Napped face stitch bonded fabric and related process

Abstract

A pile fabric of stitch bonded construction. A ground yarn is stitchbonded into a substrate to define a ground layer. A pile yarn is stitchbonded into the substrate in combination with the ground yarn. During formation at least a portion of the pile yarns are shifted over sinker fingers between non-adjacent needles such that loops extend in arching relation over at least one intermediate needle line. Once the yarns have been stitchbonded into the substrate, the upstanding loops are subjected to a napping treatment wherein the loops are pulled away from the substrate until broken. An arrangement of split and frayed yarn ends is formed over the ground layer.

1 . A method of forming a stitchbonded pile fabric of multi-bar construction, the method comprising the steps of: 
 providing a substrate layer of fibrous non-woven construction;    stitching a plurality of ground yarns through the substrate layer using an arrangement of needles in the cross machine direction so as to define an arrangement of substantially parallel stitch lines running in the machine direction of the fabric so as to form a ground covering across the substrate layer;    stitching at least a first pile forming yarn of multi-filament construction through the substrate such that said first pile forming yarn defines a first arrangement of loop elements projecting away from the ground covering, wherein during formation of the first arrangement of loop elements, the first pile forming yarn is shogged from a first needle to a second non-adjacent needle in the cross machine direction such that said first pile forming yarn travels over a plurality of sinker fingers between the first and second needles whereby at least a portion of the loop elements extend in raised arched relation over at least one intermediate needle line; and    napping the fabric formed by the stitching steps such that at least a portion of the loop elements extending in arched relation over intermediate needle lines are pulled away from the substrate and broken to define surface of frayed yarn ends across the fabric.    
   
   
       2 . The invention as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the substrate layer comprises needlepunched staple fibers with a heat activated bonding constituent.  
   
   
       3 . The invention as recited in  claim 2 , wherein the substrate layer is characterized by a mass per unit area of about 20 to about 200 grams per square meter.  
   
   
       4 . The invention as recited in  claim 1 , wherein said ground yarns are stitched through the substrate layer in a substantially fully threaded stitching arrangement.  
   
   
       5 . The invention as recited in  claim 4 , wherein said ground yarns are stitched through the substrate layer in a chain stitch pattern.  
   
   
       6 . The invention as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the ground yarns comprise multi-filament flat yarns.  
   
   
       7 . The invention as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the ground yarns comprise multifilament polyester yarns characterized by a linear density in the range of about 50 to about 200 denier.  
   
   
       8 . The invention as recited in  claim 1 , wherein at least a second pile forming yarn of multi-filament construction is stitched through the substrate such that that said second pile forming yarn defines a second arrangement of loop elements projecting away from the ground covering, wherein during formation of the second arrangement of loop elements, the second pile forming yarn is shogged from a third needle to a fourth needle in the cross machine direction such that said second pile forming yarn travels over a plurality of sinker fingers between the third and fourth needles, and wherein at least one of the third and fourth needles forms an intermediate needle line between the first and second needles.  
   
   
       9 . The invention as recited in  claim 8 , wherein the first and second pile forming yarns comprise textured polyester yarns  
   
   
       10 . The invention as recited in  claim 9 , wherein the first and second pile forming yarns are characterized by a linear density in the range of about 50 to about 1000 denier.  
   
   
       11 . A pile fabric formed by the method of  claim 1   
   
   
       12 . A method of forming a stitchbonded pile fabric of multi-bar construction, the method comprising the steps of: 
 providing a substrate layer of fibrous non-woven construction;    stitching a plurality of ground yarns through the substrate layer using an arrangement of needles in the cross machine direction so as to define an arrangement of substantially parallel stitch lines running in the machine direction of the fabric so as to form a ground covering across the substrate layer;    stitching a plurality of pile forming yarns of multi-filament construction through the substrate such that at least a portion of said pile forming yarns defines an arrangement of loop elements projecting away from the ground covering, wherein during formation of the arrangement of loop elements, a portion of the pile forming yarns are shogged back and forth between non-adjacent needles in the cross machine direction such that the pile forming yarns travel over a plurality of sinker fingers between the non-adjacent needles whereby at least a portion of the loop elements extend in raised arched relation over at least one intermediate needle line; and    napping the fabric formed by the stitching steps such that at least a portion of the loop elements extending in arched relation over intermediate needle lines are pulled away from the substrate and broken to define a surface of frayed yarn ends across the fabric.    
   
   
       13 . The invention as recited in  claim 12 , wherein the pile forming yarns are stitched concurrently with formation of the ground covering using common needles.  
   
   
       14 . The invention as recited in  claim 12 , wherein the substrate layer comprises needlepunched staple fibers with a heat activated bonding constituent.  
   
   
       15 . The invention as recited in  claim 12 , wherein said ground yarns are stitched through the substrate layer in a substantially fully threaded stitching arrangement.  
   
   
       16 . The invention as recited in  claim 15 , wherein said ground yarns are stitched through the substrate layer in a chain stitch pattern.  
   
   
       17 . The invention as recited in  claim 12 , wherein the pile forming yarns comprise textured polyester yarns  
   
   
       18 . The invention as recited in  claim 17 , wherein the pile forming yarns are characterized by a linear density in the range of about 50 to about 1000 denier.  
   
   
       19 . A pile fabric formed by the method of  claim 12 .  
   
   
       20 . The invention as recited in  claim 12 , wherein during the napping step substantially all of the loop elements extending in arched relation over intermediate needle lines are pulled away from the substrate and broken.