What you need to look for to know if the grass is going to last.
Among all the data contained in the data sheet of an artificial turf, there is one that usually goes unnoticed among so much data, but that is of vital importance, since it will significantly influence both the behavior of the turf and its durability. Do you want to know what it is? Keep reading and we’ll tell you.
When we look at the artificial grass, we see that it is made up by a lot of “hairs” that mimic the strands from the natural grass. Each one of those “hairs” is a thread or fiber that has to be lifted again every time we step on it, and that it will be outdoors supporting the cold, rain, heat and, above all, the harmful UV rays of the sun.
To increase the durability of artificial grass in such harsh conditions, the fibers are manufactured with additives that protect them from UV rays, but unfortunately that protection is not eternal, and the fibers will gradually degrade. And this is where the measure that most influences comes in: microns.
As we can see in the image, microns refer to the thickness of the fiber and it’s usually the measure of the thickest part in it. It’s easy to deduce that the higher the number of microns, the better it will stand the test of time, however, it must be taken into account that, as we have said before, this measure is taken from the thickest point and therefore higher is not always better. Let’s see an example:
In the two previous figures we have two examples of fibers as if we were seeing them from above. The first one has a very strong and thick central nerve, with 250µ and wide wings, while the second one has a not so thick central nerve, 200µ, but wider and with narrower and thicker wings. If we only look at microns, the first one would be the best, but if we look at how those microns are distributed, that’s the shape or structure of the fiber, the second example is more balanced.
A simple trick
When it comes to comparing, we don’t always have the technical sheets of artificial grass at hand, and microns is not always given, so there goes the trick to see if a turf has very little microns. You just have to take a fiber and look at it in the light, if it is very transparent, it has very little microns, but if it is not transparent, it has enough. It’s a very simple trick, but it’s quite useful because it allows us to go beyond appearances and see the real quality of the thread.
