Carpet product and process for the manufacturing of a carpet product

Abstract

A carpet product includes in sequence a) a primary backing material having a back side and a face side, with carpet fibers extending from the face side to form a carpet pile and also passing through the primary backing material and forming loops on the back side; b) a primary coating layer on the loops, including a vinyl acetate ethylene copolymer and present at from 542 to 1085 g/m 2 (16 to 32 oz./yd 2 ) on a dry solids basis; c) a secondary coating layer on the primary coating layer, including a styrene-butadiene copolymer; and d) a secondary backing material on the secondary coating layer and adhered thereby to the primary coating layer.

1 . A carpet product comprising in sequence
 a) a primary backing material having a back side and a face side, with carpet fibers extending from the face side to form a carpet pile and also passing through the primary backing material and forming loops on the back side;   b) a primary coating layer on the loops, comprising a vinyl acetate ethylene copolymer as the only binder, wherein the vinyl acetate ethylene copolymer comprises no comonomers other than vinyl acetate and ethylene, and present at from 542 to 1085 g/m 2  (16 to 32 oz./yd 2 ) on a dry solids basis;   c) a secondary coating layer on the primary coating layer, comprising a styrene-butadiene copolymer as the only binder; and   d) a secondary backing material on the secondary coating layer and adhered thereby to the primary coating layer.   
     
     
         2 . The carpet product of  claim 1 , wherein the vinyl acetate ethylene copolymer comprises vinyl acetate units in an amount of 70 to 98 wt %, based on the total weight of comonomers. 
     
     
         3 . The carpet product of  claim 1 , wherein the vinyl acetate ethylene copolymer comprises vinyl acetate units in an amount of 75 to 95 wt %, based on the total weight of comonomers. 
     
     
         4 . The carpet product of  claim 1 , wherein the vinyl acetate ethylene copolymer comprises vinyl acetate units in an amount of 80 to 95 wt %, based on the total weight of comonomers. 
     
     
         5 . The carpet product of  claim 1 , wherein the vinyl acetate ethylene copolymer comprises ethylene in an amount of 2 to 30 wt %, based on the total weight of comonomers. 
     
     
         6 . The carpet product of  claim 1 , wherein the vinyl acetate ethylene copolymer comprises ethylene in an amount of 5 to 15 wt %, based on the total weight of comonomers. 
     
     
         7 . The carpet product of  claim 1 , wherein the vinyl acetate ethylene copolymer comprises ethylene in an amount of 10 to 12 wt %, based on the total weight of comonomers. 
     
     
         8 . The carpet product of  claim 1 , wherein the vinyl acetate ethylene copolymer in the primary coating layer is derived from a vinyl acetate ethylene copolymer dispersion stabilized only by one or more emulsifiers and one or more protective colloids. 
     
     
         9 . The carpet product of  claim 1 , wherein the vinyl acetate ethylene copolymer in the primary coating layer is derived from a vinyl acetate ethylene copolymer dispersion stabilized only by one or more emulsifiers. 
     
     
         10 . The carpet product of  claim 1 , wherein the vinyl acetate ethylene copolymer in the primary coating layer is derived from a vinyl acetate ethylene copolymer dispersion stabilized only by one or more protective colloids. 
     
     
         11 . The carpet product of  claim 10 , wherein the one or more protective colloids consist of one or more polyvinyl alcohols. 
     
     
         12 . The carpet product of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more polyvinyl alcohols comprise at least one partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohol and at least one polyvinyl alcohol having a degree of hydrolysis of 98 to 100 mol %. 
     
     
         13 . The carpet product of  claim 1 , wherein the styrene butadiene copolymer comprises 20 to 79.9 wt %, preferably 50 to 65 wt % styrene and 20 to 79.9 wt %, preferably 35 to 50 wt % butadiene, based on the total amount of comonomers. 
     
     
         14 . The carpet product of  claim 1 , wherein the styrene butadiene copolymer comprises 0.1 to 15 wt % in total of auxiliary comonomers, based on the total weight of comonomers. 
     
     
         15 . The carpet product of  claim 14 , wherein the auxiliary comonomers are selected from the group consisting of ethylenically unsaturated mono-carboxylic acids, ethylenically unsaturated di-carboxylic acids, the anhydrides or salts of either of these, and combinations of any of the foregoing. 
     
     
         16 . A process for manufacturing the carpet product according to  claim 1 , comprising in sequence
 a) providing a primary backing material having a back side and a face side, with carpet fibers extending from the face side to form a carpet pile and also passing through the primary backing material and forming loops on the back side;   b) coating the loops with an aqueous primary coating composition comprising a vinyl acetate ethylene copolymer as the only binder, wherein the vinyl acetate ethylene copolymer comprises no comonomers other than vinyl acetate and ethylene, to form a wet primary coating layer providing from 542 to 1085 g/m 2  (16 to 32 oz./yd 2 ) of coating on a dry solids basis;   c) coating a secondary backing material with an aqueous secondary coating composition comprising a styrene butadiene copolymer as the only binder to form a wet secondary coating layer;   d) pressing the product of step c) against the product of step b) to contact the wet primary coating layer with the wet secondary coating layer, and   e) drying the product of step d).