An artificial turf fiber comprising at least one monofilament, each monofilament comprising a cylindrical core and a cladding. The core comprises a core polymer and threadlike regions formed by a thread polymer and embedded in the core polymer. The cladding is formed by a cladding polymer surrounding the core. It has a non-circular profile and is miscible with the core polymer.

The invention is directed to a synthetic turf yarn, to a method of preparing said synthetic turf yarn, to artificial turf comprising said synthetic turf yarn, and to a method of preparing artificial turf.

The synthetic turf yarn of the invention comprises an aliphatic polyester and a copolyester of butanediol, terephthalic acid and a linear aliphatic dicarboxylic acid selected from the group consisting of succinic acid, adipic acid, and sebacic acid.

An artificial turf system (100) provides an existing artificial turf (102) including a plurality of existing artificial turf fibres (104) and an existing artificial turf backing (106) configured to carry the plurality of existing artificial turf fibres, a new artificial turf comprising a plurality of artificial turf fibres and an artificial turf backing layer, where the artificial turf backing layer comprises a carrier structure (302) configured to carry the plurality of artificial turf fibres, and a geogrid (114) positioned between the existing artificial turf and the backing layer of the new artificial turf.

A method for preparing a simulated lawn is provided, which comprises wiredrawing, coiling, weaving and post-processing raw materials, to obtain a simulated lawn product, wherein the weaving is straight yarn-curled yarn-interlacing weaving, in which one line of curled yarn is weaved between two adjacent straight yarns, and spacing between adjacent straight yarns is to inches and knitting needle number is 150 to 350 needles/meter.

An artificial turf mat includes a woven backing and a number of artificial grass blades connected thereto. The woven backing includes a leno weave of warp and weft threads where at least some of the warp threads and/or some of the weft threads are formed by melting threads. The artificial grass blades are woven into the woven backing. Each melting thread can include a temperature-resistant thread core and a meltable coating surrounding the thread core. A method for manufacturing an artificial turf mat includes weaving a backing and connecting a number of artificial grass blades thereto. The backing is woven by interweaving a number of warp and weft threads by means of leno weaving, at least some of the interwoven threads are formed by melting threads, and artificial grass blades are woven into the woven backing.

A machine for manufacturing artificial turf includes a fiber inserter configured to incorporate artificial turf fiber into an artificial turf backing to form the artificial turf. The artificial turf includes an underside and an artificial turf surface. The machine further includes a coater configured to coat the underside with a colloidal latex coating. The colloidal latex coating has an exposed surface. The machine further includes an applicator configured to wett an exposed surface of the colloidal latex coating with an anti-blistering agent. The machine further includes a heater configured to heat the underside to cure the colloidal latex coating into a solid latex coating.

An underlayment layer is configured to support an artificial turf assembly. The underlayment layer comprises a core with a top side and a bottom side. The top side has a plurality of spaced apart, upwardly oriented projections that define channels suitable for fluid flow along the top side of the core when the underlayment layer is positioned beneath an overlying artificial turf assembly.

The method of manufacturing a textured artificial turf yarn includes providing a monofilament yarn, wherein the monofilament yarn includes a polymer blend of polymers; receiving differential scanning calorimetry, DSC, data of a sample of the polymer blend; determining one or more melting temperatures of the monofilament yarn using the DSC data; and texturing the monofilament yarn within a chosen temperature range using a texturing device to provide a textured artificial turf yarn, wherein the chosen temperature range is selected using the one or more melting temperatures.

Surrogates for roadside objects can be used for vehicle testing. A grass surrogate can be configured to exhibit substantially the same characteristics as natural grass when sensed by one or more vehicle sensors (e.g., cameras, radar sensors, and/or LIDAR sensors). Such surrogates can be used to test autonomous vehicles, one or more vehicle sensors, a vehicle sensor system, and/or one or more vehicle systems (e.g., a road departure mitigation system). The grass surrogate can help a vehicle to identify road boundaries, particularly in portions of a road that do not include lane markings. The grass surrogate can be configured to withstand being driven over by a test vehicle without being damaged and/or without damaging the test vehicle. In some arrangements, the grass surrogate can include artificial grass that is coated with a mixture of high gloss acrylic paint and high reflectance pigments.

Disclosed are methods for making shock absorbing pads utilizing reclaimed artificial turf and reclaimed carpet materials. It is demonstrated that the artificial turf systems comprising inventive pads exhibit improved Head Impact Criteria (HIC) and cradle-to-cradle score.