A bonded and entangled non-woven structure made of at least 50% staple fibers by weight of the bonded and entangled non-woven structure, and at least a partial bonding of the fibers of the non-woven structure. The at least partial bonding including thermally activated bonds between a first polyolefin material produced with a catalyst including at least one metallocene catalyst and having a melting point in the range 130-170 C. and a second material having a melting point which is at least 10 C. higher than the melting point of the first material, the weight of the first material in the non-woven structure being at least 3% of the weight of the nonwoven structure.

A carpet for a sound reduction material is disclosed including: a non-permeable primary coating layer formed of polyethylene (PE) resin, being in contact with a lower surface of a fabric layer and having a basis weight of 200 to 300 g/m.sup.2; a permeable felt layer in contact with a lower surface of the primary coating layer and having a basis weight of 200 to 500 g/m.sup.2; and a non-permeable secondary coating layer formed of polyethylene (PE) resin or ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), being in contact with a lower surface of the felt layer and having a basis weight of 200 to 1,000 g/m.sup.2. The carpet for a sound reduction material may thus have improved noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) performance, reduced total weight and improved stiffness.

A bonded and entangled non-woven structure made of at least 50% staple fibers by weight of the bonded and entangled non-woven structure, and at least a partial bonding of the fibers of the non-woven structure. The at least partial bonding including thermally activated bonds between a first polyolefin material produced with a catalyst including at least one metallocene catalyst and having a melting point in the range 130-170 C. and a second material having a melting point which is at least 10 C. higher than the melting point of the first material, the weight of the first material in the non-woven structure being at least 3% of the weight of the nonwoven structure.

A bonded and entangled non-woven structure made of at least 50% staple fibers by weight of the bonded and entangled non-woven structure, and at least a partial bonding of the fibers of the non-woven structure. The at least partial bonding including thermally activated bonds between a first polyolefin material produced with a catalyst including at least one metallocene catalyst and having a melting point in the range 130-170? C. and a second material having a melting point which is at least 10? C. higher than the melting point of the first material, the weight of the first material in the non-woven structure being at least 3% of the weight of the nonwoven structure.

A textile fabric having improved properties, variously including surface stability, abrasion resistance, resistance to edge fraying, moisture control, and resistance to fluid penetration is created by introducing a polymeric solution or a plurality of low-melting particles suspended in a liquid into the textile fabric while leaving a plurality of surface fibers exposed and maintaining a textile feel on the surface.

This invention relates to tufted floorcovering articles that are washable in commercial, industrial, and/or residential washing machines. In particular, this invention relates to modular carpet tiles that are constructed in such a way as to withstand exposure to at least one wash cycle in an automatic washing machine. The carpet tiles are designed to be soiled, washed, and re-used, thereby providing ideal end-use applications such as entryway floorcovering articles. A further advantage includes the ability to print advertising logos on the carpet tiles and easily change out the advertising logos as desired. Both features of the carpet tile of the present invention are achievable, at least in part, because the surface of the tile that contacts the floor does not require any type of adhesive in order to use the carpet tile for its intended function.

The present invention relates to a method for producing floor covering (including carpet and carpet tiles) with recycled content, comprising the steps of gaining CaCO.sub.3 from ground or surface water during a softening process by adding a grain to the water, grafting the CaCO.sub.3 to the grain, adding the CaCO.sub.3 to the (fluid) backing material for a carpet or carpet tile (precoat or heavy coating layer), using the thus obtained backing material in a carpet or carpet tile manufacturing process, wherein the grain comprises essentially CaCO.sub.3.

The present invention pertains to carpet and methods of making and recycling carpet. In one aspect, the carpet includes: a primary backing which has a face and a back surface; a plurality of fibers attached to the primary backing and extending from the face of the primary backing and exposed at the back surface of the primary backing; an adhesive composition backing; and an optional secondary backing adjacent to the adhesive backing. The method of making carpet includes extrusion coating the adhesive composition onto the back surface of a primary backing to form the adhesive composition backing. The method of recycling carpet can recover one or more polymeric carpet components.

Polyurethane floor covering products are formed from a web layer containing at least 30% by weight fibers. A cooled polyurethane foam formulation which includes at least one polyisocyanate, water and at least one polyol having an equivalent weight of at least 500 is applied to the web layer. The wetted web layer is then compressed to mechanically wet out the fibers, gauged and heated to cure the foam formulation.

According to one aspect, an asphalt blend can include asphalt, a first polymer additive, and ground tire rubber having a mesh size greater than 80 mesh. The blend can be mixed with filler to prepare a filled asphalt mix. The blends and mixes may have a particular softening point or penetration at 115 F. that may provide improved performance or durability.