Pile fabric and process for producing same

Abstract

A pile fabric whose pile fibers are prevented from falling off without impairing the texture by fusing only a specific area of the pile fabric. The pile fabric has a ground structure and pile fibers that are intertwined with ground yarns and napped on a front surface of the ground structure. The pile fibers including acrylic fibers and/or acrylic-based fibers and have a softening point lower than a softening point of the ground structure fibers, and are intertwined with the ground yarns. At least part of the pile fibers located outside of the ground yarns are fused but the pile fibers napped on the front surface of the ground structure are not fused. A method of producing a pile fabric includes a contact heating/pressurization step at a temperature equal to or higher than the softening point of the pile fibers and lower than the softening point of the ground structure fibers.

1 . A pile fabric, comprising:
 a ground structure; and   pile fibers that are intertwined with ground yarns constituting the ground structure and napped on a front surface of the ground structure,   wherein the pile fibers comprise at least one selected from the group consisting of acrylic fibers and acrylic-based fibers and have a softening point lower than a softening point of fibers constituting the ground structure, and   wherein among the pile fibers intertwined with the ground yarns constituting the ground structure, at least part of the pile fibers located outside of the ground yarns constituting the ground structure are fused but the pile fibers napped on the front surface of the ground structure are not fused.   
     
     
         2 . The pile fabric according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the fused pile fibers located outside of the ground yarns constituting the ground structure are pressure-bonded, and   a thickness of the fused and pressure-bonded pile fibers located outside of the ground yarns constituting the ground structure is 300 μm or less.   
     
     
         3 . The pile fabric according to  claim 1 , wherein the pile fibers are prevented from falling off. 
     
     
         4 . The pile fabric according to  claim 1 , wherein a back surface of the pile fabric is impregnated with a backing resin. 
     
     
         5 . The pile fabric according to  claim 1 , wherein the pile fabric is a high pile fabric or a boa pile fabric. 
     
     
         6 . A method of producing a pile fabric, the pile fabric comprising: a ground structure; and pile fibers that are intertwined with ground yarns constituting the ground structure and napped on a front surface of the ground structure,
 wherein the pile fibers comprise at least one selected from the group consisting of acrylic fibers and acrylic-based fibers and have a softening point lower than a softening point of fibers constituting the ground structure, and   a contact heating/pressurization is performed at a temperature equal to or higher than the softening point of the pile fibers and lower than the softening point of the fibers constituting the ground structure from a back surface side of the ground structure, whereby among the pile fibers intertwined with the ground yarns constituting the ground structure, at least part of the pile fibers located outside of the ground yarns constituting the ground structure are fused but the pile fibers napped on the front surface of the ground structure are not fused.   
     
     
         7 . The method of producing a pile fabric according to  claim 6 , wherein the contact heating/pressurization is performed by a heating roller or a hot plate. 
     
     
         8 . The method of producing a pile fabric according to  claim 6 , wherein, during and/or after the contact heating/pressurization is performed from the back surface side of the ground structure, a side thereof with the napped pile fibers is cooled. 
     
     
         9 . The method of producing a pile fabric according to  claim 6 , wherein, after the contact heating/pressurization is performed from the back surface side of the ground structure, cooling is performed from the back surface side of the ground structure. 
     
     
         10 . The method of producing a pile fabric according to  claim 6 , wherein, after a back surface of the pile fabric is impregnated with a backing resin and the pile fibers are opened and aligned, the contact heating/pressurization is performed from the back surface side of the ground structure.