Artificial Surface Contamination Testing

Infill depth (and quantity within the sward) has an effect on surface performance and player safety.  Furthermore, as the depth of infill decreases relative to the fibre length, playing quality will also decrease.  Also, as infill  contamination goes up, filtration rate and pitch drainage goes down. This creates all sorts of playing performance problems, such as surface hardness, ball bounce, traction and ball decelertion.

Contamination in the sand infill from fibre particles, dirt, moss, algae, and suchlike, blocks the pores between the infill grains of sand. This slows the speed at  which water is able to flow through the infill.  Also, by making the pores smaller, the pitch takes longer to dry out because it holds water longer.  This is why it is essential to keep infill clean by regular maintenance.