Natural grass can be mimicked using artificial fibers on a surface. Sports arenas have traditionally used this synthetic grass for sports that used to or still require a grass-like environment to perform on. Nowadays, these surfaces or not only used for sports leagues but even in residential settings and commercial landscaping.
The main reason why people prefer artificial grass is for its maintenance needs. These surfaces can withstand a lot of pressure and use that comes with playing sports. They also don’t require any irrigation or trimming. Sports stadiums; whether they are domed, covered, or partially covered; use this surface because they usually can’t get enough sunlight to their natural grass grounds. This isn’t to say that artificial grass doesn’t have any downsides, though. The imitation has a limited shelf life, requires specific cleaning, contains petroleum and other toxic chemicals, and there are a few health and safety concerns around it.
The production of the artificial grasses require a mixture of additives like UV stabilizers and coloring agents, and plastic granules. This is all heated and pressed, then pushed through extruder heads under high pressure. The resulting individual fibers are created in a specific size and shape, dependent on the type of extruder head used in the process. Usually, the fibers produced are monofilament or fibrillated.
When making fibrillated fibers, a thin layer of plastic is pushed through the extruder head, which is similar to what you see in a videotape. Then, notches are made in the plastic so that a honeycomb structure can be seen when the film is pulled apart. The plastic is spun around afterwards so it becomes into a round shape. These types of fibers are the more affordable option. However, it does take some time for it to start looking realistic as the notches wear and spread apart. Otherwise, the initial appearance is not natural at all.
Monofilament fibers are more similar to what you see with spaghetti, as they are pressed through extruder heads like ready-to-use fibers. Theses blades are combined into groups and coiled together into a bundle, each one representing a grass pile. This type of fiber is a lot more natural, flexible, soft, and wear resistant.
The ingredient mixture ultimately depends on the supplier and product version, and decides the quality of the resulting product. The individual fibers are then reinforced in to blades. Then, they are made to resist strong wear and temperatures between -50 and 50 Celsius. The finished fibers are wrapped around large bobbins, or spools, and sent to the surface manufacturers.
The spools are put on machines four meters wide, and pushed through backings with needles. This is called tufting, and is quite similar to a standard sewing machine. The fiber, fiber height, needle distance, etc. All determine how the resulting turf surface will look like and how it will be used.
A liquid mixture is added to the backing in order to fix the fibers in. It’s then put into an oven so the mixture can harden. The result is a completely finalized artificial turf that can be installed or sent out for sale.
When you are in need of quality synthetic grass come and see our new homepage right away! Find here all the relevant information and click on http://www.syntheticturfnorthwest.com today.