HISTORY
The synthetic grass product is born in the '60s in the United States, starting the history of a continuously evolving product, with technical and estethic standards constantly improving and getting closer, step by step, to that ideal that inspired the first tries to substitute them to natural grass playing zones, in order to combine a total availability, in every context and atmospheric condition, to low maintenance costs, to completely satisfactory safety parameters.
First synthetic grass installation is dated to 1966 in the United States inside the Astrodome stadium of Houston, Texas.
The Astrodome was build inside of a domed structure in order to solve the problem of the high temperature and of the insect swarms that were infesting the zone.
The low pile synthetic grass that were installed (whose name ChemGrass were early changed in Astroturf) seemed ideal as the dome prevented a natural grass field from receiving the necessary quantity of sun rays.
In order to see technical improvements important enough to be considered belonging to a "second generation" it will take up to the end of the '70s and the early '80s with the boom of the product in the hockey world tank to the chance of having a considerably flat surface granting an amazing ball.
The product, did not demonstrate to be so valuable as regards other sports as 11 a side soccer and 5 a side soccer, as the sand used as stabilizing infill, with the double function of keeping the turf adherent to the floor and help the fibers to remain straight, resulted to be particularly abrasive and skin unfriendly and the result were the "famous synthetic grass burns".
For this reason, together with an unpredictable ball bouncing and an higher tiredness rate, noticed in the players, in comparison to the activity on a natural field, and the forced use of different shoes, brought to a mistrust climate about the product and pusher the federations to not promote it for official competitions.
All this brought to the necessary research of alternative solutions and to intense research and development studies, culminated during the second half of the '90s with the born of the third generation.
This kind of product, characterized by an increased pile higher then 40 mm and by the use of singularly extruded fibers, is initially produced with polypropylene and then mainly substituted with polyethylene, whom resulted to be slightly less resistant but really softer in case of contact and skin friendly.
Following a further development, the pile height increased again reaching the 60 mm and together with the sand, now silica one, a second infill layer made by rubber granules is combined, a layer thought in order to enhance the performance as it considerably raises the shock absorption and helps the fibers to stay always in a straighter position.
The improvements of the synthetic turf product and of the substructures studies, together with really limited costs and necessary maintenance duties combined with an almost constant playing availability, convinced the National and International organisms, FIFA (Fédération International de Football Association), IRB (International Rugby Board), LND (Lega Nazionale Dilettanti) to reappraise the synthetic option as regards the fields for the games of professional and amateur teams.
As a consequence of the success of the product in the sport area, synthetic grass gained enlarging consents also in the landscaping and decorative sphere, with the usage extended to bar and restaurant's verandas, terraces, pool sides, traffic circles, but also public children playgrounds and private gardens.
Such diffusion is justified by a constantly increasing resemblance of the synthetic products in comparison to the aspect and the tactile feeling characteristic of the natural grass.All this was possible because of the introduction of the use of softer and more resistant yarns and at the same time, less abrasive, and from producers that decided to invest in the research of materials that allow them to increase the standards of comfort that is possible to grant to the customers that embrace this kind of solution.