Carpet Glossary F

The details of structure of fabric.  Includes such information as style, width, type of knit or weave, threads per inch in warp and fill, and weight of goods.

The angulation induced between a yarn and a woven fabric via the weaving or braiding process.

The maximum acute angle of a single weaving yarns direction measured from a plane parallel to the surface of the fabric.

Materials that enhance the performance of fibers or fabrics, especially in the area of soil/stain retardancy/repellency.

The number of warp threads per inch, or other convenient unit.

An additive (usually cationic) that provides fabrics with a softer hand or feel.  Fabric softeners also reduce static electricity build-up in fabrics.

Resin or latex treatment for scrims used in coated fabric manufacture to stabilize the scrim for further processing.

Those fibers/yarns extending above the primary backing or base fabric.

Sewed or cemented seams made without turning the carpet over or face down.  They are used during carpet installations when back seaming is impossible.

Pile carpet made on a loom or bonding unit which produces simultaneously, face to face, two backings, or substrates joined by the pile yarn.  Two cut pile carpets are made by cutting the pile yarns between two backings.

The weight of the pile including those portions of the pile that extend into backing structure, usually expressed in ounces per square yard or grams per square meter.

A broad term for fabrics with a fancy type weave made on a Jacquard or dobby loom.

Device for determining the effects of light on the properties of yarns, fibers, fabrics, carpets, plastic, and other materials.  It uses a standard light source such as a xenon arc lamp to simulate approximately the spectrum of sunlight.  Generally used for measuring fade resistance of carpet colors which are rated according to the number of hours of fadeometer exposure required to produce the visible loss of color.

Gradual, irreversible loss of color intensity, usually due to exposure to light (actinic radiation, especially direct sunlight); or from contact between dyes and various soils or oxidizing gases (ozone); or fumes from certain liquids (oxides of nitrogen, sodium hypochlorite), etc.  Fading may occur locally or throughout a fabric, depending on exposure to outside agents and airflow.  Windows and the general orientation of the structure to outside agents and airflow.  Windows and the general orientation of the structure may be a contributing factor, since the greatest potential for sun fading is from a Southwest exposure with the least being from a North or NorthWest exposure.  Loss of color usually caused by exposure to sunlight or atmospheric gases.  Loss of color.  Caused by actinic radiation such as sunlight or artificial light, atmospheric gases including ozone, nitric oxide, and hydrogen sulfide, cleaning, and bleaching chemicals such as sodium hypochlorite, and other household and industrial products, chlorine chemicals or swimming polls, and other factors.  Commercial carpet installations in areas where such exposures occur require extreme care in selection of colorfast carpet.

Laboratory tests designed to predict the likelihood of carpet fading under actual use conditions.  Fading is usually caused either by ultraviolet light or by exposure to ozone gas.  Carpet can be tested in laboratory fadeometers for results against fading agents.  Dye, hue, as well as fiber, can affect fadeability,  so a specific carpet being considered for a critical carpet installation should be tested prior to selection.

A scale for measuring temperature.  On the Fahrenheit scale, water boils at 212 degrees and freezes at 32 degrees.  Fahrenheit is converted to degrees centigrade (Celsius) by subtracting 32, and multiplying by 5/9^ths.

A soft, slightly glossy woven fabric made of silk, rayon, cotton, wool, or manufactured fibers or combinations of these fibers and having a light, flat crossgrain rim or cord made by using heavier yarns in the filling than in the warp.

The type of card used for cotton fibers and for cotton system processing.  It is named for the flat wire brushes called flats that are assembled on an endless chain that partially surrounds the main cylinder.  The staple is worked between the flats and cylinder, transferred to a doffer roll, and peeled off as a web that is condensed into a sliver.

Nails, screws, or staples used to secure materials to various surfaces.

1.  Property of dye to retain its color when cloth is exposed to sun, perspiration, atmosphere, washing, or other color destroying agents.  The term fastness is a relative one.  A dye may be reasonably fast to washing and only moderately fast to light.  Fastness of color is tested by standard procedures. Retention of color by carpets or other materials, usually with reference to specific exposures,  e.g., lightfastness and washfastness.  Dyestuff, fiber type, and dyeing method all influence the ability of colored carpets and fabrics to withstand the effects of color destroying agents.

Refers to the resistance of a material to weakening or failure during alternate tension compression cycles, i.e., in stretch yarns, the loss of ability to recover after having been stretched.

A general term that refers to lipid (fatty) materials of animal, vegetable, or marine origin.

Oily, acidic materials that are formed by degradation of animal tissues.  The principal components in the molecular structure of natural fats, vegetable oils, fish oils, waxes, rosins, and essential oils, whereby they are bound chemically with glycerin; this combination is termed a glyceride.  Fatty acids react with a base to form soap.

Use of a bone scraper to work a stain removal agent into the pile of the carpet.

A tool with two parallel blades that adjust for distance (both width and depth) and cut resilient materials for insertion of feature strip.

Bacteria found in the intestinal tracts of mammals.

United States federal agency that specifies minimum standards for construction components used in houses that qualify for FHA guaranteed loans.

United States federal regulations administered by EPA under this act require that certain useful poisons, such as chemicals pesticides, sold to the public contain labels that carry health hazard warnings to protect users.

A daily publication of the federal department regulations that are promulgated under a particular law.

See hand.

1.  The end of a piece of fabric that is woven last.  2. In weaving, the last filling pick laid in the fabric at any time.

The line to which a filling end is beat by the reed.

1.  A nonwoven sheet of matted material of wool, hair, or fur, sometimes in combination with certain manufactured fibers, made by a combination of mechanical and chemical action, pressure, moisture, and heat.  2.  A woven fabric generally made from wool, but occasionally from cotton or certain manufactured fibers, that is heavily shrunk and fulled, making it almost impossible to distinguish the weave.

A carpet cushion (carpet padding) made by felting natural fibers (hair and jute) and coating the resulting cushion with a latex binder; or needlepunching bats of synthetic felt into a spun polypropylene “skin” to form synthetic composition of felt pad.

An inexpensive rug, usually woven in plain colors (or stenciled or printed), in plain flat weaves and felted.

1.  The process of exposing wool fibers alone or in combination with other fibers to mechanical and chemical action, pressure, moisture, and heat so that they tangle, shrink, and mat to form a compact material.  Felting is generally carried out in a fulling mill.  2.  The act of constructing a non-woven fabric by intertangling fibers to form a mat and then needlepunching this mat of fibers through a backing material.  A backcoating of latex holds the needlepunched felt to the backing.  3.  Within the cleaning industry, felting has evolved to describe the loss of a wool fiber’s epidermis, due to exposure to alkalinity, thereby decreasing fiber use life. 4.  A nonwoven fabric formation process comprising entanglement of fibers such as polypropylene are used as outdoor carpet.  Unlike weaving and tufting, felting does not employ yarns but converts fibers directly to fabric.  5.  The process of pressing or matting together various types of hair or fibers to form a continuous fabric, known as felt.

Federal Housing Administration

A generic term for various natural or man-made types of matter which form basic elements of textile fabrics.  A generic a term for various natural or man-made types of matter which form basic elements of textile fabrics.  A generic term for any natural or synthetic strand or filament that is strong enough to be used in thread or yarn in the manufacture of a textile product.  Important properties to be used in thread or yarn in the manufacture of a textile product.  Important properties of fibers include elasticity, fineness, uniformity, durability, soil resistance, and luster.  A unit of matter, either natural or manufactured, that forms the basic element of fabrics and other textile structures.  A fiber is characterized by having a length at least 100 times its diameter or width.  The term refers to units that can be spun into a yarn or made into a fabric by various methods including weaving, knitting, braiding, felting, and twisting.  The essential requirements for fibers to be spun into yarn include a length of at least five (5) millimeters, flexibility, cohesiveness, and sufficient strength.

1.  A term used to describe carpet cushion (carpet padding) (carpet padding) made by the needlepunch process out of animal hair, jute, other materials, or a blend.  Some constructions are made with a rubber face and backed by hair or fiber.  2.  Separate carpet underpad consisting of needle-felted animal hair, jute, other fibers, or fiber blends.  Hair and jute blends are common.  Some padding felts are rubberized and may have one or two faces.

Fiber engineering refers to improvements to the fiber including: polymer characteristics, polymer additives (delusterant or solution dye pigments), cross section design (hollow filament with at least 89% solid polymer, modified lobes for soil release, increased cross section size for fewer soil traps, heavy denier per filament), fiber finishes (low surface energy fluorochemical coatings for stain and soil release).

The linear density of a fiber expressed in units such as denier or tex.

In general, refers to how the plies are laid into their orientation, i.e., by hand, by a textile process, by a tape layer, or by a filament winder.  Tolerances and angles are specified.  Microprocessor controlled placement that give precise control of each axis of motion permits more intricate winding patterns than are possible with conventional winding and is used to make composites that are more complex than usual filament wound structures.

A type of water soluble anionic dye having affinity for cellulose fibers.  In the presence of alkali, they react with hydroxyl groups in the cellulose and thus are linked with the fiber.  Fiber-reactive dyes are relatively new dyes and are used extensively on cellulosics when bright shades are desired.

Rugs made of specially prepared paper yarns in combination with cotton and wool yarn.  Fiber rugs are reversible, come in plain or twill weaves, and are often sized.

Refers to the cross section and size of the individual filaments.  Fiber shape impacts soil hiding, and soil releasing (cleanability).

Refers to the denier per filament (dpf) or weight/thickness of a filament.  Nylon fiber size impacts soil trapping and soil release.  Heavier dpf (large fiber size) makes more easily cleaned carpet fiber.

The process of forming nonspun fibers by completely or partially slitting sheets of extruded polypropylene, sometimes followed by twisting into yarns.  Fibrillation is employed in the formation of woven polypropylene backing yarns and to make pile yarns for grass carpet.

See Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act

See stain resist carpet and generation.

1.  A fiber of an indefinite or extreme length such as found naturally in silk.  Manufactured fibers are extruded into filaments that are converted into filament yarn, staple, or tow.  2.  A single continuous strand of natural or synthetic fiber.

The number of individual filaments that make up a thread or yarn.

In the fabrication of composites, the process of placing reinforcing fibers over a rotating form, (mandrel) to make the product shape.  Prepreg fibers or dry fibers that are treated in a resin bath immediately prior to winding may be used.  The wound form can be cured or consolidated after the fiber winding is complete to product specifications.

1. A yarn composed of continuous filaments assembled with or without twist.  2.  A yarn made of two or more continuous monofilaments held together by twist or otherwise.

1.  A low-cost material used for extending rubber, plastic, or other polymers.  2.  Fillers are usually powders of very small particle size.  3.  Carpet latex laminating compounds and foams contain large amounts of fillers.  The most common filler in carpet latex is finely powdered calcium carbonate often called whiting, produced by grinding limestone.  4.  An inert material added to paper, resin, bituminous material, and other substances to modify their properties and improve quality.  5.  Fuller’s earth or clay, or similar material used in the mix of rubber cushion.  If excessive filler is added, the foam tends to decompose more quickly.

Filling (same as weft) yarns of cotton, jute, or kraftcord running across the fabric and used with the chain yarns to bind the pile tufts to the backing yarns.  In a woven fabric, the yarn running from selvage to selvage at right angles to the warp.  Each crosswise length is called a pick.  In the weaving process the filling yarn is carried by the shuttle or other type of yarn carrier.

See mixed end or filling.

See skewness.

Yarns, usually of cotton, jute or kraftcord, running across a woven fabric and used with the chain yarns to bind the pile tufts to the backing yarns.

Yarn produced by slitting extruded films into narrow strips.  Slit film polypropylene yarns are woven into fabrics used as primary backings in tufted carpets.

Development of a thick covering or coating.

Accumulation of airborne dust or other pollutants under doors, draperies, furniture, or along baseboards and stairs where air flow is restricted or channeled over or through the carpets pile.  Filtration soiling is also associated with fabric wall coverings or office partitions.

1.  A warp yarn of smaller diameter than that normally used in the fabric.  2.  A term for a defect in silk warp yarn consisting of thin places that occur when all the filaments required to make up the full ply are not present.  This condition is usually caused by poor reeling.

Orientation, crystallinity, and molecular morphology of polymers, including fiber forming polymers.

1.  A relative measure of fiber size expressed in denier or tex for manufactured fibers.  For cotton, fineness is expressed as the mean fiber weight in micrograms per inch.  For wool, fineness is the mean fiber width or mean fiber diameter expressed in microns (to the nearest 0.001 millimeter).  2.  For yarn fineness, see yarn number.  3.  For fineness of knit fabrics, see gauge.

Particles or dust of polymer formed during the process of cutting to produce chip.

A defect of woven fabrics that is seen as an irregular spot showing variation in picks per inch for a limited width.  Causes are spreading of warp ends while the loom is in motion and pressure on the fabric between the reed and take-up drum.

1.  A substance or mixture of substances added to textile materials to impart desired properties.  2.  A process, physical or chemical, performed on textile materials to produce a desired effect.  3.  A property, such as smoothness, drape, luster, water repellency, flame retardancy, or crease resistance that is produced by number 1 and/or number 2 listed above.  4.  The state of a textile material as it leaves a process.

Physical and chemical analysis of the lubricant applied to yarns to reduce friction and improve processibility.

The actual degree of twist in the final yarn product.

Fabric that is ready for the market, having passed through the necessary finishing processes.

A completion step in seaming whereby any trapped tufts are brought upright and any sprouting tufts are trimmed even with the carpet surface.

A collective term denoting processing carpets subsequent to tufting, weaving, and dyeing.  Carpet finishing processes include shearing, brushing, application of secondary backing, application of attached foam cushion, application of soil retardant and antistatic chemicals, back beating, steaming, and others.

A noticeable streak across the entire width of a fabric usually caused by machine stoppage during processing.

A discolored area on a fabric caused by foreign material such as dirt, grease, or rust.

See yarn quality.

The process of setting a dye after dyeing or printing, usually by steaming or other heat treatment.

Brush or broom fibers that are split at the end to increase cleaning (floor sweeping) efficiency.

Excessive broadening of the tips of the tufts to form a fan shape, usually due to lack of heat set or excessive mechanical agitation.  See blooming.

A term that refers to the granular form in which cellulose acetate and triacetate polymers exist prior to dissolving or feeding into the extrusion or molding unit.

Yarn in which roving or short, soft staple fibers are inserted at intervals between long filament binder yarns.

A web at the card that shows thick and thin places, approximately 1 to 6 square inches in size.  This indicates that, instead of a free flow of fibers through the card, either an uneven amount has been fed into the care, or groups of fibers have hesitated in the card and then dropped back into production.

See flammability tests.

A term used to describe a material that burns slowly or is self-extinguishing after removal of an external source of ignition.  a fabric or yarn can be flame resistant because of the innate properties of the fiber, the twist level of the yarn, the fabric construction, or the presence of flame retardants, or because of  a combination of these factors.

A chemical compound that can be incorporated into a textile fiber during manufacture or applied to a fiber, fabric, or other textile items during processing or use to reduce its flammability.

The ability of a material to ignite easily and burn rapidly.  This term is used to classify certain liquids on the basis of their flashpoint.

The range of gas or vapor concentration in the air that may ignite or explode if an ignition source is present.  There is an upper and lower flammability limit.

Many procedures have been developed for assessing the flame resistance of textile.  The most common currently in use are detailed below.  Diagonal (45 degree) Flame Test:  In this test for flame resistance, a specimen is mounted at a 45 degree angle and exposed to an open flame for a specific time.  This test measures the ease of ignition and rate of burning of the samples.  Horizontal Flame Test:  A test for flame resistance in which a specimen is mounted in a horizontal holder and exposed to an open flame for a specific time to measure burning rate and char-hole diameter.  Methanamine Pill Test:  A test for the flame resistance of carpets or rugs in which a methenamine tablet is ignited on a test sample under controlled conditions and the size of the burn hold is measured.  Mushroom apparel Flammability Test;  This test method involves igniting a cylinder of fabric around a core containing heat sensors and measuring the rate of heat transfer from the burning material to the sensors.  Radiant Panel Test:  A test for the flammability of carpets or rugs in which the specimen is mounted on the floor of the test chamber and exposed to intense radiant heat from above.  The rate of flame spread is assessed.  Smoke Chamber Test:  This method assesses the smoke generating characteristics of a sample due