Study on Tuft Withdrawal Force and Compressibility of Hand-Tufted Carpet

Abstract

Carpets are mostly used for floor coverings. Ninety per cent of the carpet constructed is tufted carpet (Crawshaw in Carpet manufacture, WRONZ Developments, Christchurch, 2002). The present study aims to analyse the effect of fineness of pile yarn and number of ply of pile yarn on tuft withdrawal force and compression behaviour of hand-tufted carpet. Nine different types of hand-tufted carpets were prepared by varying the above-mentioned variables. Samples were analysed in terms of their physical and structural parameters as well as thickness loss, compression percentage and tuft withdrawal force. It has been observed that more tuft withdrawal force is required for coarser pile yarn and more number of ply of pile yarn. Compression percentage decreases as the number of ply of pile yarn increases. Compression percentage also increases as the yarn becomes finer. But thickness loss increases as the yarn becomes finer, and the same decreases as the number of ply of pile yarn increases. Analysis of variance shows that number of ply of pile yarn and fineness of pile yarn are both significant parameters to control the compressibility and tuft withdrawal force.