Mathematical Interpretation of the Compression of Carpets

Abstract

When carpets are subjected to an increasing stress, they are compressed, what brings about typical curves of stress/height of carpet with a swift decrease of the initial height followed by decreasing the curve inclination as far as the minimum height for the definite stress has been reached. This enables the definition of the mathematical dependence of the behaviour of carpet subjected to successive stress. The choice of mathematical equation was confirmed by a trial in which 27 samples of tufted carpets of different construction characteristics were subjected to an increasing stress. It was also found out that only by determining the maximum settling of pile the behaviour curve of the carpet during stress may be defined very accurately.