STC Member Meeting Tackles Tough Challenges

This year’s Synthetic Turf Council (STC) Fall Member’s Meeting was held Oct. 5-7 in Atlanta, Georgia. The mood was upbeat and the outlook positive, as most producers and suppliers are bullish on the future for synthetic turf.

This was the first STC meeting for incoming president Al Garver. He is just the third president in the STC’s 12-year history. He has served a 32-year military career in the Air Force and National Guard and Reserve, combined with civilian work in high-level strategic planning and communications. He also has championed member-focused advocacy, public policy objectives, and membership programs.

This year’s programming had a heavy focus on environmental and health & safety news. The health & safety message is that the industry is being proactive in providing accurate information on the safety of crumb rubber infill, even with some of the supply now coming from Chinese tires, which are made in a different way.

The meeting’s keynote address was delivered by Dick Vermeil, a Super Bowl championship NFL coach who won the league’s coach of the year award four times. His speech was on common sense principles of leadership. The audience was genuinely engaged with Vermeil and everyone we talked to found him very entertaining. Some of the themes in his speech included perseverance, vision, overcoming adversity and the importance of mentors.

A large number of Americhem customers were in attendance, so we really got to do a lot of networking during the meeting. There was a trade show display area which was well attended. Some of the optimism can be attributed to the fact that municipalities are starting to have some capital free up for sports field and landscape projects. Landscape as a category is growing, especially in Canada, where prevention of natural pests makes turf a winning alternative. One interesting Canadian application is the installation of turf between the lanes of divided highways, an extremely low maintenance alternative. Drought issues in California and the American West present opportunities for turf, particularly in residential and commercial landscaping.

Aside from the health and environmental themes, there were several talks on construction. Many turf fields have failed due to poor installations, so this was an important theme.

Our commercial team found that this STC meeting was a great place to network. It was a great opportunity to meet a lot of different people in a unique setting. There were a large number of senior leadership personnel from member companies and it was great to be able to meet with them, including those we met for the first time. We look forward to the next semi-annual meeting this spring in New Orleans.

Matt Johnson

Segment Director – Carpet & Turf

Americhem, Inc.

 

Bryan Walker

National Account Manager

Americhem, Inc.

Marty Staten

Account Manager

Americhem, Inc.

 

 

 

Synthetic Turf: Is Your Stadium Ready for Next Season?

Is your turf ready for some football? Synthetic turf is a popular choice for sports, with more than 11,000 synthetic turf sports fields currently in use throughout the United States according to the Synthetic Turf Council. But is your turf ready for some football?

Synthetic turf has many advantages, including saving you anywhere from 500,000 to one million gallons of water each year, but you also want your turf to look good in the long run. Americhem has created solutions to help synthetic turf last longer and look better after years of wear and tear.

Effects of Weather on Synthetic Turf

Just like grass, synthetic turf has to deal with the elements. Most turf fields are warranted for between eight and 10 years, but weather and general use can greatly affect the quality of your field and cause your turf to fade prematurely. Weathering factors include:

• Radiant energy from sunlight
• Fluctuating temperatures
• Humidity
• Oxidation
• Rainfall
• Particulate and gaseous contaminants
• Stress

How Americhem Makes Synthetic Turf Last Longer

To improve a product, you need to test it, which is why Americhem has thoroughly tested the impact of the environment on the durability of turf systems. Through our research, we’ve been able to develop custom color masterbatches, with additives that help protect turf against the threat of UV light and oxidation.

Even after coming up with solutions that will offer superior colorfastness, color consistency, and long-term durability, our research isn’t done yet. Americhem’s central analytical department continues to perform tests to continue to improve our synthetic turf solutions.

Improve Your Turf Today

Americhem is more than just a supplier for the turf industry. We partner with you and fully integrate into your processes to help you enhance your existing products and bring them to market faster. Give us a call at 1-800-228-3476 or contact us online today to see the benefits of working with Americhem for yourself.

Material Breakthroughs Lead to Best Performing Turf

The history of synthetic turf dates back to the 1960’s when Monsanto developed what later became known as Astroturf for the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, home of major league baseball's Houston Astros. The advent of domed, indoor stadiums and their inability to support a natural turf playing field soon caused the use of synthetic turf to spread throughout the major leagues and other professional and collegiate athletics. Back then, the turf fields were made from Nylon 6,6, and the filament was unforgiving and rough to players, causing frictional burns from falling and sliding on the surface.

This early turf soon gave way to the second generation of synthetic fields in the 1970s. This time, the material of choice was polypropylene (PP) and it was European companies that brought it to market in 1976. This shift saw the industry going to a longer, tufted filament plus the addition of sand infills, making the material more forgiving to the players.

In the 1990’s and through the present day, most turf fields around the world are made with linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE). The use of this material was a breakthrough, and for more reasons than one. The LLDPE material was much softer and it “gave” better. It also featured greater traction than the previous generations of turf, which was supplemented by the inclusion of infills made of sand and recycled rubber. Most stadiums and fields in the world today use this third generation turf system. (Source)

The move to LLDPE fields was driven by safety of the players. These were not the “rugburn” inducing fields of previous generations, and players groups from all over professional sports supported these third generation fields. Instead of fighting against artificial surfaces, many of today’s players prefer synthetic turf for safety, aesthetics and duration of play on one field.

But what came along with the switch to LLDPE fields was quite surprising, and further supports the use of the material. When subjected to weathering testing, the LLDPE fields were able to hold their color longer - much longer - than the previous two materials (Nylon 6,6 and PP).

FIFA, the international governing body of soccer, recommends 3,000 hours of accelerated weathering testing on turf in a QUV device to determine color hold. At Americhem, we’ve found the LLDPE fields can sustain 6,000, 9,000 and even up to 12,000 hours of xenon arc weathering testing and still retain their desired colors. Certain colors are better than others (reds are notoriously less colorfast, for example) and not all colors can hold up to the 12,000 hours of testing, but Americhem’s weathering studies go far beyond what FIFA recommends because we want to be able to make sound recommendations to our customers.

Americhem has released a synthetic turf color selector guide which contains cardwrapped samples of various colors of turf yarn, including greens and a number of popular logo colors. All of the colors recommended in the book can stand up to at least twice the FIFA mandated accelerated tests of 3,000 hours. It’s also in these longer tests that you can see the difference in failure mechanism between the LLDPE and the previous materials. So the material was developed to make life better for the players and, in the end, it also proved to be the superior material from a standpoint of longevity and reduced color fade.

Americhem has written a white paper on the subject of today’s turf fields and weathering. Please contact Scott Blanchard at sblanchard@americhem.com to receive a copy of the white paper or to receive a copy of our turf color selector guide.

Larry Campbell
Americhem’s resident synthetic turf expert