Hi,
Encapsulation is just the way the product dries. So it could be extraction or bonnet cleaning. When used with a bonnet, the bonnet helps remove the soil providing the chemistry worked and the encap deals with what is left behind. If the cleaner isn't much good or weak and does not remove much soil then it will make it harder on the encap polymers.
This may help a bit.
Understanding Encapsulation Function - Encapsulation 101
Detergent molecules in water will form micelles that rapidly emulsify oily phase soils and suspend the often times oil covered particulate soils in the cleaning solution. You can read more about micelles further down in this article. This chemistry is designed to lower the surface tension of the water rapidly and efficiently so that the cleaning phase happens faster. Once the soils are emulsified and suspended they can easy be removed using an absorbent pad and or left in place to be removed by future routine vacuuming.
As the polymer's residual chemistry dries, the suspended and emulsified soils along with the detergent molecules become locked inside of our unique polymeric structure. Think of the shell on an M & M. The action of the chemistry plus the scrubbing of the pad and or bonnet breaks the soils in sometimes-smaller particles and separates the soils or foreign substances from the fiber giving you the instant clean look while suspending them in our encapsulating polymer. Once the detergent along with the soils are locked in our polymeric structure the detergent molecules “quit” cleaning, preventing rapid resoiling.
The polymeric structure is a relatively brittle film that will not allow the residual soils to reattach to the fiber surface due to their hardness and low surface tension. This is what also eliminates wicking in most situations. Some polymers dry to a brittle film and others use a more durable hard film that will not instantly sheer or break off like other formulas. Others may fall somewhere between crystal and film forming polymers. All while allowing residual soils and the polymeric encapsulant to be removed by routine vacuuming.
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Encapsulating detergents initially adheres to the carpet with the polymer, but under stress or external forces such as vacuuming, foot traffic, and or fiber flexing encapsulating polymers will break away or shatter allowing the encapsulated soil to be removed. I feel that if the encap would just fall off and self shatter that it may also release the soil back into the carpet. Remember we want the encapsulated soil to stay encapsulated.
Carpets will appear to get even cleaner over the first few cycles of vacuuming as the residual soil is released and more light can penetrate the fiber surface. A very thin layer of the polymeric material should be left behind on the fiber surface and will continue to protect the fiber long after the initial cleaning and over many cycles of further routine vacuuming. When the thin nearly monolayer film is finally removed over time the carpet will begin to re soil at the same rate as if it had never been cleaned. Another feature to look for is a chemistry that will “rewet” and allow itself to be wet cleaned away during subsequent cleanings preventing any buildup of the chemistry.
Micelle
A micelle is an aggregate of surfactant molecules dispersed in a liquid colloid. A typical micelle in an aqueous solution forms an aggregate with the hydrophilic “head” regions in contact with the surrounding solvent, sequestering the hydrophobic tail regions in the micelle center. The shape and size of the micelle is a function of the molecular geometry of its surfactant molecules and the solution conditions such as surfactant concentration, temperature, ph and ionic strength.
Application
When surfactants are present above the CMC critical micelle concentration they can act as emulsifiers that will solubilize a compound normally insoluble in the solution being used. This occurs because the insoluble species can be incorporated into the micelle core, which is itself solubilized in the bulk solution by virtue of the head group’s favorable interactions with the solutions species. The most common example of this phenomenon is detergents, which clean poorly soluble hydrophobic material such as oil, grease or dirt that cannot be cleaned by water alone. Detergents also help clean by lowering the surface tension of water making it easier to remove dirt from the fibers surface. The emulsifying ability of surfactants is also the basis for emulsion polymerization. Encapsulation is an excellent advancement in the carpet cleaning industry with a wide avenue of uses from cylindrical brush, bonnet, op and Cimex type machines and even extraction and high productivity low moistures machines like the Carpet Max. Encapsulation allows you to use your favorite equipment and benefit from its superior cleaning chemistry and properties.
