Identify the quality of artificial turf

We must first understand:  the quality of artificial turf is mainly divided into external quality and internal quality. The external quality determines the appearance of the lawn, which can be seen through simple methods such as observation and hand touch; the internal quality determines the life and performance of the lawn. It is difficult to judge with a simple method, and it needs to be detected by professional instruments and methods.

  Before identifying the quality of the lawn, we need to understand the structure, function and material of the lawn. Artificial turf is mainly composed of three parts: grass silk, base fabric, and adhesive . Among them, the external quality is dominated by grass silk, but the internal quality depends largely on the often neglected base fabric and adhesive.
  After the plastic particles are drawn into grass silk, the grass silk needs to be fixed on the base fabric by weaving to become a lawn carpet. The base fabric generally uses high-strength non-woven fabrics, which are also very environmentally friendly. The thickness and strength of the base fabric also have a great impact on the internal quality of the lawn.   Since the non-woven fabric is relatively soft, it is impossible to ensure that the grass can be firmly grasped and the lawn is kept flat, so it is necessary to apply high-strength colloidal materials. The "grass root" that carries the grass silk. The common quality problems of lawn such as silk dropping, de-clustering, wrinkling, bulging, and breaking are all caused by the poor quality of the backing material, resulting in poor strength of the "grass root". We often see that some artificial turf starts to fade and break after a short period of time, and even the grass becomes fly ash directly. The reasons are as follows: the grass raw materials are mainly polyethylene and polypropylene plastic particles, and mineral water bottles , The raw materials of supermarket fresh-keeping bags are the same, very environmentally friendly. Brand turf uses primary granules from large companies such as Sinopec. In order to reduce costs, some cheap turf will add secondary recycled materials during production. become shorter. In addition, in order to improve the various properties of the grass silk, a large amount of additives such as anti-ultraviolet rays, anti-aging agents, and coloring agents must be added to the grass silk. The best of these additives are imported products, which are very expensive, and domestic products are much cheaper. Performance also varies greatly. Add or not? What kind to add? How much? Among them, the cost varies greatly, and the quality varies greatly, which cannot be seen from the samples and appearance.   Here is a voice from the parents of kindergarten children: Kindergarten directors should put quality first when choosing artificial turf, and not just consider the price. The quality of the lawn is particularly important, and the safety of children should be the most important consideration. Low-quality lawns have weak pull-out power, and children can easily eat the pulled-out grass filaments into their mouths. This is the most dangerous situation. There have been real cases. The healthy growth of children is the mission of each of us! So let's popularize the knowledge about artificial turf!

 At present, the most commonly used adhesive material in China is styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), which is more environmentally friendly and basically meets the quality requirements of lawns. At the same time, the cost is relatively low, the technology is simple, and the application is widespread.
 The styrene-butadiene rubber of brand lawns is generally imported from the world-renowned "BASF", and cheap lawns are mostly replaced by cheap domestic products. In recent years, polyurethane (PU), a high-performance adhesive material that has appeared abroad, has excellent performance, but the technical process is difficult and the cost is high. It is rarely used in China. At present, only a few brands of lawns are vigorously promoting it. . When kindergartens purchase lawns, they mostly judge the product quality based on the appearance of the samples combined with the explanations of the sellers. Although it is not accurate, it can still explain certain problems.

Here's how to simply identify the quality of the lawn:
Look at the color of artificial turf grass: a good lawn color is more comfortable visually, not dazzling, and feels closer to the natural lawn; although the color of a bad lawn is sometimes very bright, it feels fake. If even the most basic simulation is not achieved, then the technical level is quite poor, and it must be a small factory. The color of a good lawn is generally simple and generous, with natural luster, and the most common ones are single-color grass and two-color grass; the color of a bad lawn is darker and complex, often called three-color grass or four-color grass. The original plastic particles are white and transparent, while the recycled particles are generally variegated. This variegated color cannot produce grass silk with a simple color sense. It needs to use deep and complex designs to cover up the mottled raw materials, and it is called, Simulation is better.

Look at the shape of the grass: the shape of a good artificial turf grass is similar to that of a real grass blade, and the simulation is very good; the larger the width and thickness of a single grass, the more materials are used, and the relative quality is good; the consistency of the grass is good , it looks smoother and less messy, which means that the forage has good elasticity; the straightness of the grass is good, and it is relatively upright, which means that the grass has high strength and good toughness. Look at the back :

If the back of the lawn is black and looks a bit like linoleum, it is a general-purpose styrene-butadiene adhesive; if it is green and looks like leather, it is a more high-end Pu adhesive. If the base fabric and back glue look thicker, it generally means that there are many materials used and the quality is relatively good. If it looks thin, the quality is relatively poor. If the thickness of the glue on the back is uniform, the color is consistent, and the original color of the grass silk does not leak out, it means that the quality is better; if the thickness is uneven, there is color difference, and the original color of the grass silk leaks out, it means that the quality is relatively poor.
Touching the grass: When most people touch the grass, they should check whether the grass is soft or not, and whether it feels comfortable to the touch. They think that a soft and comfortable lawn is good. But the fact is just the opposite, a soft and comfortable lawn is a poor lawn. You should know that the lawn is stepped on by feet in daily use, and it is rare to directly touch the skin. The hard grass silk is strong and powerful, with greater resilience and toughness. It will not fall down when you step on it. Just break it. It is very easy to make grass silk soft, but it is very difficult to make it straight and elastic. It really requires high technology and high cost.

Grass pulling: The pull-out resistance rate of the lawn is one of the most important technical indicators of the lawn, which can be roughly measured by the method of pulling grass. Clamp a bunch of grass silk with your fingers and pull it out with force. If you can’t pull it out at all, it is generally the best; if you pull it out sporadically, the quality is okay; if you don’t use much force, you can pull out more. Grass silk is basically of poor quality. Pu-backed turf should not be pulled out completely with 80% of the force for adults, but styrene-butadiene can generally fall off a little. This is the most visible quality difference between the two kinds of backing.

Grass wire:

Put the artificial turf flat on the table, press it down with the palm of your hand, if the grass silk can obviously rebound and restore the original after releasing the palm, it means that the grass silk has good elasticity and toughness, the more obvious the better the quality; use heavy objects to weigh the lawn Press for a few days or longer, and then dry it in the sun for two days to observe the ability of the lawn to restore its original appearance.
Tear the bottom back: grab the lawn vertically with both hands, and tear the bottom back as hard as tearing paper. The one that cannot be torn at all is definitely the best; the one that is difficult to tear is better; the one that is easy to tear is definitely not good. Generally, PU adhesive can hardly be torn under the force of 80% of adults; styrene-butadiene adhesive can be torn somewhat, which is also an obvious difference between the two adhesives.

Blistering and sun exposure: Since artificial turf needs to withstand the natural conditions of sun and rain outdoors, we can simulate the test by soaking the lawn in water for a few days or longer, and then exposing it to the sun for a few days to carefully observe the changes in the lawn. The smaller the variation, the better the quality is sure to be. The above simple methods generally can only roughly see some quality performance of artificial turf over a period of time, and cannot fully explain the long-term quality of a lawn. In the absence of special testing conditions from professional testing agencies, the most effective selection method is: choose well-known brand lawns. It is best not to use lawns that are too cheap, or unbranded lawns. Shop around, you get what you pay for is an eternal truth handed down by our ancestors for thousands of years!