The ability to perform fast cutting manoeuvres is essential in soccer and requires sufficient traction between shoe and surface. Artificial turf (AT) surfaces are widely used in soccer and among others turf moisture and shoe studs can influence traction. The aim of this study was to quantify the influence of moisture (DRY and WET AT), for three realistic shoe stud characteristics sets [Turf Field (TF), Artificial Grass (AG) and Firm Ground (FG)], on cutting performance, executed traction and perception of the players. Twelve experienced soccer players performed 10 × 5 m shuttle run tests. Ground reaction forces of the open stance phase of the 180° turns were measured and required traction was calculated. Players' perception was also measured. A two-way 2×3 analysis of variance (ANOVA) Repeated Measures with Bonferroni correction was conducted. On dry AT no performance differences between the three tested shoe stud characteristics sets could be measured. On wet AT the AG and FG designs performed evenly well but when wearing the TF shoe, equipped with 74 short studs, significant surface x shoe interaction effects indicated decreased performance and traction on the wet surface. The experienced players perceived shoe x surface evoked differences in performance and traction very well
It is known that artificial turf surfaces based on LLDPE monofilaments have the potential to replace natural turf surfaces used for several sport surfaces. Even though the production parameters have a strong influence on the behaviour of monofilaments and indirectly on the final product, the effect of heat treatment at different stages of the production lines is not studied in detail. Therefore, the influence of heat treatment during the production of monofilaments was investigated. This investigation includes a study of the mechanical properties such as tensile testing and bending behaviour and morphological analyses by employing DSC measurements. The results show that the applied heat treatment has a strong influence on the bending behaviour even though the classical studied morphology structures do not show significant changes. Heat treatment influences quite importantly the characteristics of the non-crystalline part of the monofilaments and results in better long-term properties, such as resilience, deformation recovery and fibrillation resistance.
Artificial turf structures are increasingly used in closed areas and have to comply with the European fire standard for building products (EN ISO 13501-1). The main test to evaluate the fire performance of flooring products is the EN ISO 9239-1 radiant panel test. The test principle is to determine the critical heat flux of floorings exposed to a forced ignition and a specific heat flux profile. As large amounts of material are needed to perform the test, the development of a radiant panel test at reduced scale was considered. The experimental design methodology was implemented to mimic the heat flux profile. The fire performance of artificial turf structures was evaluated at both scales and the results were compared. The burnt lengths of the specimens and thus the critical heat flux are similar for both scales. Thus, the downscaled device could advantageously be used for high throughput development of artificial turf structures.
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