Wool like yarn for carpets and the like

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a wool-like yarn from continuous filaments of polymer material comprises steps of: providing partially oriented, continuous filaments of the polymer; drawing and air texturizing the partially oriented filaments to form threads, wherein a first group of straight filaments forms a core of the thread and a second group of filaments are overfed with respect to the first group of filaments to form a hairy sheath; and twisting or cabling a plurality of the threads together to form the wool-like yarn to have a weight of greater than 2000 dtex. The resulting wool-like continuous filament yarn is intrinsically UV resistant, antistatic and recyclable.

1 . A method of manufacturing a wool-like yarn from continuous filaments of polymer material, wherein the yarn is obtained by a process comprising steps of:
 providing at least partially oriented, continuous filaments of the polymer;   drawing and air texturizing the filaments to form threads, wherein a first group of straight filaments forms a core of the thread and a second group of filaments are overfed with respect to the first group of filaments to form a hairy sheath;   twisting and/or cabling a plurality of threads together to form the wool-like yarn having a weight of greater than 2000 dtex.   
     
     
         2 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of continuous filaments have a dtex per filament value in a range from 0.5 to 10, preferably from 4 to 6. 
     
     
         3 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 or claim 2 , wherein providing the partially oriented, continuous filaments comprises melt spinning and drawing. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  any one of the preceding claims , wherein the partially oriented, continuous filaments are of a multilobal cross-sectional shape. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  any one of the preceding claims , wherein the partially oriented, continuous filaments are provided as a plurality of multi-filament tows, preferably provided with nips to hold each tow together. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the tows each have a dtex in a range of from 100 dtex to 1500 dtex. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 or claim 6 , wherein a first tow forms a core of the thread and at least one further tow is overfed to form the hairy sheath. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  any one of the preceding claims , wherein drawing and air texturizing takes place simultaneously in a continuous process. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  any one of the preceding claims , wherein drawing is performed at a temperature in a range of 130° C.-200° C. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  any one of the preceding claims , wherein the second group of filaments are overfed with respect to the first group of filaments by between 30% and 150%, preferably around 80%. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  any one of the preceding claims , wherein a dtex weight ratio of the filaments in the core to the filaments in the sheath is between 1:1 and 1:6, preferably 1:2. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  any one of the preceding claims , wherein the thread has a dtex in a range of from 500 dtex to 5000 dtex, preferably 2000 dtex to 3000 dtex. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  any one of the preceding claims , wherein from 2 to 20 threads are twisted and/or cabled together to form the wool-like yarn. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  any one of the preceding claims , wherein the yarn is twisted in a range of from 30-400 twists per meter (TPM). 
     
     
         15 . The method of  any one of the preceding claims  further comprising heat setting of the twisted yarn to maintain the twist at a temperature below the drawing temperature, preferably in a temperature range between 85° C.-110° C. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  any one of the preceding claims , wherein the polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyesters, polyamides, polypropylene and copolymers thereof, preferably polyester. 
     
     
         17 . A wool-like yarn for the manufacture of floor coverings, the yarn comprising continuous filaments of polymer material, assembled together to form threads with first straight filaments forming a core of the thread and second textured filaments forming a hairy sheath around the core and wherein a plurality of threads are twisted or cabled together to form a heavyweight yarn of greater than 2000 dtex. 
     
     
         18 . The wool-like yarn of  claim 17 , consisting essentially of continuous filaments of the polymer material. 
     
     
         19 . The wool-like yarn of  claim 17 or claim 18 , wherein the polymer material includes one or more masterbatches, selected from the group consisting of: anti-microbial, anti-fungal, UV resistant, flame resistant, flame retardant, stain resistant, anti-oxidant and pigments. 
     
     
         20 . The wool-like yarn as claimed in any one of  claims 17 to 19 , wherein the plurality of continuous filaments have a dtex per filament value in a range from 0.5 to 10, preferably from 4 to 6. 
     
     
         21 . The wool-like yarn as claimed in any one of  claims 17 to 20 , wherein a dtex weight ratio of the filaments in the core to the filaments in the sheath is between 1:1 and 1:6, preferably 1:2. 
     
     
         22 . The wool-like yarn as claimed in any one of  claims 17 to 21 , wherein each thread has a dtex in a range of from 500 dtex to 5,000 dtex, preferably 2000 dtex to 3000 dtex. 
     
     
         23 . The wool-like yarn as claimed in any one of  claims 17 to 22 , comprising from 2 to 20 threads. 
     
     
         24 . The wool-like yarn as claimed in any one of  claims 17 to 23 , comprising from 2 to 4 plies, each comprising between 2 to 10 threads. 
     
     
         25 . A wool-like yarn manufactured according to the method of any one of  claims 1 to 16 . 
     
     
         26 . A floor covering comprising the wool-like yarn of any of  claims 17 to 25 . 
     
     
         27 . The floor covering as claimed in  claim 26 , where the wool-like yarn forms an upstanding pile. 
     
     
         28 . A floor covering as claimed in  claim 26 or claim 27 , wherein the wool-like yarn is tufted, knitted, knotted and/or woven.