Soil, Spot and Stain Resistant Properties
- Soil is organic matter either the dirt tracked in off the feet or dust that enters a building through airflow, either an open door or window or blown in thorough the HVACs system. An average house accumulates around 80lbs of dust per year.
About 80 to 90% of the dust and dirt in a carpet is fine particulate soil. This type of soil is trapped between the fibers and acts like sand paper or miniature razor blades. This scratches or cuts the fibers causing the fiber to look gray and dirty. This is called traffic lane gray or “ugly out”
- A Spot is a liquid spill that is left unattended and dust and dirt clings to the spill. With time, the spot keeps getting darker. Normally the spot can be removed with proper cleaning procedures.
- A stain is a substance spilt onto the carpet that either adds color to the fiber or removes color from the fiber. Red stains and bleached stains are the most common types of stains to best visualize this type of damage.
Scientific tests and studies show the lobes on the trilobal fiber shape will fold over, break and trap soil in between the lobes. Carpet manufactures that use the trilobal fiber will claim it does not do this, the tests show otherwise.
Trilobal fibers are less soil resistant than other shapes because this propensity to trap dust and dirt in the lobes.
Delta and Modified Delta fibers are mainly used in the commercial market because the shape is more soil and stain resistance than the trilobal shape. The fiber is more crush resistant than the trilobal but under heavy traffic or use, the fibers can smash or flatten.
The Antron Lumena and Legacy fiber is engineered to resist all three, dust/dirt, spots and stains.
Soil – because of the unique shape, the dust and dirt are not trapped in the peaks and a valley so vacuuming is more effective. Removing dust and dirt in a dry state is a lot easier than if you try to emulsify the soils and remove it while in a suspended wet state (mud). Once you emulsify the soil there is a good change you will not be able to rinse it out and in a liquid it will travel deeper into the fiber bundles. Once it is embedded deep into the fiber bundle, it is near impossible to vacuum or rinse out.
Spots – the molecular structure of the fiber is tighter, making it more difficult for liquid spill to soak in, if the fiber is solution dyed there are even less dye sites for the spill to bond too. The tighter molecular structure, the smooth side and Nylon 6.6 has engineered properties to resist spills when compared to other fibers makes the Anton fiber system a superior product for the life cycle we expect and are seeing.
Stains – Solution Dyed nylon is one of the most stain resist fibers on the market. The fiber is engineered to have fewer dye sites so there is less surface area for the stain to bond to
Other fiber systems are very good at resisting spills, but have lower melting points so their lose their heat set quicker, mat and crush quicker which means it does not provide the performance you might expect.
Cary the Carpet Guy 