Recyclable carpet products and method of making
AssigneeLear Corporation
InventorDennis C. Young
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Recyclable carpet products are made by incorporating a reactive compatibilizing agent in the precoat layer which is used to bond a polymeric face fiber layer to a backing polymeric layer where the polymers of the respective layers are otherwise incompatible to make homogeneous recycled blends.
Claims32
A recyclable carpet product comprising
- a layer of polymeric face fibers and a polymeric backing layer for said polymeric face fibers, said face layer and polymeric baking layer containing normally incompatible polymers, and
- an intermediate bonding layer between said polymeric face fibers and said polymeric backing layer to bind the fibers to the backing, said intermediate bonding layer containing a reactive compatibilizing agent for compatibilization of the incompatible polymers upon recycling the carpet product by granulating and heating to form a substantially homogeneous polymer blend.
A method of making a recyclable carpet product comprising
- providing a layer of polymeric face fibers and a polymeric backing layer for said polymeric face fibers, wherein said face and polymeric backing layer contain incompatible polymers,
- attaching said polymeric face fibers to said polymeric backing layer, and
- applying an intermediate bonding layer between said polymeric face fibers and said polymeric backing layer to bind the fibers to the backing, said intermediate bonding layer containing a reactive compatibilizing agent for compatibilization of the incompatible polymers upon recycling the carpet product by granulating and heating to form a substantially homogeneous polymer blend.
15 The method of claim 14 wherein the anhydride modified polyolefin is selected from the group consisting of an anhydride modified ultralow density polyethylene, an anhydride modified polypropylene, an anhydride modified linear low density polyethylene, and an anhydride modified ethylene vinyl acetate.
A recyclable carpet product comprising:
- a face layer comprising a first polymer and having first and second sides,
- a base fabric layer comprising a second polymer different than the first polymer and having a first side adjacent the second side of the face layer, wherein fibers of the first polymer are attached through the base fabric layer to be exposed on the first side of the face layer and on a second side of the base fabric layer, and wherein the first and second polymers are immiscible with each other, and
- a precoat layer on the second side of the base fabric layer to secure the fibers of the first polymer to the base fabric layer, wherein the precoat layer comprises a reactive compatibilizing polymer having two distinct chemical functionalities, one of said functionalities being reactive with the first polymer and the other of said functionalities being reactive with the second polymer,
- whereby said carpet product is recyclable by granulating and heating the product to form a substantially homogeneous polymer blend without the addition of a compatibilizing agent to the granulated product.
A method of making a recyclable carpet product comprising
- providing a face layer of fibers comprising a first polymer and having first and second sides,
- providing a base fabric layer of fibers comprising a second polymer different than the first polymer and having a first side adjacent the second side of the face layer of fibers, wherein the first and second polymers are immiscible with each other,
- attaching said face fibers of the first polymer through the base fabric layer for exposure on the first side of the face layer and on a second side of the base fabric layer;
- and
- applying a precoat layer on the second side of the base fabric layer at a bonding temperature to secure the fibers of the first polymer to the base fabric layer, wherein the precoat layer comprises a reactive compatibilizing polymer having two distinct chemical functionalities at a reactivity temperature, one of said functionalities being reactive with the first polymer and the other of said functionalities being reactive with the second polymer,
- whereby said carpet product is recyclable by granulating and heating the product to form a substantially homogeneous polymer blend without the addition of a compatibilizing agent to the granulated product.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.