dimanche 10 août 2014

Install Synthetic Grass For An Easier And Natural Look

By Tanisha Berg


Artificial fibers are sometimes used to create a natural looking grass surface. This synthetic grass has most often been used in areas for sports that either traditionally played on grasses, or still currently do. Lately, however, these artificial surfaces have been used for residential homes and commercial landscapes as well.

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.

A thin film of plastic is placed inside through the extruder head when creating fibrillated fibers, similar to that of a videotape. In order to achieve a honeycomb structure when the film is pulled apart, the plastic is pierced in notches, and then spun around until it is round in shape. Fibrillated fibers are great because they are less costly, which is why a lot of sports venues choose to use them. The one downside might be that they aren't realistic looking initially, and it takes quite a while for the notches to spread further apart for the fibers to start looking natural.

On the other hand, monofilament fibers are pushed through extruder heads like ready-to-use fibers, comparable to spaghetti. These fibers are then coiled together into bundles, each one forming a pile of grass. This option looks much more natural than fibrillated fibers. They are flexible, soft, and wear resistance; though this all depends on the shapes, ingredients, and proportions of the fibers themselves.

Suppliers who want a specific end product have the choice to change the ingredient mixtures, but know that the combinations determine the quality of the grass. The individual fibers are afterwards made resistant to fluctuating temperatures between -50 and 50 degrees Celsius. They are also made to resist any wear and pressure they might be met with. The final parts are wrapped around bobbins, or spools and sent to 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.

The backing is able to keep all the blades in place with a liquid mixture that acts as a glue. The turf is then put in the oven to harden. This process finalizes the entire turf, and it can go out for sale or installation.




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