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.

Artificial grass (100, 200, 320) with good fire-retardant performance including its manufacturing process (300) is disclosed, particularly to be used for indoor applications. The fire retardant, particularly of halogen-based type (311), is incorporated within the artificial fiber filaments (101, 201, 301). The backing (102, 202, 302) onto which the artificial fiber filaments (101, 201, 301) are attached, may also be provided with a fire retardant.

Method of manufacturing an artificial turf includes: creating fluid polyurethane mass, the creation comprising reacting first and second polyols with an isocyanate, the first polyol being a polyether polyol and/or a polyester polyol having at least 2 hydroxyl groups per molecule, the second polyol being polybutadiendiol; the isocyanate comprising isocyanate monomers, isocyanate polymers or isocyanate prepolymers or a mixture thereof, the isocyanate monomers, isocyanate polymers and the isocyanate prepolymers having two or more isocyanate groups per molecule; incorporating an artificial turf fiber into a carrier such that a first portion of the fiber protrudes to the front side of the carrier and that a second portion of the fiber is located at the back side of the carrier; and adding the fluid polyurethane mass on the back side of the carrier; and hardening the fluid polyurethane mass.

Method of manufacturing an artificial turf includes: creating fluid polyurethane mass, the creation comprising reacting first and second polyols with an isocyanate, the first polyol being a polyether polyol and/or a polyester polyol having at least 2 hydroxyl groups per molecule, the second polyol being polybutadiendiol; the isocyanate comprising isocyanate monomers, isocyanate polymers or isocyanate prepolymers or a mixture thereof, the isocyanate monomers, isocyanate polymers and the isocyanate prepolymers having two or more isocyanate groups per molecule; incorporating an artificial turf fiber into a carrier such that a first portion of the fiber protrudes to the front side of the carrier and that a second portion of the fiber is located at the back side of the carrier; and adding the fluid polyurethane mass on the back side of the carrier; and hardening the fluid polyurethane mass.

A synthetic turf (300) includes a plurality of synthetic turf fibers (102) knitted together to form a knitted backing layer (104) of the synthetic turf, and a water permeable polyurethane coat (114) formed on the knitted backing layer.

Pile articles (20,22), especially pile weather stripping, and a method and apparatus (10) for making such articles where the backing (24) and the pile (26) are of unlike material, especially nylon yarn for the pile (26) and polypropylene containing material for the backing (24), wherein prior to the welding of the pile (26) to the backing (24) the pile is first pre- heated using ultrasonic energy to melt the pile in a region (65) thereof where the pile is ultrasonically welded to the backing and before the weld is made. The ultrasonic melting occurs upstream of the location where the pile (26) is welded to the backing (24) so that the ultrasonically pre-heated melted region (65) of the pile (26) can cool and become at least partially solidified. Then pile (26) at the pre-heated melted region (65) is welded to the backing (24) and causes a reactive or chemical weld to occur, thereby attaching the pile (26) to the backing (24).

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.

Pile articles (20,22), especially pile weatherstripping, and a method and apparatus (10) for making such articles where the backing (24) and the pile (26) are of unlike material, especially nylon yarn for the pile (26) and polypropylene containing material for the backing (24), wherein prior to the welding of the pile (26) to the backing (24) the pile is first pre-heated using ultrasonic energy to melt the pile in a region (65) thereof where the pile is ultrasonically welded to the backing and before the weld is made. The ultrasonic melting occurs upstream of the location where the pile (26) is welded to the backing (24) so that the ultrasonically pre-heated melted region (65) of the pile (26) can cool and become at least partially solidified. Then pile (26) at the pre-heated melted region (65) is welded to the backing (24) and causes a reactive or chemical weld to occur, thereby attaching the pile (26) to the backing (24).

An artificial turf filament comprising one or more ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymers having a density of from 0.900 to 0.955 g/cc and a melt index, I2, as measured in accordance with ASTM D1238 (at 190 C. and 2.16 kg), of from 0.1 g/10 min to 20 g/10 min; an ethoxylated alcohol having the formula, R.sub.1(OCH.sub.2CH.sub.2).sub.xOH, where x is an integer from 2 to 10 and R1 is a straight or branched chain alkyl of 20 to 50 carbon atoms; and a functionalized ethylene-based polymer.

The invention provides a novel pile fabric and a method for manufacturing the novel pile fabric. The pile fabric comprises: (i) a woven ground fabric comprising a plurality of warp yarns and a plurality of weft yarns intersecting the plurality of warp yarns, (ii) one or more pile yarns woven to form a plurality of pile loops extending from the ground fabric, wherein (a) at least one pile yarn from among the one or more pile yarns is a multi-ply pile yarn comprising a first pile component yarn plied with a second pile component yarn, and (b) a turns-per-loop ratio of the multi-ply pile yarn is less than 1.9 turns-per-loop.