Color Stability Article Number : 2228

Article Detail

Date	8/15/2007 5:52:04 PM
Written By	LGM & Associates Technical Flooring Services
View this article at:	http://www.floorbiz.com/BizResources/NPViewArticle.asp?ArticleID=2228
Abstract	Color is the most important part of a carpet. The consumers quest for finding the right color that works perfectly for them is paramount in making her choice of what to buy. But color can also be compromised and therefore your customer can be disappointed...
Article	Color is the most important part of a carpet. The consumers quest for finding the right color that works perfectly for them is paramount in making her choice of what to buy. But color can also be compromised and therefore your customer can be disappointed. So, you need to know how and why this can happen. Several conditions can affect the carpets failure to perform up to the expectations of the end user. Let’s look at some of the most common color failures to help you understand them. Crocking is color coming off the carpet wet or dry. For example, if a new carpet is installed that’s a very dark color and that color is not “fixed” on the carpet, it can “walk off.” That is, the color can transfer onto other surfaces, such as onto the vinyl flooring, or onto your socks, the dog, the babys pajamas when they crawl or onto the installers knees when he’s putting the carpet in. The color can also come off or run when wet if a volume of water is applied, when cleaned or when a spot is blotted up with a white cloth. This is the result of the dye not exhausting into the fiber when originally dyed. In other words it would be an excess of dye on the carpet. If the color of the carpet comes off onto the vinyl floor for example, the manufacturer of the carpet is responsible for replacing not only the carpet but any other surface or material affected. The carpet can also fade under several conditions. We’ll look at the most common causes of color fading. The sun will fade a carpet if the intensity of it beats down on the carpet for extended periods of time. For example, a red carpet exposed to a southerly exposure of sunlight through a sliding glass door. The constant and daily intrusion of the sun onto the carpet will fade the color. Red is the most adversely affected color under these conditions of Ultraviolet light. Even UV inhibiting glass will allow enough light in to affect the carpet under the most severe conditions. Sheer draperies on a window won’t prevent this from happening. Even if the carpet is beige, with a heavier concentration of red dye in it, there will be fading. The sunlight from this type of exposure will also affect vinyl flooring materials and can actually bake them turning them a brownish color. The more intense the intrusion of the sunlight, the deeper the red color, the more severe the condition will be. Ozone will also affect color and blue is the color most affected. Ozone naturally occurs in the atmosphere. It is most severe in certain geographic locations that are hot and humid like Florida, Southern California or the Texas Panhandle. But ozone also has heavy concentrations in the Great Lakes areas. Anywhere there is heat and high humidity, ozone will be active. We have a map of the US which indicates the heaviest ozone concentration areas. Ozone will fade colors that have a heavier concentration of blue in them by attacking the blue dye. This will leave whatever other color was used to make that particular shade or color. The color left behind will always be lighter. Ozone fading has been called “Gulf Coast Syndrome” because it is more likely to occur in this geographic area but it can occur wherever there is high heat and humidity, especially in summer months. Fume fading is another condition which can fade color from carpet. Nitrogen Oxide is most often present under fume fading conditions. It is present in heating systems or in atmospheric condition as a result of burning fossil fuels or other substances. Fume fading will affect the carpet with an overall reaction. For example, all the exposed areas of the carpet can be faded in a room since this is a gas. Where air can’t go, neither can the fading substance. Another influence on color stability is bleaching. Any oxidizing agent can strip color from a carpet. Bleaching agents could be cleaning agents, personal care products, medications, such as the benzoyl peroxide in acne creams or soaps. This type of color destruction will normally occur in spots and not overall. This is what a stain is, something that destroys the carpets color or adds color to it. These conditions are always caused by someone allowing these types of chemical products to contact the surface of the carpet, knowingly or not. Very often these chemicals will not react immediately. Acne medications with benzoyl peroxide, for example, could remain on the carpet indefinitely without causing any color change. As soon as heat and humidity are introduced to the carpet, in any way by cleaning or in the air, the color can be destroyed in less than a minute. All of these conditions can be tested for prior to a carpet being installed and after the carpet is affected by one of these color changes. There are certain inhibiting agents that can be used in the carpet to prevent or minimize color destruction. But the elements of nature and chemistry are often strong enough to change the color in a carpet. Even solution dyed carpets can be affected. Just look at the orange cones on the highway, some are bright some are faded, that’s the sun and other influences at work. The cones are an example of a “solution” dyed material. Certain fibers are also more susceptible to various color compromising influences. If a fiber dyes easy the color can be compromised easy. Take the time to learn this stuff and you’ll keep yourself and your customer out of trouble, whether in their home or business.