Identification of Carpet Fiber

Carpet is constructed out of different fibers. It can be either natural or artificial. When you purchase carpet you would like to know the material or the fiber of which it is manufactured. Knowing fiber is essential not only to judge its durability but also for its cleaning and spotting. Different cleaning methods are adopted for different types of fibers. For instance, for olefin fibers,chlorine bleach can be used. However hot iron or carpet protector cannot be used for olefin. Fiber testing is simple and you can do it yourself.

Olefin
If the fiber floats in water, it means it is olefin fiber. No testing kit is required. Its damn simple. Are you ready? Ok, take a glass of water and add little detergent. Hold the fiber under the surface of the water, and squeeze out all the trapped air, and let go. In case the fiber floats, it is olefin. If you want to use chlorine bleach, test the fiber with the same, this is a nylon-olefin blend. When it is put to burn test, it melts and burns. It continues to burn even when it is withdrawn from the flame. The odour is that of a candle wax odor and it produces a tough, tan bead.

Wool
The test of wool is very easy. If it is wet, it smells like a wet dog. There is another test namely the burn test. For this test use a butane lighter to melt or ignite an unknown fiber. This will help you in the determination of its types. Butane lighter avoids masking the odor of the burning fiber. Burned wool smells like burned hair. Moreover wool dissolves in undiluted chlorine bleach.

The testing of chemical fiber is however not easy. Its test requires chemicals like formic acid and hot cresylic acid.

Acrylic
If the fiber is acrylic it will melt and shrink as soon as the flame comes into its proximity. The fiber burns with lot of smoke rapidly with bright, sputtering flame. Even after it has been withdrawn from the flame it continues to burn, melts, and drips. It has an acrid odor and results in a hard, irregular black bead.

Cellulose
Cellulose fibers just like cotton or silk, burns and the ash crumbles

Cotton/Linen:
Cotton or linen burn with the yellow flame as soon as they are ignited. Even when the fibers are pulled out, they continue to burn with a red afterglow upon extinguishing. Cotton or linen fiber smells like burning paper.

Nylon
Nylon burns with a smoky flame it melts and tends to self-extinguish. On burning it smells like celery. The burnt nylon, is a hard, shiny brown or gray bead.

Polyester
Polyester too melts and shrinks from an approaching flame. It burns and melt slowly. Melting takes place in drips. While burning it smells sweet and produces a hard, shiny black or brown bead.

Protein
Protein fibers, burns easily and their ash crumbles - as do cellulose fibers such as cotton.

Rayon
Rayon burns rapidly with a blue flame. It continues to burn rapidly with a red afterglow when the flame is extinguished. Rayon smells like burning paper, leaves a gray to charcoal color light feathery ash.

Silk
When the flame approaches, silk curls away. It burns slowly and sputters. Weighted silk glows red. Out of the flame, it is self-extinguishing or may burn very slowly and smells like singed hair. Its residue is round, shiny black beads, easily crushed. Weighted silk has the skeleton of the original fiber.

Fiber Identification Chart

Fiber	Flame	Odor	Ash/Residue
Cotton/jute	orange ember	buming paper	ash
rayon	orange	buming paper	no ash or bead
wool	orange/sputters	buming hair	black ash/crumbles
silk	orange	buming hair	black beads/crushes
nylon	blue base/orange tip	plastic/celery	round, black bead
olefin/polypropylene	blue base/orange tip	asphalt	round, gray to brown bead
polyester	orange sputters black	sweet/fruity	round, shiny, black bead
acrylic	white/orange/sputters	acrid,bumt meat	black crust can be crushed