Polyester carpet tile or carpet strip, and process for manufacturing a polyester carpet tile or carpet strip

A carpet tile or carpet strip for the contract market comprising:

• a machine-woven fabric comprising a front face as a usage surface and a back face, comprising flame-retardant polyester warp and weft yarns;
• a polyester synthetic latex coating applied onto the back face of the machine-woven fabric;
• a needled felt of flame-retardant polyester;
• an intermediate layer comprising a polyester adhesive, wherein the intermediate layer is disposed between the needled felt and the machine-woven fabric, and wherein the intermediate layer at least partially adheres the needled felt layer to the synthetic latex coating;
• wherein the synthetic latex coating is penetrated into the machine-woven fabric from the back face of the fabric to a depth equal to at least 30% and at most 80% of the perpendicular distance between the back face and the front face of the fabric;
• the synthetic latex coating having a weight of at most 350 g/m2;
• and
• wherein the synthetic latex coating penetrates the machine-woven fabric so that at least some of the weft yarns are bonded to at least some warp yarns by the polyester synthetic latex coating.