A CARPET, A CARPET PILE YARN, AND A METHOD FOR PRODUCING THE SAME

1 . A carpet, the carpet comprising a backing and a pile comprising looped or cut tufts of pile yarn attached to and extending from the backing, wherein the pile yarn comprises un-twisted, entangled filaments, the filaments being self-crimped, and optionally textured, multi-component filaments, a first component of the multi-component filament comprising a first thermoplastic polymer and a second component of the multi-component filament comprising a second thermoplastic polymer, wherein the first and the second thermoplastic polymers have different yield behavior, the multi-component filaments thereby being self-crimping.

2 . The carpet according to claim 1 , wherein the first and/or the second thermoplastic polymer is distributed eccentrically over the cross-section of the multi-component filament; and/or wherein the multi-component filament is a bi-component filament; and/or wherein the first and the second thermoplastic polymer have at least one of: different stress relaxation response, different melt flow rate, different elastic rate, and different intrinsic viscosity.

3 . The carpet according to claim 1 , wherein multi-component filaments are bi-component filaments, and/or wherein the first thermoplastic polymer is present in an amount of 5 to 95 wt % in the multi-component filament, and the second thermoplastic polymer is present in an amount of 95 to 5 wt %.

4 . The carpet according to claim 1 , wherein the pile yarn is obtainable by a process comprising the steps of:

extruding at least a first melt comprising the first thermoplastic polymer and a second melt comprising the second thermoplastic polymer into a multitude of multi-component filaments;

drawing and solidifying the multitude of multi-component filaments to provide a multitude of self-crimped multi-component filaments;

optionally texturing and/or stretching the drawn multitude of multi-component filaments; and

collecting the multitude of multi-component filaments entangled as a pile yarn.

5 . (canceled)

6 . The carpet according to claim 1 , wherein the cross-section of the multi-component filament is bi-lobal, tri-lobal or quad-lobal.

7 . The carpet according to claim 6 , wherein the cross-section of the multi-component filament is tri-lobal or quad-lobal, and wherein the sides of the tri-lobal and/or the quad-lobal cross-section are concave.

8 . The carpet according to claim 1 , wherein:

the first thermoplastic polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyethyleneterephthalate (PET), modified PET, polybutyleneterephthalate (PBT), poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT), co-polyesters, polyamides (PA), modified polyamides, co-polyamides, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polylactic acid (PLA), polybutylene succinate (PBS), polyethylene furanoate (PEF), and polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA); and

the second thermoplastic polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyethyleneterephthalate (PET), modified PET, polybutyleneterephthalate (PBT), poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT), co-polyesters, polyamides (PA), modified polyamides, co-polyamides, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polylactic acid (PLA), polybutylene succinate (PBS), polyethylene furanoate (PEF), and polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA).

9 . (canceled)

10 . The carpet according to claim 8 , wherein:

the first thermoplastic polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyethyleneterephthalate (PET), modified PET, polybutyleneterephthalate (PBT); and

the second thermoplastic polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyethyleneterephthalate (PET), modified PET, and polybutyleneterephthalate (PBT).

11 . The carpet according to claim 1 , wherein the difference in intrinsic viscosity between the first thermoplastic polymer and the second thermoplastic polymer is at least 0.01 dl/g, and wherein the difference in intrinsic viscosity between the first thermoplastic polymer and the second thermoplastic polymer is 0.40 dl/g or less, and/or wherein the liner mass density of the yarn is 500 to 5000 dtex, and/or wherein the bulk of the yarn is at least 15%.

12 . The carpet according to claim 1 , wherein

the cross-section of the multi-component filament is bi-lobal, wherein a first lobe comprises the first thermoplastic polymer and the second lobe comprises the second thermoplastic polymer; or

the cross-section of the multi-component filament is tri-lobal, wherein one to two lobes comprises the first thermoplastic polymer and the remaining one to two lobes comprises the second thermoplastic polymer.

13 . (canceled)

14 . (canceled)

15 . A method of producing a carpet comprising a backing and a pile comprising looped or cut tufts of pile yarn attached to and extending from the backing, wherein the pile yarn comprises un-twisted, entangled filaments, wherein the filaments are self-crimped, and optionally textured, multi-component filaments, the method comprising the steps of:

extruding a first melt comprising a first thermoplastic polymer and a second melt comprising a second thermoplastic polymer, wherein the first and the second thermoplastic polymer have different yield behavior, into a multitude of multi-component filaments, a first component of the multi-component filament comprising the first thermoplastic polymer and a second component of the multi-component filament comprising the second thermoplastic polymer;

drawing and solidifying the multi-component filaments to provide a multitude self-crimped multi-component filaments;

optionally texturing and/or stretching the drawn multi-component filaments;

collecting the multitude of multi-component filaments entangled as a pile yarn;

attaching the pile yarn to the backing to provide the backing with tufts of pile yarn extending from the backing; and

optionally cutting the looped piles, whereby providing cut tufts of the pile yarn extending from the backing.

16 - 27 . (canceled)

28 . A pile yarn comprising un-twisted, entangled filaments, the filaments being self-crimped, and optionally textured, multi-component filaments, a first component of the multi-component filaments comprising a first thermoplastic polymer and a second component of the multi-component filaments comprising a second thermoplastic polymer, wherein the first and the second thermoplastic polymers have different yield behavior, the multi-component filaments thereby being self-crimping.

29 . The pile yarn according to claim 28 , wherein the first and/or the second thermoplastic polymer is distributed eccentrically over the cross-section of the multi-component filament; and/or wherein the multi-component filament is a bi-component filament; and/or wherein the first and the second thermoplastic polymer have at least one of: different stress relaxation response, different melt flow rate, different elastic rate, and different intrinsic viscosity.

30 . The pile yarn according to claim 28 , wherein the multi-component filaments are bi-component filaments, and/or wherein the first thermoplastic polymer is present in an amount of 5 to 95 wt % in the multi-component filament, and wherein the second thermoplastic polymer is present in an amount of 95 to 5 wt %.

31 . The pile yarn according to claim 28 , wherein the pile yarn is obtainable by a process comprising the steps of:

extruding at least a first melt comprising the first thermoplastic polymer and a second melt comprising the second thermoplastic polymer into a multitude of multi-component filaments;

drawing and solidifying the multi-component filaments to provide a multitude of self-crimped multi-component filaments;

optionally texturing and/or stretching the drawn multi-component filaments; and

collecting the multitude of multi-component filaments entangled as a pile yarn.

32 . (canceled)

33 . The pile yarn according to claim 28 , wherein the cross-section of the multi-component filament is bi-lobal, tri-lobal or quad-lobal.

34 . The pile yarn according to claim 33 , wherein the cross-section of the multi-component filament is tri-lobal or quad-lobal and wherein the sides of the tri-lobal and/or the quad-lobal cross-section are concave.

35 . The pile yarn according to claim 28 , wherein:

the first thermoplastic polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyethyleneterephthalate (PET), modified PET, polybutyleneterephthalate (PBT), poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT), co-polyesters, polyamides (PA), modified polyamides, co-polyamides, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polylactic acid (PLA), polybutylene succinate (PBS), polyethylene furanoate (PEF), and polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA); and

the second thermoplastic polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyethyleneterephthalate (PET), modified PET, polybutyleneterephthalate (PBT), poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT), co-polyesters, polyamides (PA), modified polyamides, co-polyamides, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polylactic acid (PLA), polybutylene succinate (PBS), polyethylene furanoate (PEF), and polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA).

36 . (canceled)

37 . The pile yarn according to claim 35 , wherein:

the first thermoplastic polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyethyleneterephthalate (PET), modified PET, polybutyleneterephthalate (PBT); and

the second thermoplastic polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyethyleneterephthalate (PET), modified PET, and polybutyleneterephthalate (PBT).

38 . The pile yarn according to claim 28 , wherein the difference in intrinsic viscosity between the first thermoplastic polymer and the second thermoplastic polymer is at least 0.01 dl/g and wherein the difference in intrinsic viscosity between the first thermoplastic polymer and the second thermoplastic polymer is 0.40 dl/g or less, and/or wherein the liner mass density of the yarn is 500 to 5000 dtex, and/or wherein the bulk of the yarn is at least 15%.

39 . The pile yarn according to claim 33 , wherein

the cross-section of the multi-component filament is bi-lobal, wherein a first lobe comprises the first thermoplastic polymer and the second lobe comprises the second thermoplastic polymer and/or the second lobe does not comprise the first thermoplastic polymer; or

the cross-section of the multi-component filament is tri-lobal, wherein one to two lobes comprises the first thermoplastic polymer and the remaining one to two lobes comprises the second thermoplastic polymer.

40 - 54 . (canceled)