Carpet fiber characteristics
by Jeff Cross     

Not every carpet is created equally. If they were, your cleaning protocol would be easier to predict.

 

Various fibers and how they are used in carpet dictates how easy the carpet will be to clean, and how long it will last and retain its bulk, texture and color.

 

Professional carpet cleaners must know the fiber content of the carpet they clean. Fiber identification is a skill you can easily develop.

 

Of equal importance is knowing each fiber's characteristics. Each fiber has it's "pros and cons."

 

Your customers or clients often purchase carpet on impulse.

 

Most choices in carpet are based on color, with texture and style following close behind.

 

There are four main fiber types in modern, broadloom carpet. They are:

  • Nylon (about 60% of market)
  • Olefin (about 30% of market)
  • Polyester (about 10% of market)
  • Wool (less than 1% of market)

This technical bulletin will address characteristics of each of these fibers.

 

Use this information to explain the cleanability of specific carpet types, and also to help specify which type of carpet is best for each application.

 

Nylon and durability

 

Nylon is known as a durable fiber. It's a good choice for heavy traffic areas.

 

Nylon's favorable qualities include:

  • Great resiliency
  • Accepts wide range of colors
  • Relatively colorfast
  • Easy to clean (with excellent results)
  • Not attracted to oily soils

Nylon's unfavorable qualities include:

  • Easiest of synthetic fibers to stain with typical food and beverage spills (fabric protection helps fight this problem)
  • Will lose color in presence of bleach, especially chlorine

With this information, think about where nylon would be a good choice in a home or business.

 

You might suggest to your customer to install nylon in a heavily-used living room, hallway, stairs, etc.

 

But you might think twice about suggesting nylon for bathrooms or areas where moisture is a concern, and especially when chlorine bleach might be used, such as a room close to an outdoor swimming pool, as the chlorine can be tracked onto the carpet.

 

Olefin and stain resistancy

 

Although olefin does not have the "strength" of nylon and tends to mat down and "ugly out" faster, it has some excellent qualities.

 

Olefin's favorable qualities include:

  • Water resistance (including water-based spills)
  • Colorfastness (will not lose color like nylon because the color in olefin is "locked in" due to solution dyeing.
  • Chemical resistance (you can use very strong chemicals when cleaning olefin)

Olefin's unfavorable qualities include:

  • Poor resiliency, abrades and "uglies out" rapidly
  • After cleaning, tends to wick to the surface
  • Has low melting point
  • Attracted to oily soils

Olefin is a good choice in areas where moisture is prevalent, such as in a basement or around a swimming pool. It's naturally stain resistant, which means it's a good choice when kids and Kool Aid is in abundance.

 

But it's a bad choice for areas where oils and greases will be prominent, such as in a room close to a garage or right off a city street or paved parking area.

 

If olefin carpet is installed in such an area, you need solid cleaning techniques .

 

Polyester comes in third

 

Of the three main synthetic fiber types, polyester is in third place, but still holds a healthy 10 percent of market share.

 

Polyester's favorable qualities include:

  • Good hand (soft to touch)
  • Colorfast
  • Semi-resistant to bleaches and chemicals
  • Naturally stain resistant
  • Not attracted to acid dyes

Polyester's unfavorable qualities include:

  • Poor resiliency
  • Attracted to oily soils
  • After cleaning, tends to wick

Polyester is a good choice for low-traffic areas, and areas that have spot and stain concerns. Because it has a soft hand, it's often chosen due to texture.

 

Wool - the natural fiber

 

Although wool holds such a small amount of market share (less than 1%), you have to remember that billions of yards of carpet are produced each year.

 

That means that 1% is still a significant number.

 

Wool's favorable characteristics include:

  • Naturally resilient
  • Resists abrading
  • Accepts wide range of colors
  • "Warm" fiber
  • Fire resistant
  • Hides soils
  • Repels moisture
  • Easy to clean

Wool's unfavorable characteristics include:

  • Expensive fiber
  • Dissolves in chlorine bleach
  • Some cleaning and stain removal is difficult
  • Does not react well with strong chemicals, which can limit your cleaning procedure
  • Color loss (bleeding and crocking)

Wool is obviously a favorite fiber for many, and because of its natural resiliency will last many years in a home or business.

 

But because of it being a natural fiber, care has to be taken when choosing a cleaning system.

 

Remember, each fiber type will display its own cleanability. If you know the "pros and cons" of each fiber you clean, you can easily handle any cleaning challenge.

 

For more information and to see other technical bulletins that will help your business or facility, click here .