Hybrid grass or reinforced natural grass is a product created by combining natural
lawn grass with reinforcing
synthetic fibres. It is used for stadiums and training pitches used for
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
,
rugby,
and
cricket
Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
. Reinforced natural grass can also be used for events and concerts. The synthetic fibres incorporated into the rootzone make the grass stronger and more resistant to damage.
A first generation of hybrid grass appeared in the 1990s. Grass roots were allowed to intertwine with a mix of soil and synthetic fibres as they grew.
Three main methods exist to insert synthetic fibres in the root zone. The first is to inject fibres in the sand with a
tufting machine.
The second method is to mix fibres,
cork and
sand
Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...
in an automated plant and to install it afterwards on the pitch. The system was created by a laboratory at
Arts et Métiers ParisTech.
The third method is to put a
carpet or mat with woven or tufted fibres on the surface, then to brush in sand or sand mixes to keep the fibres in an upright position and finally to seed grass mixtures on top. The natural grass roots through the mat and stabilizes the system. These systems are called carpet-based hybrid grass solutions.
References
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Artificial turf
Grass field surfaces