Artificial Turf Stars at the World Cup: The Chinese Materials Technology Behind It

Qatar spent a staggering $220 billion on the most expensive World Cup in history. How extravagant was it? To build a pitch worthy of the World Cup, Qatar brought in a world-famous turf company to specially develop grass varieties suited to planting in that season, and spent billions of dollars on maintenance.

Could there really be a grass so versatile that it stays lush and lovely even after being trampled over and over?

Of course not!Because of the high intensity of football, turf must be resilient, resistant to trampling and easy to maintain. According to reports, no grass has yet been found that can meet the needs of every pitch.Specifically, football turf types differ from region to region, and the same stadium plants different grass species in different seasons.

For this reason, this World Cup spared no expense in selecting a pitch that interweaves drought-resistant warm-season grass suited to desert environments with cold-tolerant ryegrass..To secure the roots and improve the durability of the pitch, the turf for this World Cup had artificial grass fibers inserted into 95% natural grass.As the grass grows, the roots of the natural grass intertwine with the artificial fibers; the natural grass anchored by these artificial fibers ultimately forms a flat, firm and stable sports field.

Hearing this, many people cannot help but wonder:What are artificial grass fibers ("artificial grass" for short)? Why do they have such powerful functions?This all comes down to the highly efficient light stabilizers that we "plastics people" are proud of...

Artificial grass originated in the United States in 1966, initially to solve the problem of natural grass being unable to grow under canopies. It is now mainly divided into two categories: sports turf and leisure turf. The one we will focus on today issports turf, which usually features high abrasion resistance, resilience, aging resistance and durability. It can meet the demands of professional sports and is therefore used in football fields, gateball fields, badminton courts and other sports venues.

As it is used mainly outdoors, the anti-aging problem of artificial grass has always been a top priority. Did you know?The key additive determining the anti-aging performance of grass — hindered amine light stabilizers (HALS) — has been used in artificial grass for more than twenty years.It can shield or absorb the energy of ultraviolet rays, preventing or delaying the photo-aging of polymer materials and greatly extending their service life. It currently plays an indispensable role in long-term outdoor applications such as agricultural plastic films, daylighting materials, building materials, light-resistant coatings, medical plastics and synthetic fibers.

It is understood that 60% of the world's artificial grass is produced in China, and its main components are polyethylene (PE), nylon (PA), polypropylene (PP) and others. Compared with natural grass, these artificial grasses offer advantages such as long service life, lower maintenance cost, the ability to maintain good visual effects over the long term, and water conservation.

Traditional HALS products have made outstanding contributions to the aging resistance of artificial grass. However,with changes in the use environment and usage habits, traditional HALS can no longer fully meet the new requirements of artificial grass.First, global warming is driving ever-higher demands for the thermo-oxidative aging resistance of artificial grass. Second, traditional HALS tends to be strongly alkaline, but during use the grass often comes into contact with acidic substances, such as those contained in infill rubber granules (vulcanizing agents, stearic acid, etc.), acidic bleaching cleaners (such as NaClO), acid rain and brominated flame retardants. In these cases, traditional HALS is consumed by acidic substances, causing its light-stabilizing performance to decline and thereby shortening the service life of artificial grass. 

To break this bottleneck, global light stabilizer companies have alreadycontinued to invest in R&D of acid-resistant hindered amine light stabilizers.