GB1068773A - Pile fabrics - Google Patents

Abstract

A pile fabric comprises short synthetic fibres electrostatically flocked on to an adhesive layer, at least 25% of the fibres having a latent crimp which is developed after flocking to cause their upper ends to bend and become entangled with adjacent fibres. The crimpable fibres may be bicomponent acrylic fibres consisting of acrylonitrile and a copolymer of acrylonitrile with vinyl acetate or sodium styrene sulphonate extruded side by side.ALSO:A pile fabric comprises a plurality of short synthetic organic polymeric fibres individually and randomly attached in generally upstanding relationship to an adhesive layer, the pile formed by the fibres comprising a support portion occupied by the lower 50% sections of the extruded length of the fibres and an upper portion occupied by the remaining sections of the fibres, the fibre section in the support portion being essentially spaced apart, free from crimp, and substantially perpendicularly aligned with respect to the adhesive layer, and the fibre sections in the upper portion having an average crimp frequency (defined) of 1 to 8 crimps per inch thereby creating a pile surface having a random and a multidirectional array of fibre sections and fibre-to-fibre entanglements. The fibres may be 0.01 to 0.5 inch long. The fibres may consist of at least two longitudinally extending components of different synthetic organic polymers e.g. acrylonitrile polymers or polyesters. The pile density in the upper portion may be at least 1-5 times that in the support section. The ratio of the extended fibre length to the effective length of the crimped fibre may be 1.1 to 1.7. The ratio of the radius of curvature of the crimped section of the fibre to the length of the uncrimped portion of the fibre when relaxed may be from 0.95 to 0.15. A pile fabric may be produced by depositing a layer of upstanding straight synthetic organic polymeric flock fibres on a backing material coated with an adhesive, at least 25% of the fibres being latently crimpable and remaining straight during the deposition, and treating the resultant fabric to develop the latent crimp of the fibres. The fibres, which may be from 0.01 to 0.5 inch long, may have been treated to prevent their crimping during the deposition. The fibres may have been treated with a separating agent, or an antistatic agent, examples of which are given. The fibres may have been prepared by holding long fibres tautly in the longitudinal direction while wetting them with a separating agent, drying the treated fibres while they are still in the taut condition and cutting short fibres therefrom. The fibres may consist of at least two longitudinally extending components of different synthetic organic polymers e.g. acrylonitrile polymers or polyesters. The fibres are deposited on the backing material by use of an electrostatic field, or a beater device. Crimps may be developed in the fibres by subjecting them to hot wet processing conditions. Conditions may be such as to produce the pile fabric described above. Examples of fibres and backing materials are given.