WOOL LIKE YARN FOR CARPETS AND THE LIKE

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a wool-like yarn from continuous filaments of polymer material comprises steps of: providing partially oriented, continuous filaments of the polymer; drawing and air texturizing the partially oriented filaments to form threads, wherein a first group of straight filaments forms a core of the thread and a second group of filaments are overfed with respect to the first group of filaments to form a hairy sheath; and twisting or cabling a plurality of the threads together to form the wool-like yarn to have a weight of greater than 2000 dtex. The resulting wool-like continuous filament yarn is intrinsically UV resistant, antistatic and recyclable.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a wool-like yarn from continuous filaments of polymer material, wherein the yarn is obtained by a process comprising steps of: providing at least partially oriented, continuous filaments of the polymer; drawing and air texturizing the filaments to form threads, wherein a first group of straight filaments forms a core of the thread and a second group of filaments are overfed with respect to the first group of filaments to form a hairy sheath; twisting and/or cabling a plurality of threads together to form the wool-like yarn having a weight of greater than 2000 dtex.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of continuous filaments have a dtex per filament value in a range from 0.5 to 10, preferably from 4 to 6.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein providing the partially oriented, continuous filaments comprises melt spinning and drawing.

4. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the partially oriented, continuous filaments are of a multilobal cross-sectional shape.

5. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the partially oriented, continuous filaments are provided as a plurality of multi-filament tows, preferably provided with nips to hold each tow together.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the tows each have a dtex in a range of from 100 dtex to 1500 dtex.

7. The method of claim 5 or claim 6, wherein a first tow forms a core of the thread and at least one further tow is overfed to form the hairy sheath.

8. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein drawing and air texturizing takes place simultaneously in a continuous process.

9. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein drawing is performed at a temperature in a range of 130 C.-200 C.

10. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the second group of filaments are overfed with respect to the first group of filaments by between 30% and 150%, preferably around 80%.

11. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein a dtex weight ratio of the filaments in the core to the filaments in the sheath is between 1:1 and 1:6, preferably 1:2.

12. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the thread has a dtex in a range of from 500 dtex to 5000 dtex, preferably 2000 dtex to 3000 dtex.

13. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein from 2 to 20 threads are twisted and/or cabled together to form the wool-like yarn.

14. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the yarn is twisted in a range of from 30-400 twists per meter (TPM).

15. The method of any one of the preceding claims further comprising heat setting of the twisted yarn to maintain the twist at a temperature below the drawing temperature, preferably in a temperature range between 85 C.-110 C.

16. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyesters, polyamides, polypropylene and copolymers thereof, preferably polyester.

17. A wool-like yarn for the manufacture of floor coverings, the yarn comprising continuous filaments of polymer material, assembled together to form threads with first straight filaments forming a core of the thread and second textured filaments forming a hairy sheath around the core and wherein a plurality of threads are twisted or cabled together to form a heavyweight yarn of greater than 2000 dtex.

18. The wool-like yarn of claim 17, consisting essentially of continuous filaments of the polymer material.

19. The wool-like yarn of claim 17 or claim 18, wherein the polymer material includes one or more masterbatches, selected from the group consisting of: anti-microbial, anti-fungal, UV resistant, flame resistant, flame retardant, stain resistant, anti-oxidant and pigments.

20. The wool-like yarn as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 19, wherein the plurality of continuous filaments have a dtex per filament value in a range from 0.5 to 10, preferably from 4 to 6.

21. The wool-like yarn as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 20, wherein a dtex weight ratio of the filaments in the core to the filaments in the sheath is between 1:1 and 1:6, preferably 1:2.

22. The wool-like yarn as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 21, wherein each thread has a dtex in a range of from 500 dtex to 5,000 dtex, preferably 2000 dtex to 3000 dtex.

23. The wool-like yarn as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 22, comprising from 2 to 20 threads.

24. The wool-like yarn as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 23, comprising from 2 to 4 plies, each comprising between 2 to 10 threads.

25. A wool-like yarn manufactured according to the method of any one of claims 1 to 16.

26. A floor covering comprising the wool-like yarn of any of claims 17 to 25.

27. The floor covering as claimed in claim 26, where the wool-like yarn forms an upstanding pile.

28. A floor covering as claimed in claim 26 or claim 27, wherein the wool-like yarn is tufted, knitted, knotted and/or woven.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] The features and advantages of the present disclosure will be appreciated upon reference to the following drawings of an of exemplary embodiment, in which:

[0034] FIG. 1 shows in schematic view, the four steps of a method according to the invention;

[0035] FIG. 2 shows a cross-section through the yarn produced according to the method of FIG. 1; and

[0036] FIG. 3 shows a loop-pile tufted carpet incorporating the yarn produced according to the method of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION

[0037] The following detailed description illustrates an embodiment of the present disclosure and ways in which they can be implemented. Although some modes of carrying out the present disclosure have been disclosed, those skilled in the art would recognise that other embodiments for carrying out or practising the present disclosure are also possible.

[0038] FIG. 1 shows the steps of a method for manufacturing a wool-like yarn according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0039] In a first step, according to FIG. 1A, a plurality of continuous filaments 1 of polyester are extruded from an extruder 10 and drawn over rollers 20 in an otherwise conventional process for making partially oriented yarn (POY). The filaments 1 are spin-drawn at a draw ratio of 1.05 to have a weight of 6 dtex per filament. In total, 96 filaments 1 are wound together as a tow 2 to a reel 3. Prior to winding, the tow 2 is impinged by an intermingling jet 30 to nip the tow 2 together by slightly intermingling the individual filaments 1.

[0040] In a second step shown in FIG. 1B, three reels 3, each wound with a tow 2 of continuous polyester filaments 1, are combined together and texturised in an air texturizing machine 40. The air texturizing machine 40 is an otherwise standard machine available from SSM. The tows 2 are first drawn through a drawing station 42 at a draw ratio of 1.7 and at a temperature of 180 C prior to delivery to the air texturizing station 44. In the air texturizing station 44, two of the tows 2 are overfed by an amount of 80% with respect to the third tow 2. Texturising jets 46 of air are applied to the tows 2, causing the overfed tows 2 to billow and form loops with respect to the third tow 2 which remains relatively straight. The overfed tows 2 thus form a hairy sheath 4 or effect around the third tow 2, which forms a core 12. The combined tows 2 at the exit of the air texturizing machine 40 form a thread 5, with a weight of 1480 dtex, which is wound to a bobbin 6.

[0041] In a third step, shown in FIG. 1C, four bobbins 6 carrying air-texturised thread 5 are lightly wound together to form a ply 7. The ply has a weight of 6000 dtex and is wound with a twist of 80 tpm to a spool 8.

[0042] In a fourth step, shown in FIG. 1D, two plies 7 are twisted together to form a wool-like yarn 9, having a weight of 12000 dtex. The plies 7 are twisted at 100 tpm.

[0043] FIG. 2 shows a cross-section through the yarn 9 of FIG. 1D, illustrating the two plies 7. Each of the plies 7 is formed of four threads 5. The threads 5 exhibit a core 12 and a surrounding sheath 4, each composed of filaments 1.

[0044] FIG. 3 shows a loop-pile tufted carpet 20. The carpet 20 has a woven backing 22. into which are tufted yarns 9 as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The yarns 9 form upstanding loops 24.

Example 1

[0045] A yarn 9 as described above in relation to FIGS. 1A-D is employed in the manufacture of a tufted loop-pile carpet as shown in FIG. 3. The carpet is tufted at inch gauge (6 mm) with 28 stitches per 10 cm. The pile had a height of 10 mm. The resulting carpet appeared wool-like in all aspects and had a woolly appearance and touch.

[0046] The carpet was subjected to Hexapod testing. After 4000 cycles, the carpet exhibited a Hexapod rating of 4.5, which decreased to 4 after 8000 cycles and remained at 4 after 12000 cycles.

[0047] Thus, the invention has been described by reference to certain examples discussed above. It will be recognized that these embodiments are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms well known to those of skill in the art. In particular, different initial filament weights may be employed according to the intended use. Many modifications in addition to those described above may be made to the structures and techniques described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, although specific embodiments have been described, these are examples only and are not limiting upon the scope of the invention