Q. What Makes NORDOT® Synthetic Turf Adhesives Superior?
A. Their High Green Strength (High Grab)
What is Green Strength (Grab/Tack as Opposed to Oily/Slippery)?
This property is the ability to hold two surfaces together when first contacted and before (still green) the adhesive develops its ultimate bonding properties when fully cured. High green strength adhesives are vital in outdoor installation because they help overcome the tendency of surfaces like synthetic turf to separate, curl, bubble, lift, creep, slip and wrinkle during installation without resorting to excessive rolling and/or "sand bagging". Furthermore, the degree of grab can be formulated into the adhesive so that it is strong enough to hold, yet weak enough, if necessary, to permit corrective adjustments and repositioning of the bonded surfaces before the adhesive cures. Note - do not assume that a "paste" adhesive has tack, green strength or grab because grease, mud pies, tooth paste and most paste adhesives are slippery.
Outdoor Installations
There is much more to selecting an outdoor adhesive for installing synthetic turf than its price, strength and ability to stick. By far, the most important property is high green strength (high grab), which in turn, is the major contributor to an outdoor adhesive's installation properties in variable weather. To our knowledge, the only synthetic turf adhesives that have this high grab property are NORDOT® Adhesives.
Handling Properties
It's high green strength adhesives that make outdoor installations practical to do under widely variable weather conditions. It is not only climate but also hourly changes in temperature, wind and other weather conditions that cause installation nightmares with most adhesives. Installers can't wait for ideal weather but instead need an adhesive that can be used when it is hot, cold, damp, dry, windy, high humidity, low humidity, etc. Using high green strength adhesives can cut hours and/or days off of installation time.
An adhesive's high grab is also vital in order to overcome the troublesome forces of "wind lift"; edge curl; creep; wrinkling; surface buoyancy from unexpected rain; expansion and/or contraction due to surface temperature changes from sunlight, shadows, passing clouds, etc.
Time is Money
Using high green strength adhesives for outdoor installations of synthetic turf translates into more hours per day; more days per year; and more installations with less labor. The result is fewer headaches and more profit.
Why NORDOT® Adhesives?
For over one quarter century, NORDOT® High Green Strength Adhesives have been used successfully to install synthetic turf outdoors. To our knowledge, after all that time there are still no other outdoor adhesives that have the high green strength; superior outdoor handling properties and proven long term exterior durability of NORDOT® Adhesives. Perhaps that's why NORDOT® Adhesives are used worldwide more than any other adhesive for the outdoor installation of synthetic turf athletic fields, landscaping, sport and recreational surfaces.
NORDOT® high green strength adhesives pass through five phases of grab after application as shown on the above graph: Phase #1 "Too Soon-Wait"; Phase #2 shows their rapid increase in grab as the solvent evaporates; Phases #3 and #4 show the high green strength "Optimum Bonding Range" and Phase #5 is "Too Late For Bonding" (no adhesive transfer).
