Nylon Tactesse Carpet

[Dean Riechman]

Does anyone have experience with DuPont Tactesse nylon carpet? Does it wear as well as other nylon? I like the look and feel of it. I think it has some sort of softening process done to it to make it more pliable then other nylon, but I worry that might also effect wear and appearance sooner. I think it does show tracks more than others of the same density, but it's hard to tell from a small sample. The sample I'm looking at is from Shaw Mills, face 51.2 oz; twist 5.5; density 3686; PAR about 3.8; warranty 7 yr stain, 5 yr texture, 10 yr abrasive wear.

Thanks, Dean

[Kyle Boatright]

Dupont's Tactesse has a different fiber cross section which gives the difference in feel. If you like the feel, and the look, buy it. No matter what shape the fiber cross section, it is still Nylon 6.6, and will wear/stain/etc. like any other Dupont Nylon. A 51 ounce product should hold up very well for many years, providing you treat it properly by vacuuming it routinely.

FYI, I'm an engineer at Shaw..

KB

[Dean Riechman]

Thanks, Kyle. That relieves a lot of my concerns. A sales person said it had a "softening process" applied to the fiber which led me to believe that some kind of chemical was used to change the structure of it after it was manufactured. So it just uses a smaller diameter fiber to gain the softness, or maybe an oval rather than round fiber? It seems as though the tactesse carpets generally have a higher density than other types in the same price range. Would that be to compensate for a smaller diameter fiber or is that just a coincidence in the few samples I"ve seen?

Dean

[Kyle Boatright]

If I remember correctly (and it has been a long time since I looked at fibers under a microscope - that isn't what I do...), most nylon has a tri-lobal cross section. Tactesse has a different cross section, though I'm not sure what it is. Also, I'm not "up" on Tactesse enough to know if/why there are any fundamental density differences in products using Tactesse versus nylon using a normal cross section.

KB