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Blog 11: Carpet & Carpet Recycling                                                             First, when looking at pile yarn height and weight, it is important to understand the basics. Pile yarn height is how tall the yarn fibers are standing above the backing of the carpet. This height is usually measured in inches and is important to note in order to determine if the carpet has a short or tall pile. If the pile is short, it is usually more durable and common in high traffic commercial areas, and if the pile is tall, it is more common in areas that require a softer, luxurious feel. The pile yarn weight (or face weight) is how heavy the yarn is by square yard and is measured usually in ounces. Just because the pile weight is higher, doesn't always mean that it is better quality. A lot of factors that g...

Blog #10 - Construction and fiber content (C&D) The first topic I chose was wall to wall tufted carpet from Masland or EF Contract. I chose to look at EF Contract because I have heard about their products and know a little bit about their company. EF Contract offers wall-to-wall tufted, durable carpets designed for commercial application. They are good for large installation and available in a variety of colors. This helps with commercial spaces, such as hospitality locations like hospitals, offices, etc.. Most commonly, residential projects use wall-to-wall tufted carpet because of its interior appearance, installation, and easy maintenance. EF Contracts refers to their wall-to-wall carpets as broadloom. The terms are interchangeable and refer to carpet produced in wide rolls designed for wall-to-wall installation for a seamless look across large area and continuous coverage. Even though the specification of the carpet varies in style of the carpet, their construction and fiber sy...

 Flax & How Linen is Made      Linen fabrics are made from the flax plant. Flax is the only natural fiber still being cultivated on a large scale in western Europe. The best flax plants are grown between Kahn in France and Amsterdam in Holland because of the climate and ideal soil conditions. The flax plant grows to be about four feet. After blooming the plants are shades of violet blue or white. The plant is harvested in July to preserve the full potential of each plant. Flax is never cut, but must be uprooted as the flax fibers are not only in the stem of the plant, but also in the roots. Harvesting is done by mechanical gruppers which pull and lay the flax plant on the fields. During the retting process, flax is exposed to moisture to break down the pectins that bind the fibers together in the stem. The flax is exposed to rain, dew, and sunshine on the fields and this is when the dying and turning process starts where they get their unique natural color. This ...

Blog #8 - Fiber Basics Technical Nylon Nylon, a thermoplastic, is one of the most important synthetic polymers. about 4,000,000 tons per year is produced worldwide. nylon is made into fibers for ropes, clothing and reinforcing tires. nylon is made from two monomers. It’s made up of a chain of two monomers, adipic acid and hexamethylene, which when reacting together, and linking create nylon. The origin of the two natural materials to make the monomers are from crude oil. Nylon is oxidized in a plant and brought to another plant for mixing. The stages of the process begin with air and then nitric acid. Adipic acid is a white powder. It reacts with hydrogen to get hexamethylene. They are mixed together to get nylon salt and when the water is driven out at a specific temperature, nylon is produced. When the white nylon is produced, it is molten and is then pushed or forced through holes to get laces of nylon. Then they are remolded and pushed through finer holes to create nylon fibers. Po...