Three yarn types stand out in carpet, upholstery and home textile production: acrylic, BCF and polyester. All three are worked at coarse counts and ask similar things of the tube — but there are differences between them that affect tube selection.
Acrylic yarn
Acrylic is preferred in carpet and blanket production for its wool-like handle and colour retention. It is spun from staple fibre, which gives it a hairy, bulky surface.
What matters for the tube is that acrylic yarn is light but bulky: it occupies more space at the same weight, and package diameter grows quickly.
BCF yarn
BCF stands for bulk continuous filament. It is produced from synthetic polymers, chiefly polypropylene, gaining bulk through drawing and texturing. It is the most widely used yarn type in machine-made carpet production.
Because it is coarse, winding tension and full package weight are high. The first thing required of the tube is resistance to radial pressure.
Polyester yarn
In carpet and upholstery, polyester is used for its durability and price advantage. It may be filament or staple, which changes winding conditions.
With filament polyester, surface smoothness is more critical; roughness on the tube surface can leave marks in the first layers.
Common dimensions
Values frequently encountered in the industry for carpet and acrylic yarn tubes:
- Inner diameter: 69 mm and 73 mm
- Length: around 290 mm
- Weight: in the 125–210 gram range, to order
The breadth of that weight range is no accident: a tube of the same dimensions is produced with different wall thicknesses according to full package weight and machine speed.
End profile
Carpet tubes may also have curled or cut ends. A curled end prevents coarse yarn from overrunning the end during winding; a cut end is simpler to produce. The choice depends on the machine.
Twisting and heat-setting
Carpet yarn generally passes through twisting and is then heat-set. At these stages the yarn is transferred from one tube to another and the tube may be exposed to heat and moisture.
For tubes that will see heat-setting, dimensional stability takes on added importance. This point depends on your process flow and should be discussed when dimensions are being set.
Stacking
Carpet yarn packages are heavy and are stacked in storage. Tubes in the lower rows are under constant load. When setting wall thickness, not only winding tension but also stacking load must be taken into account.
At Kafkas Masura
We manufacture paperboard tubes for the carpet and knitting industries. Inner diameter, length, wall thickness and end profile are determined together with you, according to your yarn count, winding tension, full package weight and storage conditions.
Contact us to request a sample or to confirm dimensions.