Infill For Artificial Turf System
An artificial turf system includes a turf assembly having a turf backing and stands of artificial grass blades extending from the turf backing to form an artificial turf layer. Infill material is placed in between the blades of artificial grass and on top of the turf backing. The infill material has a composition of sand in an amount within the range of from about 80 to about 98 percent of the infill by dry bulk weight, and organic particles in an amount within the range of from about 2 to about 20 percent of the infill by dry bulk weight.
1 . A method of making an infill material, the method comprising the steps of:
sectioning a disc blank of wood, the disc blank having a cut section plane transverse to a grain structure of the wood, the disc blanks having a moisture content in a range of about 10% to about 50% by weight;
forming wood particles having a particle length dimension oriented generally parallel to the grain structure of the disc blank, the length dimension in a range of about 1 mm to about 10 mm;
controlling a moisture content of the wood particles after the forming step to a range of about 10% to about 40% by weight;
tumbling or abrading the wood particles such that edges of the wood particles are smoothed in comparison to a cut surface from the forming step having a sharp, angular edge form; and
controlling a content of wood particles to a wood bark material to less than about 10 percent by volume of the wood bark material.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein after the step of forming wood particles, a step of controlling the size of the wood particles is conducted with an indent separator, the size of the wood particles having a length dimension in a range of about 1 mm to about 10 mm, the length and one of a width or thickness dimension controlled to an aspect ratio within a range of 1:2 to 10:1.
3 . The method of claim 2 wherein a moisture content of the wood particles is brought to a range of about 10% to about 25% before the step of controlling the size of the wood particles.
4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of controlling a content of wood particles further includes controlling a content of the wood particles to at least about 70 percent having the particle length dimension generally parallel to a grain structure the particle.
5 . The method of claim 2 wherein the step of controlling the size of the wood particles is controlled for a specific athletic activity.
6 . The method of claim 5 wherein the wood particle size is controlled to provide the length in a range of about 3 mm to about 7 mm.
7 . The method of claim 6 wherein the wood particle size is controlled to provide one of the width or thickness in a range between 1.0 mm and 2.0 mm, and the aspect ratio may be in a range of 3:1 to 7:1, wherein the infill material is suitable for a soccer field.
8 . The method of claim 5 wherein the wood particle size is controlled to provide the length in a range from between greater than about 2 mm and less than about 6 mm.
9 . The method of claim 8 wherein the wood particle size is controlled to provide one of the width or thickness in a range between about 1.0 mm and about 2.0 mm, and the aspect ratio may be in a range of about 1:1 to up to 6:1, wherein the infill material is suitable for a gridiron football field.
10 . The method of claim 5 wherein the wood particle size is controlled to provide the length in a range from between greater than about 1 mm and less than about 5 mm.
11 . The method of claim 10 wherein the wood particle size is controlled to provide one of the width or thickness in a range between about 1.0 mm and about 2.0 mm, and the aspect ratio may be in a range of about 1:1 to up to 5:1, wherein the infill material is suitable for a general purpose athletic field.
12 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of tumbling or abrading includes the steps of conveying the wood particles through a drum containing a deburring media comprising at least one of stone, ceramic, or metal shapes that strike the wood particles and configured to flattening out or abrade the wood particle edges.