Identifying Carpet FIbers Carpet Cleaning: Castle Rock CO
There are generally two methods of identifying carpet fiber types -- a burn test evaluation and chemical testing. The third method, feel, is reserved for old carpet pros, who can generally rub their hand across the pile and identify the fiber type.
The chemical test is by far the most reliable, but most consumers may not have access to the various chemicals necessary to perform this test. Each fiber can be dissolved in a particular chemical. Briefly, the following should be noted.
Nylon: dissolves in formic acid. A few drops of formic acid on nylon fiber will begin to dissolve the fiber in 20 to 60 seconds. A rule of thumb would be that type 6,6 nylon takes longer to dissolve than type 6 nylon.
Wool: Dissolves in Chlorox in about 5 minutes. If wool has been blended with other fibers, these fibers will remain undissolved.
Acetate: Dissolves in acetone. Note some cleaning compounds may use acetone as a dry solvent, so if you are cleaning furniture, this is a mandatory test, since many furniture fabrics may use acetate.
Olefin: While this fiber "floats on water", naphtha can be used for fiber identification. To use the specific gravity test, place a drop of dishwashing liquid in a cup of water and place the fiber in the mixture. Olefin fibers float whereas all others sink.
Polyester: dissolves in boiling di-methylformamide. In case your kitchen cupboard is missing this rarely used, but necessary ingredient, move to the burn test area.
Fiber Burn Testing In using the burn test there are three basic characteristics which must be observed; Flame, Ash, and Odor
FiberFlameAshOdorNylonblue base/orange tipburns evenlyNo smoke/white puffRound beadgray/brown/blackhardCeleryWoolorangesputters outno smokeIrregular, black crumbles to coarse powderBurning hairCotton/Juteorangeburns evenlycontinues to smolderNo smokeIrregular glowing ember, gray/black, crumbles to fine powderBurning PaperOlefinBlue base/orange tipburns evenly and rapidlyno smokeround bead, light tan to brown, hardParaffin or asphaltPolyesterOrangesputterssooty black smokeround, shiny, black, hardSweet fruityRayonOrangerapid burning flameNo ash, no beadBurning paper