Fiber Considerations

Carpet Fibers are the main component of carpet and compose the face yarns that we see and walk on. They are first divided into Natural fibers and Synthetic Fibers.

Natural Fibers

 All fibers that come from organic life are called Natural Fibers. These include animal, plant and insects.  The plant fibers are classified as cellulose fibers and the animal and insect fibers are composed of protein. Both of these types are absorbent and that must be taken into consideration when specifying them and maintaining them.

Wool

Wool is the most predominant fiber used in carpeting. It is the original fiber used in manufacturing of rugs dating back before the current age. It is protein fiber from the hair or coat of the sheep. It is a very good fiber for carpeting and can stand up to years and years of proper use.  It has a built in soil redundancy in its lanolin coating and is opaque making it an excellent soil and wear  hiding fiber.

Silk

Silk is the second most prolific natural fiber in carpeting and is derived from the fiber the silkworm extrudes to create its cocoon. The Chinese were the first to harvest this material and created rugs with it to this day. Silk rugs have a finer look and feel but can be easily damaged by improper cleaning.

Cotton

Cotton of course comes from the cotton plant and it was the original fiber used in wall to wall carpeting. It has been relegated to a lesser role and is found only in rare "Designer" rugs and handmade rag rugs. It has a nice feel  but its absorbency makes it easily stained and difficult to clean.

Jute

Jute is a fiber that comes from the Jute plant found in the Middle East and Africa. At one time most carpet backing both primary and secondary was composed of jute. It is very inexpensive but has a tendency to leach tannin and can stain carpets if they become over wet or flooded. 

Sisal

Sisal is a rare fiber found in some specialty carpets. It comes from the hemp plant and is very absorbent and will shrink if wet. 

Sea Grass

Sea grass is another rare fiber used in some carpeting and is also very absorbent and difficult to clean. It can deteriorate is over wet or flooded into a mushy pulp.

Synthetic Fibers

Most modern carpets are composed of synthetic fibers. These are man made products derived from chemicals and extruded into fibers.

Nylon

Nylon is the most prevalent fiber used in carpeting today occupying approximately  60% of the carpet yarn market. It was created by Dupont in 1938. This fiber has evolved over the years and has been categorized into generations to distinguish its evolution.

First Generation

The original fibers were extruded into round cylindrical solid tubes. They were almost clear and this had some distinct disadvantages advantages. The tubes were like magnifiers and they exaggerated any soil and  fiber imperfections. It cleaned up well in the beginning but as the fibers wore it uglier out and appeared to re-soil very rapidly. Another problem with nylon was that it built up static electricity. This was an irritation in low humidity environments and the static helped the fibers attract soil.

Second Generation

To combat this magnification problem the fiber was extruded into tri lobed fibers and square fibers with holes along it's length to help distort the light that passed through it and this helped hide soil. This was an improvement but the static problem remained and with the increase in computers the static became more than an irritation and cleaning problem.

Third Generation Nylon

The static problem was solved by adding a carbon filament to the fiber or adding a carbon containing filament to the yarn bundle in certain ratios. The carbon fibers, were good conductors and they dissipated the static charge.

Fourth Generation

The forth generation fiber incorporated soil retardants. These were applied to the fiber or the face yard of the carpeting. The products were mostly flourochemicals. These chemicals perform by lowering the surface charge. This reduces the static charge or pull and causes the fiber to repel oil and water based soils. The treatment will wear off with traffic and cleaning and must be periodically re-applied. They do not repel acidic products like the acidic dyes in soft drinks and therefore have some limitations.

Fifth Generation Nylon

This version of the fiber has added what is called dye blockers to he fiber. The simple explanation of this property is that the fibers when they are extruded have small minor imperfections in them. It is in these imperfections that soils and contaminants as well as the dyes used in coloring the fibers and dyes in foods. When these imperfections are filled in the fiber becomes less likely to have a location for ht spilled food dye to attaches itself to the fiber and stain it. This treatment is called acid dye resistors.

Acrylic

This fiber was introduced in 1957 and occupies 1% of the carpet yarn market. It has the look and feel of wool but a lot less expensive. It does have some wear problems and was nearly eliminated from the market. Recently it has been reintroduced for the home market and is found in modern Berber style carpets. It is also blended with  nylon fibers. 

 Polyester

Introduced in the 1960's and occupies 10% of the carpet yarn market. This fiber has excellent color retention and very stain resistant including dye and urine stains. It resists bleaching and sunlight fading. It has a soft feel.

Olefin 

This fiber also known as polypropylene and occupies 30% of the carpet yarn market.. It is used extensively today as the backing of tufted carpeting and composes as much as 30% of the face yarn of today's carpeting. It must be solution dyed. It is chemically inert and resists most stains and is  even bleach resistant. It floats in water and is moisture resistant.  It is heat sensitive and the pile distorts easily and is very difficult to restore once the pile is crushed.  It is also oil loving and attracts and holds tracked in oil soils and they are difficult to remove.

Fiber Comparison Chart

How to Identify Fibers

Some fibers have particular characteristics that make them easy to positively identify.  Nylon for example will dissolve in Formic Acid. Wool will dissolve in 5% sodium hypochlorite (household bleach) Olefin & Polyester will float unless the dyes increase the density.

Burn Test

One of the best ways to detect fiber type is with the burn test. Clip a few fibers from an inconspicuous place. Hold a few with a pair of tweezers or needle nose pliers and burn the fibers with a lighter. Observe the color of the flame, how the flame behaves, note how the smoke smells and then when cool how the ash feels. This takes some practice.