Development of Environmentally Friendly Protective Mats for Climbing Gyms – Analysis of Traditional Mat Systems and Determination of Their Impact Absorption Capacity

The sport of bouldering is enjoying growing popularity worldwide, not least following its inclusion as an Olympic discipline in climbing. Impact protection mats are among the central pieces of equipment in climbing gyms. When new, these mat systems must have certain damping properties, which are determined in laboratory tests using a free-falling test weight. Experience has shown that the damping properties diminish through use in the climbing hall, so that after a few months to years, replacement by the hall operators is necessary. The aim a current project is to replace petroleum-based foamed plastics as the damping layer of climbing mats. In the first phase of the project, various mat systems available on the market were analyzed in detail and subjected to a standard test to determine the impact absorption capacity. It was shown, that several layups and designs fulfilled the performance criteria in terms of maximum deceleration, relative penetration depth, and coefficient of restitution.