Customised , high performance Monforts stenters are available as a central feature of the latest drying and coating installations for floor coverings.

“Monforts has produced a number of stenter installations for drying and backing systems for modular carpet tiles, rugs, mats, textiles and other floor covering applications,” said Jürgen Hanel, Head of Monforts Technical Textiles Division.

“The latest Monforts stenter, the Montex 8000 Series, is the most advanced carpet tile pre-coating stenter in the world – it’s a masterpiece.”

Temperature control

With a maximum width of 6.2 m the Series 8000 TwinTherm has a minimum six chambers with 12 burners. “Each chamber has a separate burner for top and bottom to obtain a temperature differential,” Jürgen explained. “The web passing through the chambers are quite different on each side.”

“One side is the surface you normally see and walk on and is a fibre that has a lower melting point. The other side has an adhesive latex that is applied to fix the fibres into a primary cloth. This is the reason for building the oven/dryer chambers with separate temperature control in the top and bottom of each chamber.”

Carpet tiles

“It should be remembered that every structure in the world has to have floor covering and this will not change. The economy may take time to recover but floor coverings will still be in demand. There may well be fewer dealers selling it but there should be a lot of customers,” said Jürgen.

The floor covering industry has gone through significant changes in the past few decades, and Jürgen believes that carpet tiles, also known as modular carpet, have now become the most used floor covering above wood, broadloom and other alternative surfaces in the commercial sector.

The global carpet tile market is now worth an annual $2.7 billion. The USA is currently the biggest market with a 32% share, followed by Japan with 13%.

Expected growth

Modular flooring is particularly popular in US corporate and governmental offices, as well as in institutions such as schools and hospitals, as a result of its durability, along with ease of installation, maintenance and replacement.

While carpet tiles still have well under a 50% market share almost everywhere but Japan, substantial future growth is particularly anticipated in developing economies.

It has been estimated that between 1.6 and 1.8 billion m² of new floor space will be needed each year between now and 2025 to accommodate China’s urban migration. This yearly increase is the size of the current US market. In addition, India is expected to add between 700 and 900 million m² a year.

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