Tufted Carpets
Most of the carpet you will see is "tufted," produced on tufting
machines. Basically, these are huge sewing machines that insert
big stitches, or loops, of pile fiber into a backing material.
They often use over 1,000 needles in the process and can be
adjusted to vary the height of individual loops throughout
the surface of the carpet. After the loops are inserted into
the "primary" backing material, carpets are dyed and a heavy
layer of liquid sizing (latex) is applied to the underside
to firmly lock the loops in place. Over this, a "secondary"
backing material is bonded to add further strength and stability.
Tufting is the fastest and most economical method of manufacturing
carpet and, because of this, tufted carpet is generally less
expensive than woven carpet. Tufted carpet gives serviceable
quality and comes in a variety of styles. Even intricate "woven"
effects are possible through tufting with today's new technological
advances. Over 90% of American-made carpet is now produced
by this process.
Woven Carpet
Weaving is the second most popular method of producing carpet
today Basically, it consists of interlacing the filling yarns
(the face or surface of the carpet) with warp yarns in a variety
of techniques, each of which gives a different appearance
to the carpet (i.e., Axminster, Chenille, Velvet and Wilton).
This method can produce very intricate and beautiful designs.
Other Constructions
Though not prevalent in quality residential uses, some carpeting
is also produced by knitting, needlepunching or by a process
which is becoming more important called "fusion-bonding."
In fusion bonding yarn is embedded between two parallel sheets
of adhesive-coated backing. Then the sheets are slit apart,
forming pile carpet on both sides. Manufacturers can use less
yarn since no fiber is hidden in the back of the carpet. And
because the fiber has a higher density it performs better
than tufted carpet.
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