Artificial Grass

How is Artificial Grass Made?

 Synthetic Turf leads the turf field in research, development, innovation and experience. You can expect that your synthetic turf project will be done right, and we have the track record and testimonials to prove it. We apply a combination of technological expertise and years of turf installation experience to ensure each project is successful. Not only are we constantly striving to improve, we guarantee that every square inch of turf meets the highest standards.

Artificial Turf Manufacturing Process

The Artificial Grass main structure and components

Artificial grass is a flooring system that is made of synthetic fibers, tufting cloth, and latex backing. Its main feature is to replicate natural grass in terms of appearance and function.

1. Artificial Grass Design

Synthetic turf is designed by ILKESPORT engineers considering usage area, function, and performance. Initially, yarn bundle components (straight, curly, fibrillated, thatching yarn, angel hair, the number of filaments), yarn shape (diamond shapeC shapespine shape, etc..), yarn thickness (micron), yarn width (millimeter) and Dtex determined.

Dtex is the weight of yarn with 10.000mt length. Afterward, the gauge is arranged considering the required horizontal density. Gauge is mainly the distance between tufting machine needles. The gauge can be 5/32(3,9mm), 3/16(4,7mm), 5/16(7.9mm), 3/8(9mm), 5/8(15mm), and 3/4(19mm). Vertical density is measured with “Stitches per 10cm”. It starts from 10 up to 50 stitches in a decimeter.

2. Blending granules

There are 2 main ingredients of synthetic fibers. The first one is plastic granules which can be made of Polyethylene, Polypropylene, or Nylon. This is a quite similar chemical to bottles we use in daily life. The second one is chemical granules that bring green color which mimics natural grass and UV protection chemicals that helps to gain durability to fading from UV rays of the sun. These two granules added in a hopper and mixed with a blender for homogenized content.

3. Melting granules in a steel boiler

Plastic and dye granules are mixed and put into a pressure boiler. The boilers’ duty is to increase and stabilize the temperature to an optimum level to melt down components. Therefore, a thickened liquid is created which is ready for spinning synthetic fiber blades.

4. Extruding the yarns and wounding in spools 

There are holes in a pressured boiler that give the shapes to the synthetic turf filaments. There are various shapes for monofilaments such as Diamond Shape, C Shape, and Spine Shape. After extruding from the pressured boiler, yarns dive into the water in order to cool down and fasten up their shape.

 

They have also been stretched in this process by rollers which helps them to get thinner. The stretching process also provides strength to filaments. When the starching is finished fibers are wounded in spools.

5. Straight Monofilament Yarns

These filaments are straight as they are named. This is the most common yarn type in the artificial grass industry. The structure of yarn changes depending on usage purpose and sports type. Straight monofilament yarns are used in soccer fieldsrugby pitches, and landscape turfs.

6. Curly monofilament fibers

Curly monofilament fibers are shaped in a texturized version so that they can cover the floor in a denser version that will help the ball bounce easily. This type of fibers usually used in golf turfhockey pitch turfsmultisport turfs, and padel field turfs.

7. Fibrillated Yarns

The fibers can also be fibrillated which is a wider single fiber that has been cut into several thinner fibers that are connected to each other. This connection provides durability and volume. On the other side monofilament fibers has a more natural look. This type of yarn can be used in soccer field turfstennis court turfs, and cricket pitch turfs.

8. Thatching Yarns

Thatching yarns are the curly texturized yarns that give artificial turf volume and a natural look. They can be in brown or tanned color which helps to break whole green color that mimics unperfect natural look. Also, the curly structure serves to provide an extra cushion layer under the foot for comfort. Thatching yarns are most commonly used in landscape artificial grass products.

9. Angel Hairs

Angel hairs are microfibers that have been tufted in artificial turf. They are built by several microfilaments that are even difficult to understand thickness with naked eyes. Their duty is to give volume to the base of the artificial turf and help the longer straight filaments to keep vertical. Angel hairs are most commonly used in sports artificial grass products.

10. Twisting yarn bundles

Straight monofilament fibers, curly monofilament fibers, fibrillated yarns, thatching yarns, and angels hairs can be twisted together according to the design of the product. The number of filaments in the yarn multiplied by two to calculate the number of filaments in a stitch bundle. Starting from 4 filaments it can increase up to 20 twisted filaments including thatching yarns. After twisting the yarns rolled in bigger bobbins.

11. Loading the yarn into creels

The number of bobbins required during the tufting process is determined by the distance between needles in the tufting machine. For instance, in a 4mt width tufting machine, if the gauge is determined as 3/16” (0,47cm), number of bobbins required is calculated as “400cm / 0,47cm = 840 bobbins”. All these bobbins are placed in creels and brought to needles in plastic tubes to avoid dust and air friction.

12. Tufting on cloth

There is a tough cloth which is called the primary backing. The needles pierce this primary backing and push the yarn through. A hook catches the loop and seizes the required pile height. This process is simultaneously completed by hundreds of needles in the same row.

The backing moves forward to have a space for the next stitch row and several hundred rows are stitched per minute. At the same time, a knife cut each loop in the middle to create a bundle that replicates the natural grass look. Now the synthetic fibers and primary backing are combined to form an artificial grass carpet.

13. Backing with latex

Synthetic fibers and backing are combined however they can be separated from each other easily without effort. Therefore, a latex layer is applied on the back side to fix these parts together and increase total durability. This latex layer is also called as secondary backing.

Artificial grass carpet is rolled under a dispenser that spreads latex on the back side of the turf. Then both are rolled into a pressured marriage roller that serves them to form a sandwich and seal together.

14. Drying

There are 2 main stages in drying. The carpet initially rolled under an infrared booth that takes the main moisture away and stabilizes the latex. Then secondly it enters in an over which has approximately 50mt length. It is quite important to optimize the temperature in the oven. If the temperature too high the synthetic fibers can be damaged.

On the other side if it is too low the backing cannot be fixed well. After exiting the oven, the carpet rolled in several other rolls to cool down. Also, after production, the rolls are conditioned and laid loosely to stabilize shrinkage or enlargement as well.

15. Perforating

Artificial turf needs perforating holes in order to perform well under the rain. Otherwise, rainwater cannot escape and pools will form on your fields or lawns. So that it is a mandatory step for outdoor use of artificial turf. The carpet is pulled by steel rollers and holes are created by hot nails. Usually, the diameter of holes is 5mm and the distance between holes is 10cm both vertically and horizontally in artificial grass carpet.

16. Quality Control

The product is under quality control starting from raw materials tests to inline production controls. However, we also apply a final %100 final control to make sure that you will receive perfect artificial grass from ILKESPORT. Tuft bind test is applied to measures the force required to pull a tuft from the backing. Also, several durabilities and tear strength tests performed on samples from production.

17. Rolling

The rolling part is under one of the under-estimated processes in the production of artificial turf. The grass has 4mt with and the same amount of tension that should be applied equally in each point of the roll. Otherwise puckering will occur and this might even damage the product during transportation. So, we take care of rolling with ultimate attention as we do in former steps.

18. Packing & Labeling

Since the production is completed, we can pack it in the standards you want us to fulfill. We wrap the rolls in plastic covers with ILKESPORT logo that proves our guarantee on the products. Also labeled the rolls with detailed information. Now they are ready to be shipped to the entire world.

As ILKESPORT we can produce exclusive custom production according to your needs. Please get in touch with us for more information.

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