The feasibility and properties of wood used as filler in artificial turf to reduce environment pollution

Abstract

To develop an eco-friendly artificial turf filling for replacing rubber elastomer particles, seven kinds of natural materials (cork, soft oak, champagne bark, oak bark, pine bark, willow bark, and vermiculite) were selected and processed into particles with a dimension of 1–2 mm. The water absorption performance, mold resistance, resilience, compression characteristics, and the repose angle were tested, and the surface microscopic morphology of granular materials was observed. The experimental results showed that the champagne bark had the largest plastic deformation range under pressure load, which was 0.21–7.82 KN. And the champagne bark particles had the best resilience, which was respectively 8.9 % and 7.1 % before and after compression, and its angle of repose was 36.8°, which was 9 % higher than that of the thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) particle. Additionally, champagne bark had better mold resistance compared with the other six natural materials, and its mold only occurred in the mold inoculation center. In conclusion, champagne bark could be considered as an artificial turf filling granule to replace TPE rubber.