ABRASION RESISTANCE – The ability of a fibre to withstand surface wear and rubbing
ACRYLIC – A manufactured fiber in which the fiber-forming substance is any long-chain synthetic polymer composed of
at least 85% by weight of acrylonitrile units. Spun yarns from acrylic exhibit aesthetics.
ADHESIVE – A substance that dries to a film capable of holding materials together by surface attachment.
ANTIMICROBIAL CARPET – Carpet chemically treated to reduce growth of common bacteria, fungi, yeast, mold and mildew.
ANTISTATIC – The ability of a carpet system to dissipate an electrostatic charge before it reaches the threshold of human sensitivity.
ATTACHED CUSHION – A cushioning material, such as foam, rubber, urethane, etc., adhered to the backing fabric side of a carpet to provide additional dimensional stability, thickness and padding.
AVERAGE PILE YARN WEIGHT – Mass per unit area of the pile yarn including buried portions of the pile yarn. Expressed as either ozs/sq yd or gms/sq m
AXMINSTER CARPET – Carpet woven on an Axminster loom. Pile tufts are individually inserted from varied coloured yarns. This process makes it possible to produce carpet and rugs of complex designs with many colours. There are two main types; gripper and spool Axminster.
BACKING – Materials (fabrics or yarns) making up the back of the carpet as opposed to the carpet pile or face.
1. Primary Back– In tufting, a woven or nonwoven fabric in which the pile yarn is inserted by tufting needles. Usually, woven or non-woven polypropylene for carpet, and often, cotton duck for scatter rugs.
2. Secondary Back – Fabric laminated to the back of carpet to reinforce and increase dimensional stability. Usually, woven jute or woven or nonwoven polypropylene.
3. Backings of Woven Carpet are the “construction yarns” compromising chain warp, stuffer warp and shot or fill, which are interwoven with the face yarn during carpet fabric formation.
BACK SEAMS – Installation seams made with the carpet turned over or face down. Opposite of “face seams” made with the carpet face up. (Both are on the back of the carpet).
BARBER POLE – A section of yarn showing the change in contrast through the skein. Barber pole plying takes two contrasting singles yarns and plies them together.
BCF – See Bulked Continuous Filament
BEAM – Large, horizontal cylinders or spools. Warp yarns are wound on beams and located on line in the back of the weaving or tufting operation.
BEARDING – Long fibre fuzz on carpet caused by fiber snagging and inadequate anchorage.
BERBER – A carpet constructed with coarse yarns having randomly spaced flecks of color against a background of base color.
BIODEGRADABLE – The ability of a substance to be broken down by bacteria so that it can be returned to the environment without posing an environmental hazard.
BINDING – A band or strip sewn over a carpet edge to protect, strengthen or decorate the edge.
BLEEDING – Transfer of fibre dyes from carpet or other fabrics by a liquid, usually water, with subsequent redepositing on other fibres.
BLEND – A mixture of two or more fibres or yarns.
BOBBIN – A spool-like device made of various materials, shapes and constructions with a head at one or both ends and a hole through its length, or barrel, for placement on a spindle or skewer. It is used to hold yarn for spinning, weaving or sewing.
BONDED CARPET – Also called Fusion bonded carpet, this is made by inserting a bundle of yarn into adhesive on a backing and heat-fusing in place. The result is a cut-pile texture. It is most often die-cut as tiles or modules and is usually backed for greater dimensional stability.
BONDED URETHANE CUSHION – A carpet cushion made from urethane trim, generated from urethane foam product manufacture, which has been granulated and bonded to form a porous foam material and fabricated into foam sheets. Frequently used as a residential cushion.
BOW – The greatest distance, measured parallel to the selvedges, between a filling yarn and a straight line drawn between the points at which this yarn meets the selvedges. Bow is expressed in cm, inches, or as a % of the width.
BRAIDED – Reversible oval or round rugs produced from braided strips of new or used material.
BREAKING STRENGTH – The ability or capacity of a material to withstand the ultimate tensile load or force required for rupture.
BRICK REPEAT – A half-drop pattern repeat turned 90 degrees.
BROADLOOM – A term used to denote carpet produced in widths wider than two metres or six feet.
BUCKLING – A condition of wrinkling, bubbling or ridging of carpet following installation. In a stretch-in installation, it may be due to improper stretching. In a glue-down installation, it may be caused by insufficient or improper adhesive. Changes in humidity and temperature sometimes affect the severity. Buckling can also be a manufacturing defect, such as delamination.
BULKED CONTINUOUS FILAMENT (BCF) – Continuous strands of synthetic fibre formed into yarn bundles of a given number of filaments and texturized to increase bulk and cover. Texturizing changes the straight filaments into kinked or curled configurations.
BURLING – A hand-tailoring operation to remove any knots and loose ends, insert missing tufts of surface yarns. A repair operation on worn or damaged carpet is called reburling.
CARPET – All textile floorcoverings not designated as rugs.
CARPET CUSHION – A term used to describe any kind of material placed under carpet to provide softness and adequate support when it is walked upon. Carpet cushion provides a softer feel underfoot. It usually provides added acoustical benefits and longer wear life for the carpet. Also referred to as “padding” or “underlay”.
CARPET TILES/MODULES – Carpet packaged as squares, generally 50cm x 50cm with or without attached cushion backing. Are available in other sizes.
CHAIN – In weaving: 1. The binder warp yarn that works over and under the filing yarns of the carpet; 2. Axminster loom refers to the endless chain that carries the tube frames.
CHAIN BINDERS – Yarns running warpwise (lengthwise) in the back of a woven or woven interlock carpet, binding construction yarns.
COLOURFASTNESS – Resistance to fading. Degree of fastness of colour is tested to standard procedures.
COMMERCIAL MATCHING – Matching of colours within acceptable tolerances mutually agreed upon by the buyer and seller.
CONSTRUCTION – Carpet construction is defined by stating the manufacturing method (tufted, woven, etc.) and the final arrangement of materials achieved by following specifications.
CONTINUOUS DYEING – Process of dyeing carpet in a continuous production line, rather than in batch lots. Continuous dyeing equipment flows on dyestuff, as distinguished from submerging carpet, as in separate dye becks.
CONTINOUS FILAMENT – Continuous strands of synthetic fibres extruded in yarn form without the need for spinning, which natural fibres and synthetic staple fibres require for yarn formation.
COTTON FIBRE – A unicellular, natural fibre composed of cellulose. The fibers clothe the seeds of an erect, freely branching tropical plant (cotton plant). In carpet, its use is primarily for warp yarns in woven carpet. Today, it is seldom used as a face fibre, other than in rugs.
COUNT – 1. A number identifying yarn size or weight per unit length or vice versa, depending on the particular system being used.
CREEL – A rack or framework designed to hold yarns so that ends can be withdrawn smoothly and evenly without tangling.
CREELING – The process of mounting yarn packages on the yarn package holder of the creel.
CRIMP – In fibre, a nonlinear configuration such as sawtooth, zigzag or random curl, relative to the fiber axis. In woven fabrics, nonlinear yarn configurations caused by three dimensional displacements, such as the zigzagging of warp yarn over fill yarn. Most synthetic fibers, both stable and filament, used in carpet are crimped. Fiber crimp increased bulk and cover and facilitates interlocking of stable fibers in spun yarns.
CROCKING – Term used to describe excess colour rubbing off as the result of improper dye penetration, fixation or selection.
CROSS SEAMS – Seams made by joining the ends of carpet together.
CROSS SECTION – The shape of an individual filament or fibre when cut at right angles to its axis. Manufactured fibres used for carpet may have various shapes, including round, trilobal and pentalobal, as well as hollow varieties.
CRUSH BANDS – Widthwise marks in a roll of carpet due to flattening of the pile from compression.
CUSHION-BACK CARPET – A carpet having a cushioning lining, padding or underlay material as an integral part of its backing. Same as attached-cushion carpet.
CUT PILE – A fabric in which the face is composed of cut ends of pile yarn.
CUT – A length of carpet cut from a full roll to fill an order.
CUT AND LOOP PILE – A fabric in which the face is composed of a combination of cut ends of pile yarns and loops.
DEAD YARN – The pile yarn in a Wilton carpet that remains hidden in the backing structure when not forming a pile tuft.
DEFLECTED NEEDLE – A needle in the tufting machine that is pushed aside at the warp end in the backing cloth, causing a streak or “grinning” running lengthwise because of off-standard tuft spacing across the width.
DELAMINATION – Separation of the secondary backing or attached cushion from the primary backing.
DENIER – System for expressing linear density. Denier is a direct numbering system; the higher the denier, the larger the yarn or fibre.
DIMENSIONAL STABILITY – Ability of a carpet to retain its original size and shape; may be brought about by chemical treatment or mechanical means.
DIRECT STICK/GLUE-DOWN – An installation method whereby the carpet is adhered to the floor directly.
DOUBLE STICK – An installation method whereby the carpet underlay/padding is first adhered to the floor with an adhesive, and the carpet is then adhered to the underlay by an adhesive.
DROP MATCH – A pattern in carpet that repeats diagonally. Each corresponding design element drops down a certain distance, usually a half pattern repeat in length, instead of simply repeating horizontally across the width as in set match.
DRY EXTRACTION CLEANER – A carpet cleaning preparation consisting of absorbent particles blended with a solution of water, detergents, and other cleaners. The dry cleaner is applied to the carpet, worked into the pile with a brush, left to absorb soil for a time, and then removed with the absorbed soil by vacuuming.
DYEING – Colouring fibres, yarns, carpet or other materials by addition or incorporation of small amounts of highly coloured dyes and pigments.
END – An individual strand of yarn. A roll end, a short length of carpet or a remnant.
EXTENDED LENGTH – The length of pile yarn in one running inch of one tuft row in tufted carpet. Sometimes called take-up.
FACE WEIGHT – See Average Pile Yarn Weight
FADING – Loss of colour. Caused by actinic radiation, such as sunlight or artificial light; atmospheric gases, including ozone, nitric oxide, and hydrogen sulphide; cleaning and bleaching chemicals , such as sodium hypochlorite and other household and industrial products; chlorine chemicals for swimming pools.
FASTNESS – Retention of colour by carpet, usually with reference to specific exposures, eg. Lightfastness, and washfastness. Dye stuff, fibre type, and dyeing method influence the ability of coloured carpets to withstand the effects of colour-destroying agents.
FELLING – The end of a piece of carpet or fabric that is woven last.
FELTING – A nonwoven fabric formation process comprising entanglement of fibres by mechanical or other means. The end product is called felt.
FIBRE – Substance, either natural or man-made, that forms the basic element of carpet & rugs.
FILAMENT – A single continuous strand of natural or synthetic material.
FINISHING – A collective term denoting final processing of carpet subsequent to tufting, weaving, and dyeing. Carpet finishing processes include shearing, brushing, application of secondary backing, application of cushion backing, application of soil retardant, and antistatic chemicals, back heating, latex application, and steaming.
FLAMMABILITY – Assessing the flame resistance of carpets & rugs. There are many different tests including Radiant Panel, Methenamine Pill, Horizontal & Vertical flame tests, and Smoke Chamber test. Requirements dependent on regional geographic requirements and area of use.
FLUFFING – Appearance on carpet surface of loose fibre fragments left during manufacture. Fluffing, or shedding is not a defect; it is simply a characteristic of new carpets that disappears with vacuuming.
FRAMES – A term used in weaving representing a separate colour per frame.
FUZZING – Hairy effect on carpet surface caused by fibres. Can be rectified by shearing in most cases.
GAUGE/PITCH – The number of ends of surface yarn counting across the width of the carpet. In woven carpet pitch is the number of ends of yarn in the width often designated as pitch per inch or pitch per dm.
GRINNING – Visibility of carpet backing through the face, often, between two adjoining tuft rows. May be caused by low pile yarn weight, tuft row reflection, inadequate blooming of pile yarn, or installation over sharp curves, such as stair nosings.
HAND – The tactile aesthetic qualities of carpet. Factors determining how carpet feels to the hand include pile weight, stiffness, fibre type, and denier, density, backing and latex.
HEATHER – A multicolour effect provided by blending fibres of different colours prior to spinning carpet yarn.
HEAT SETTING – Process for stablisation of carpet yarns by exposure to heat. The principal benefits are twist retention in plied yarns in cut pile carpets, and general stablisation of yarn configuration.
HIGH LOW – Multilevel carpet style combining high and low loop pile areas of high cut pile and low loop areas. The latter is also called a cut and loop style.
HOT MELT ADHESIVE – Thermoplastic adhesive material sometimes used for laminating secondary backing to tufted carpet.
HOT MELT SEAMING TAPE – Tape pre-coated with a thermoplastic adhesive used for joining or seaming two sections of carpet.
INSPECTION – The process of examining carpets for defects at any stage of manufacturing and finishing.
IMPERMEABLE BACKING – Does not allow water or liquid to pass through the backing.
JACQUARD – An apparatus for a carpet weaving loom that produces patterns from coloured yarns. The pattern information is contained on perforated cards. The holes in the cads activate the mechanism that selects the colour to be raised to the pile surface. Both Axminster and Wilton looms have these devices although computer aided jacquard looms have replaced the necessity for cards in the majority of manufacturers.
JUTE– A natural fibre made from certain plants of the linden family, which grow in warm climates like those found in India and Bangladesh. Jute is typically used as a backing material in woven carpet and as a secondary backing in tufted carpet.
KNEE KICKER– A carpet installation tool consisting of a pinned plate connected to a short section of metal tubing. The end opposite the plate has a padded cushion that the installer strikes with their knee to position carpet, which is gripped by the pinned plate. This works with simpler patterned carpet installations, but with those larger, more complex projects power stretching should always be used for installation.
KNITTED CARPET – Carpet produced in a fabric formation or process by interlacing yarns in a series of connected loops. As in weaving, pile and backing are produced simultaneously. Multiple sets of neddles interface pile, backing, and stitching yarns in one operation.
LATEX – A compound consisting of either natural or synthetic rubber used to coat the back of carpets or rugs in order to adhere carpet components to one another. Most carpet latex consists of styrene-butadiene synthetic rubber (SBR) compounded with powered fillers, such as calcium carbonate.
LEVEL LOOP – A carpet construction in which the yarn on the face of the carpet forms a loop with both ends anchored into the carpet back. The pile loops are of substantially the same height and uncut, making a smooth and level surface.
LOOM – A machine for weaving by interlacing a series of vertical, parallel threads (the warp) with a series of horizontal, parallel threads (the weft).
LOOP PILE – Carpet style having a pile surface consisting of uncut loops. May be woven or tufted. Also called “round wire” in woven carpet terminology.
LUSTER – Brightness or sheen of fibres, yarns, or carpet..
MARKERS – Coloured yarns woven into the backs of woven carpets to aid installers in achieving correct pattern match and pile direction.
MATCH – Pattern match designates the arrangement and dimensions of the repeating units making up the design of patterned carpet, including woven patterns, prints, tufted, and others. Pattern repeat dimensions and match are significant to specifiers and purchasing agents because they influence the amount of excess carpet needed in multiple width installations.
MATTING – Severe pile crush combined with entanglement of fibres and tufts.
MENDING – Hand repair of carpet after tufting and weaving to replace missing tufts, remove knots, and loose ends, etc.
MORESQUE– A distinctive textural appearance given to carpet by the use of yarns that have been twisted with other yarns of different colours or shades. Moresque carpet in suitable colours is a good soil hider in high traffic areas.
MULTIFILAMENT – Synthetic yarns composed of a multiplicity of continuous fibre strands extruded together. Multifilament carpet yarns are texturized to increase bulk and cover, and are called “bulked continuous filament” yarns or BCF yarns.
NAP – Carpet or rug pile surface.
NARROWLOOM CARPET – Woven carpet less than 2m or six feet wide, as distinguished from broadloom carpet.
NEEDLEPUNCH CARPET – Barbed felting needles that entangle and compress fibrous fleeces into needled felts, such as those used for outdoor carpets. Normally made with solution-dyed polypropylene.
NON WOVEN – A fabric manufactured directly from fibres or filaments, or from a web of fibres without the yarn preparation needed for weaving, knitting, or tufting.
NOSING – The front dividing line of a step, where the top of the riser joins the front of the tread.
NYLON – Synthetic thermoplastic of the polyamide family widely used as a carpet face yarn in either BCF or staple yarn form. Two chemical types, nylon 6,6, and nylon 6 are used in carpet.
OILY YARN – Yarn containing excessive oil on its surface, usually from excessive oiling of rings on spinning and twisting machines. Although not visible during carpet production, it may appear as soiled or dark lines of yarn when the carpet is in service.
ORIENTAL RUGS – Handwoven rugs made primarily in Asia and the Middle East.
OZONE FADING – The fading of carpet caused by atmospheric ozone.
PACKAGE DYE – Yarn dyed whilst wound on perforated tubes or cheeses. The package dye machine forces dye through the yarn on the dye package.
PATTERN – Artistic, decorative design on the surface of carpet. It may be woven, printed, handtufted with coloured yarns or sculptured in multiple pile heights.
PIECE DYED – Carpet dyed by immersion into an aqueous dye bath.
PIGMENT – Highly coloured, insoluble, powdered substance used to impart colour to other materials.
PILE – The visible wear surface of carpet consisting of yarn tufts in loop and/or cut configuration.
PILE CRUSH – Loss of pile thickness by compression and blending of tufts caused by traffic and heavy furniture. The tufts collapse into the air space between them. It may be irreversible if the yarn has inadequate resilience and/or the pile has insufficient density for the traffic load.
PILE (OR TUFT) LENGTH – The length of the extended tufts measured from primary backing top surface to their tips.
PILE REVERSAL – An irreversible, localized change in the orientation of the pile of a carpet. The phenomenon is also referred to as “watermarking”, “pooling”, and “shading”.
PILE YARN – The yarn that forms the tufts of the carpet. Also called “face yarn”.
PILE YARN WEIGHT – See Average Pile Yarn Weight.
PILLING – A condition of the carpet face in which fibres from different tufts become entangled with one another, forming hard passes of fibres and tangled tufts. The fibres can be trimmed with scissors.
PITCH – See Gauge
PLIED YARN – A yarn composed of two or more single yarns twisted together. Many two-ply yarns are used in cut pile carpet and must be heat set to prevent untwisting under traffic. Multiple continuous filament yarns made by fibre producers are sometimes air-entangled rather than twisted together.
PLY – a) A single-end component in a plied yarn b) The number that tells how many single ends that have been ply-twisted together to form a plied yarn, eg. Two-ply or Three-ply
POLYESTER – A fibre-forming, thermoplastic synthetic polymer. Nearly all polyester carpet fibre is staple, and all the yarns are spun yarns.
POLYPROPYLENE – Synthetic, thermoplastic polymer used for carpet fibres. Most polypropylene carpet fibre is solution dyed and sometimes contains ultraviolet stabilisers for outdoor use. Slit-film polypropylene is used in woven carpet backing.
POOLING – See Pile Reversal
POWER STRETCHER – A carpet installation tool used to stretch carpet for installation on tackles strip. It consist of a pinned plate that grips the carpet, tubular extensions, a padded end that is used to brace against an opposing wall or other structure, and a lever system that multiples the installer’s applied stretching force.
PRIMARY BACKING – A component of tufted carpet consisting of woven or nonwoven fabric into which pile yarn tufts are inserted by the tufting needles. It is the carrier fabric for the pile yarn and should not be confused with secondary backing, which is a reinforcing fabric laminated to the back of tufted carpet subsequent to the tufting process.
PRINTED CARPET – Carpet having coloured patterns applied by dye injection print. Most common are Millitron and Chromajet prints and have ability to create non-repeatable designs.
QUARTER – A woven carpet term that designates the width of narrowloom carpet. It is one quarter of a yard. At one time most woven carpets were manufactured on narrowloom looms and widths such as 27” and 36” were commonly called three-quarter and four-quarter respectively.
REMNANT – A short piece of carpet roll goods, usually less than 3 metres in length.
REPEAT – The dimensions of the basic pattern unit in any type of patterned carpet.
RESILENCE – Ability of carpet pile or cushion to recover original thickness after being subjected to compressive forces or crushing under traffic.
RESTRETCH – A carpet installation term used to describe carpet stretching performed subsequent to original installation to remove wrinkles, bubbles, or loose fit. Most re-stretching is caused by failure of the installer to adequately stretch the carpet during original installation.
RISER – The vertical or front surface of a step, rising from the back of a tread.
ROWS – In woven carpet this is the number of pile yarn tufts per running inch//dm lengthwise. Analogous to “stitches per inch/dm” in tufted carpet.
RUG – Carpet cut into room or area dimensions and loose laid.
SCALE DRAWING – A drawing, such as a building blueprint, having its measurements in fixed proportion to the actual dimensions of the room, floor or building depicted.
SCULPTURED – Any carpet pattern formed from high and low pile areas, such as high-low loop or cut and loop.
SEAM ADHESIVE – A specifically formulated adhesive for securing cut edges of carpet to be seamed. Specialised adhesive products are necessary for either glue-down or stretch-in over a cushion installation, which will help prevent raveling and delamination at seam edges.
SEAM SEALING – Procedure of coating or “buttering” the trimmed edges of two carpet breadths to be joined with a continuous bead of seam adhesive in order to prevent fraying and raveling at the seam.
SEAMING TAPE – Fabric tape used for joining two sections of carpet. “Hot melt” tape is precoated with a thermoplastic adhesive.
SEAMS – In a carpet installation, the line formed by joining the edge of two pieces of carpet by the use of various seaming tapes, hand sewing, or other techniques.
SECONDARY BACKING – Woven or nonwoven fabric reinforcement laminated to the back of tufted carpet, usually with latex adhesive, to enhance dimensional stability, strength, stretch resistance, and hand. Most secondary backings are woven jute, woven polypropylene or nonwoven polypropylene. The term is sometimes used in a broader sense to include attached cushion.
SECONDS – Off quality, defective or substandard carpet normally sold at substantial price discounts as “seconds” by manufacturers.
SELVEDGES – Carpet edges at sides of rolls.
SERGING – A method of finishing edges of area rugs cut from roll goods by use of heavy, coloured yarn sewn around the edges in a close, overcast stitch.
SET MATCH – Patterns that repeat straight across the width, perpendicularly to the length.
SHADING – A change in the appearance of carpet due to localized distortions in the orientation of the fibres, tufts, or loops. Shading is not a change of colour or hue, but a difference in light reflection. Sometimes referred to as “pile reversal”.
SHEARING – Carpet manufacturing process for producing a smooth carpet face, removing fuzz, or creating random sheared textures. Carpet shears have many steel blades mounted on rotating cylinders that cut fibres on carpet surfaces in a manner analogous to a lawn mower cutting grass.
SHUTTLE – Traditional part of a older weaving loom that carries fill yarn back and forth across the carpet width.
SKEIN DYED YARN – Pile yarn dyed whilst in the form of large, loosely wound skeins.
SOIL RETARDANT – A chemical finish applied to fibres or carpet that inhibits attachment of soil.
SOLUTION DYED FIBRE – Synthetic fibre coloured by pigments dispersed in the polymer melt or solution prior to extrusion into fibre.
SPACE DYED – Yarn dyed two or more colours that alternate along the length.
SPINNING – A term for yarn or fibre production. To the conventional textile yarn mill, spinning is the conversion of staple fibre into spun yarn. For the fibre manufacturer spinning is synonymous with extrusion of polymer through the small holes of the spinneret into synthetic fibre.
SPROUTING – Protrusion of individual tuft or yarn ends across the pile surface. May be clipped with scissors.
STAIN RESIST TREATMENT – Chemical treatment, primarily for nylon carpet, to minimize stains.
STAIR NOSING – Material used to cover the nose of the stair when stairway is not upholstered. Commonly used to demarcate the edge of a stair in restaurants, theatres, etc.
STAPLE FIBRE – Short lengths of fibre that may be converted into spun yarns by textile yarn spinning processes. For carpet yarns spun on the common, worsted systems, most staple is 6-8” long.
STATIC SHOCK – Discharge of electrostatic potential from carpet to person to conductive ground. Shoe friction against carpet fibre causes production of electric charge, and can be influenced by humidity.
STITCHES PER INCH – Number of yarn tufts per running inch of a single tuft row in tufted carpet. Is also measured in decimetres.
STOCK DYED YARN – Coloured spun yarn produced from fibres dyed in staple form.
STREAK – Any lengthwise, narrow, visual defect in carpet. Dye streaks may be caused by a single pile end having different dye affinity from the others. Other streaks may be yarn defects, such as tight twist, stretched yarn or yarns larger or smaller than the others.
STRETCH – A carpet installation term for the amount of elongation of carpet when it is stretched over underlay onto a tackles strip. Generally 1-2%.
STRETCH-IN – Installation procedure for installing carpet over separate underlay using a tackles strip.
TACKLESS STRIP – Wood or metal strips fastened to the floor near the walls of a room containing either two or three rows of pins angled towards the walls on which the carpet backing is stretched and secured in a stretch-in installation.
TEMPLATE – A paper or cardboard pattern used by installers as a guide for cutting carpet for areas having complicated or unusual shapes.
TEXTURE – Visual and tactile surface characteristics of carpet pile, including such aesthetic and structural elements as high-low or cut and loop patterning, yarn twist, pile erectness, harshness or softness to the touch, luster, and yarn dimensions.
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY – Ability of a material to transmit heat. Good insulators, including some carpet, have high thermal resistivity (R-value) and low thermal conductivity.
TIP-SHEARING – Light, shallow shearing to add surface interest to carpet texture. Typically common in machine and handtufted carpets.
TOG RATING – The unit of measurement used to show a carpet’s thermal insulating properties. The higher the top value the carpet has the more it will retain heat better and the better it will be at insulating.
TOTAL WEIGHT – Weight per square yard or square metre of the total carpet pile, yarn, primary and secondary backings, and coatings.
TRAFFIC – The passing back and forth of persons over a given carpet surface area.
TREAD – The upper horizontal part of a step.
TROWEL – Hand implement used for metering and spreading adhesive to the floor or other substrate.
TUFT BIND – Force required to pull a tuft from the carpet.
TUFTED CARPET – Carpet manufactured by the tufting process, which compromises insertion of pile tufts by a row of eyed needles, which penetrate a primary backing fabric, thus forming tufts from the yarn threaded through the eyes of the tufting needles.
TUFTS – The cut or uncut loops of a pile fabric.
TWIST CARPET – Carpet having a pile texture created with tightly twisted yarns in which the ply twist is substantially greater than the singles twist, causing the yarn to curl. Most twist styles are cut pile, and the unbalanced, hard twist causes a nubby texture.
TWO-TONE – A design or pattern obtained by using two shades of the same color.
UNDERLAY – See Carpet Cushion.
UNITARY CARPET – Carpet used for glue-down installations that has an application of high-quality backcoating latex to increase tuft bind performance properties without the addition of a secondary backing.
VELVET FINISH – A smooth surface texture on dense plush carpet.
WARP – A weaving term for yarns that run lengthwise in woven fabrics and carpets. Warn yarns are usually delivered to the loom from a beam, a large spool with hundreds of ends of yarn wound on it, mounted behind the loom. Woven carpets usually have three sets of warp yarns, which may be wound on three loom beams. These include stuffer warp for lengthwise strength and stiffness, pile warp, which forms the carpet surface tufts, and chain warp, which interlaces with fill yarn to lock the structure together.
WARP PILE – In woven carpet, the pile formed by the warp yarns. See Warp.
WATERMARKING – See Pile Reversal.
WEAVING – A fabric formation process used for manufacturing carpet in which yarns are interlaced to form cloth. The weaving loom interlaces lengthwise (warp) and widthwise (weft) yarns. Carpet weaves are complex, often involving several sets of warp and weft yarns. See Axminster, Wilton and Velvet.
WEFT – Yarn that runs widthwise in woven cloth or carpet, interlacing with the warp yarns.
WILTON CARPET – Carpet woven on a loom with a Jacquard mechanism, which utilizes a series of punched cards to select pile height and yarn color. The Wilton loom can produce carpet with complex multicolor patterns and highly textured pile surfaces of multilevel cut and looped yarns. There is also a face to face wilton construction where two backings are woven attached by the pile yarn, which is then cut to form two cut pile carpets. Wilton carpet is known for its strength and durability.
WIRE HEIGHT – In woven carpet, the height of the pile tuft is determined by the wire height. See Wires.
WIRES – Component of a carpet weaving loom on which the pile tufts are formed. Round wires produce loop pile carpet, and flat wires with sharp blades produce cut pile (plush) textures.
WOLLEN SYSTEM YARN – Spun yarn, composed of any natural or synthetic fiber, manufactured by the woolen system spinning process. Compared to worsted-system or parallel-spun yarns, which are common to most tufted carpet, woolen yarns are soft, bulky and hairy. Staple for woolen spinning is short in the 3.5 to 5.5-inch range.
WORSTED YARN – Spun yarn, composed of any natural or synthetic fiber, manufactured by the worsted, or parallel spinning process. Most yarns for tufted carpet are parallel, spun. Staple for worsted spinning is long, often in the 6 to 8-inch range. In worsted yarns, the fibers are relatively parallel, and the yarns are relatively smooth and compact in structure.
WOVEN BACKING – A tufted carpet term for primary or secondary backing manufactured by the weaving process. Secondary backings are usually woven jute or woven polypropylene. Primary backings are usually woven (or nonwoven) polypropylene.
WOVEN CARPET – Carpet produced on a loom through a weaving process by which the lengthwise (warp) yarns and widthwise (weft) yarns are interlaced to form the fabric. Carpet weaves – such as Wilton, Axminster and velvet – are complex, often involving several sets of warp and filling yarns for the pile and backing.
YARN – A continuous strand composed of fibers or filaments and used in tufting, weaving and knitting to form carpet and other fabrics. Carpet yarn is often piled and may be either spun or continuous filament.
YARN DYEING – Dyeing yarn before tufting or weaving it into carpet.
YARN PLY – The number of single yarns twisted together to form a piled yarn.
YARN SIZE – Same as yarn count. See Count.