bulked continuous filament)-fibre in a continuous form; can be used in cut and/or loop pile
- Staple-short lengths of fibre that have been cut from continuous filament; must be spun into yarn before tufting; cut pile only
- Solution dyed nylon-BCF yarn with pigment added to the polymer; colour is built in and resists fading and the effects of harsh cleaners
Fibre Shape
Fibre shape determines how the fibre hides soil and how much it can trap and hold soil. Antron® nylon fibres are engineered to scatter light (making soil less visible) and to resist trapping of soil.
- Hollow filament-used in the BCF form of Antron® Legacy™** nylon and Antron® Lumena™* solution dyed nylon; the smooth, uniform outer surface with rounded corners eliminates crevices where soil can be trapped. Voids scatter light most effectively to make soil less visible.
- Delta-used primarily in the staple form of Antron® Nylon; reduces soil-trapping crevices while scattering light to minimize the appearance of soil
Density/Pile Weight - For Loop Pile Carpet
In loop pile carpets, crushing can occur if the density is too low. In general, with a similar backing system, a
higher density will provide better texture retention. Density is measured in grams per cubic centimetre and is
calculated as follows:
Pile Density = [Finished pile weight above backing (grms/m2)] / [Finished pile height (millimetres)]
It is important to specify a minimum average pile density e.g. 0.1 to ISO 8543, which will need to be consistent with expected traffic conditions.
Yarn processing can also impact texture retention. For textured loop, multilevel loop or tip sheared carpets, yarns that are twisted and heat set generally perform better than those yarns that are not heat set.
Yarn Twist and Pile Height - For Cut Pile Carpet
In cut pile carpets, which are normally heat set, yarn twist level, pile height and pile weight are the key factors that influence texture retention.
A higher twist level and a higher pile weight should be used in heavy-traffic areas.
Backing
The carpet backing offers stability as well as other advantages to the carpet, depending on the material used.
- Conventional backing-made of a primary fabric attached to a secondary with latex
- Woven-the same yarns make up the face and the backing
- Unitary-single-fabric backing
- Urethane-resin that creates a foam-like texture when applied to the primary backing (can be hardback or cushion)
- Vinyl-compound applied to primary backing; used for tile or tufted broadloom (can be hardback or closed-cell cushion, can be made with recycled or virgin content)
- Thermoplastic-molten resin applied to back of carpet (includes vinyl)
- Bitumen backing-used for tiles together with a glass scrim for stability
Contact your local mill representative for specific backing performance attributes.
* Formerly known as Antron® Excel SC.
** Formerly known as Antron® Excel.
