Wear-Dated Natural Nylon is our latest Nylon 6,6 brand extension. We introduced it at Surfaces 2007 and have been really pleased with the variety of carpet styles that carpet mills have introduced as a result. Surfaces 2008 saw additional introductions of carpet made with Wear-Dated Natural Nylon, and you can listen to Marianne Cone Discussing Surfaces, By The Foot and Wear-Dated Natural Nylon.
Wear-Dated Natural Nylon recreates the classic texture, luster and appearance of fine natural wool by combining the superior performance characteristics of Nylon 6,6 carpet fiber with a proprietary insert technology that acts as a glue to bind individual fibers together. A low-melt nylon binder fiber is placed between the yarn plies where it melts and flows during the manufacturing process, permanently bonding the plies together. Unlike conventional tufts, once bound together, the tufts cannot be untwisted. Furthermore,the resulting fiber generates a carpet with the look and feel of wool, yet with the durability of Nylon 6,6 - the best nylon available for carpet.
We discovered an additional benefit to Wear-Dated Natural Nylon: the technology at work means that staple yarn [i.e., the yarn normally associated with traditional textured carpet styles] can now go into carpet constructions that up-to-now were only possible with BCF yarn [i.e., the yarn that creates loop and pattern carpet styles]. So the variety of pattern and styling possibilities become endless! And the look and feel is more wool-like than ever.
The slideshow below describes what makes Wear-Dated Natural Nylon unique. Pay particular attention to Slide 2 which shows you micron photography of Wear-Dated Natural Nylon:
+ Starting at the top left corner you see a bundle of Wear-Dated Natural Nylon carpet fiber.
+ Move to the top right, and you'll notice a larger view of that bundle with closeup of the tips of the fibers.
+ The bottom left photo goes closer yet to show you the insert fiber.
+ Finally, the bottom right photo goes even closer to show you the insert fiber bound together with the individual Nylon 6,6 fibers in a "between-ply fusion."
We created a Wear-Dated Natural Nylon brochure [pictured below], that refers to some of the information from the slideshare presentation.
Look for new carpet products made with Wear-Dated Natural Nylon in the Carpet Catalog, or by searching under "natural nylon".
Read more in The Carpetology Blog about Carpetology posts that refer to Wear-Dated Natural Nylon.