Carpet and carpet making methods

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a carpet product, a process for manufacturing carpet, and an apparatus used in a carpet manufacturing process. The carpet product is made from tufted polymer filament yarn wherein the individual yarn filaments of the yarn back loops are integrally fused so that the carpet resists fuzzing. The primary backing preferably is modified polypropylene in the fill direction. Further, the primary backing may be coated with a polymer before tufting to adhere or integrally fuse the inside of the fiber tuft to the primary backing. An optional secondary backing is preferably made of tape yarn in both directions. The process includes providing a carpet base having a primary backing penetrated by yarn, applying heat to the underside of the primary backing, extruding a heated sheet of polymer and continuously contacting the heated extruded sheet of polymer with the base. The apparatus includes a source of carpet precursor, a heated cylinder for heating the underside of the carpet, an extruder and a casting roll against which the extruded sheet and heated carpet are pressed.

We claim:  
     
         1 . A method of making a carpet comprising: 
 tufting a primary backing with yarn to form a carpet base with portions of the yarn protruding from the upper side of the primary backing and with back loop portions of the yarn exposed on the underside of the primary backing;    heating the underside of the carpet base to heat the back loop portions of the yarn sufficient to integrally fuse the individual fibers of the yarn together;    applying a greige goods coating of a thermoplastic polyolefin polymer having recurring polar moieties onto the underside of the carpet base, whereby said greige goods coating adheres to fibers in the back loops.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the yarn, greige goods coating and primary backing are integrally fused.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the greige goods coating is 3 to 15 mils thick.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the primary backing comprises polypropylene.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the primary backing comprises propylene copolymer or polypropylene graft polymer in one or more of a warp or a fill direction and is adhered to the integrally fused fibers.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the primary backing comprises propylene copolymer or polypropylene graft polymer in one or more of a warp or a fill direction and is integrally fused to the integrally fused fibers.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising contacting a second backing to the greige goods coating such that the greige goods coating is between the primary backing and second backing.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the second backing comprises polyolefin tape yarn in both the warp and fill directions.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the yarn fibers are selected from the group consisting of nylon, polypropylene, polyester, polyethylene, acrylic and a combination thereof.  
     
     
         10 . A method for manufacturing a carpet comprising; 
 coating a primary backing with a primary backing coating of a thermoplastic polyolefin polymer having recurring polar moieties;    fixing tufts of carpet fibers to the coated primary backing so that the tufts protrude from the top surface of the coated primary backing to form a tufted base and back loop portions of the carpet fibers are exposed on the underside of the primary backing;    applying a greige goods coating of a thermoplastic polyolefin polymer to at least one of the coated primary backing or back loops.    
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising the step of applying a second backing such that the greige goods coating is between the primary backing and second backing.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the second backing comprises polyolefin tape yarn in both the warp and fill directions.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the step of applying the greige goods coating integrally fuses the greige goods coating to one or more of the fiber back loops and the coated primary backing.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the primary backing coating comprises a graft polymer of polypropylene and maleic anhydride.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the yarn fibers are selected from the group consisting of nylon, polypropylene, polyester, polyethylene, acrylic and a combination thereof.  
     
     
         16 . The carpet of  claim 10 , wherein the greige goods coating is a thermoplastic polyolefin polymer having recurring polar moieties.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising integrally fusing the fibers to themselves.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the fibers are integrally fused at a temperature at least 50° F. greater than the melting point of the fibers.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the fibers are integrally fused at a temperature at least 100° F. greater than the melting point of the fibers.  
     
     
         20 . A method of making a carpet comprising: 
 forming a primary baking comprising a polypropylene tape in one direction and a tape of thermoplastic polyolefin polymer having recurring polar moieties in the other direction;    tufting the primary backing with yarn to form a carpet base with portions of the yarn protruding from the upper side of the primary backing and with back loop portions of the yarn exposed on the underside of the primary backing; and    applying a greige goods coating of a thermoplastic polyolefin polymer to the underside of the carpet base, whereby said greige goods coating adheres to the fibers of the back loops.