Artificial turf fiber with LLDPE and LDPE

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11015268-B2
Application number	US-201716085808-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 18, 2017
Priority date	Apr 18, 2016
Publication date	May 25, 2021
Grant date	May 25, 2021

Abstract

A method for manufacturing an artificial turf fiber includes creating a polymer mixture that includes, 60-99% by weight of an LLDPE polymer and 1-15% by weight of an LDPE polymer. The method further includes extruding the polymer mixture into a monofilament; quenching the monofilament; reheating the monofilament; and stretching the reheated monofilament to form the monofilament into the artificial turf fiber.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of manufacturing an artificial turf fiber, the method comprising:
creating a polymer mixture comprising,
a first linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) polymer in an amount of 60-99% by weight of the polymer mixture, the LLDPE polymer having a density in a range of 0.918 g/cm 3 to 0.920 g/cm 3 ;
a second LLDPE polymer in an amount of 7-13% by weight of the polymer mixture, the second LLDPE polymer having a density in a range of 0.914 g/cm 3 to 0.918 g/cm 3 ;
a low-density polyethylene (LDPE) polymer in an amount of 1-15% by weight of the polymer mixture, the LDPE polymer having a density in a range of 0.919 g/cm 3 to 0.921 g/cm 3 ;

extruding the polymer mixture into a monofilament;
quenching the monofilament;
reheating the monofilament;
stretching the reheated monofilament to form the monofilament into the artificial turf fiber.

2. The method of claim 1 , the polymer mixture comprising:
the LDPE polymer in an amount of 5-8% by weight of the polymer mixture,
the first LLDPE polymer in an amount of 60%-95% by weight of the polymer mixture, or
both.

3. The method of claim 1 , the polymer mixture comprising one or more additives selected from a group comprising: a wax, a dulling agent, an ultraviolet (UV) stabilizer, a flame retardant, an anti-oxidant, a pigment, a filling material, or any combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first LLDPE polymer is a polymer created by a polymerization reaction under the presence of a Ziegler-Natta catalyst.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first LLDPE polymer is a polymer created by a polymerization reaction under the presence of a metallocene catalyst.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first LLDPE polymer is a polymer created by copolymerizing ethylene with 5-12% α-olefins having 3-8 carbon atoms.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first LLDPE polymer comprises 0.001-10 tertiary C-atoms per 100 C atoms of the polymer chain.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein manufacturing the artificial turf fiber comprises forming the stretched monofilament into a yarn.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising spinning, twisting, rewinding, and/or bundling the stretched monofilament into the artificial turf fiber.

10. The method of claim 1 , the polymer mixture being at least a two-phase system, a first one of the phases comprising a first dye and the components of the polymer mixture, the second phase comprising a second dye and an additional polymer that is immiscible with the first phase, the second dye having a different color than the first dye, the additional polymer forming polymer beads within the first phase.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the additional polymer is a polar polymer and/or is any one of the following: polyamide, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT).

12. An artificial turf fiber manufactured according to the method of claim 1 .

13. A method of manufacturing an artificial turf, comprising:
manufacturing the artificial turf fiber according to the method of claim 1 ; and
incorporating the artificial turf fiber into an artificial turf backing.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein incorporating the artificial turf fiber into the artificial turf backing comprises: tufting the artificial turf fiber into the artificial turf backing and binding the artificial turf fibers to the artificial turf backing; or weaving the artificial turf fiber into the artificial turf backing.

15. An artificial turf manufactured according to the method of claim 13 .

16. An artificial turf fiber comprising:
60-99% by weight of a first linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) polymer the LLDPE polymer having a density in a range of 0.918 g/cm 3 to 0.920 g/cm 3 ;
7-13% by weight a second LLDPE polymer, the second LLDPE polymer having a density in a range of 0.914 g/cm 3 to 0.918 g/cm; and
1-15% by weight of a low-density polyethylene (LDPE) polymer, the LDPE polymer having a density in a range of 0.919 g/cm 3 to 0.921 g/cm 3 .

17. An artificial turf comprising an artificial turf textile backing and the artificial turf fiber according to claim 16 , the artificial turf fiber being incorporated into the artificial turf backing.

18. The artificial turf of claim 17 , wherein the monofilament is an extruded and stretched monofilament.

Assignees

• Polytex Sportbelage Produktions Gmbh

Inventors

• Sick Stephan
• Sander Dirk
• Jansen Bernd

Classifications

• Y10T428/23993

  Composition of pile or adhesive · CPC title

• D01F6/46 Primary

  of polyolefins · CPC title

• D01F8/06

  with at least one polyolefin as constituent · CPC title

• D10B2321/021

  polyethylene · CPC title

• E01C13/08

  Surfaces simulating grass {; Grass-grown sports grounds (grass-like surfaces for skiing E01C13/12)} · CPC title