JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #110 - January/February 2017 - 19

The place for new materials

Applications galore
Golf clubs and fishing poles
have long been and continue to
be consumers of carbon composites. Most tennis racquets
(and those for similar sports)
are made of composites, even
the basic models. There are
virtually no more high-range
bicycles made without carbon
fibre. Other applications are
in pole vaulting, surfboarding,
wind surfing, kayaking and
other water sports, archery,
ski, snowboard, all types of
footwear and helmets, target
shooting, roller skating, disabled sports, toboggans, amusement parks, and more. It is
practically impossible to give
an exhaustive list.
The same is true for classical
and contemporary music instruments: violin, cello, bass,
harp, piano, flute, guitar, ukulele, trumpet, and percussion
instruments like claves, congas, drums and drum kits, etc.
Even traditional instruments
with deep cultural roots, like
in Japan with taikos ( Japanese
drums) or the shinobue
( Japanese flute), are now made
of composites due to issues
like weight, cost, and moisture
resistance.
Some recent innovations
The long list of materials,
semi-finished products and

The daCarbo
Trumpet made
by RTM with
Araldite resin

processes that the sports and
leisure sector has recently put
into production includes carbon nanotubes, graphene, flax,
basalt, spread tows, thin ply,
and shallow-angle non crimp
fabric, and the list keeps getting
longer. Even if communicators
do sometimes exaggerate the
real effect of new technological advances, the sports and
leisure sector is still a fantastic
testing laboratory, with standards that are less stringent than
in other sectors and life cycles
for certain materials that are
fairly short. Feedback is fairly
rapid, making it easier to extend use to other sectors.
Below are a few of the many recent noteworthy achievements.
NPTP has recently introduced
a new line of golf-club shafts.
TPT Golf ™ shafts are made using NPTP's ultra-light prepreg
technology with a new manu-

facturing process, proof that it
is still possible to innovate in an
ultra-mature sector.
Dynastar's Mythic 87 range
of skis uses Chomarat's C-Ply
multiaxial carbon reinforcements to procure a ski that is
26% lighter, with equivalent
properties. The use of shallow
angles is perfectly justified for
the structure of a long narrow
object like a ski. A twist/bend
coupling is sought here to subject the resin to less load. This is
contrary to the general view enforced in engineering schools,
but the underlying theory developed by Prof. Stephen W.
Tsai is perfectly adapted here.
For its Avance MIPS racing
ski helmet, helmet manufacturer Giro Sport Design uses
TeXtreme spread tow fabrics
to create stronger, more lightweight protection than is possible with standard textiles. The
helmet also has an interesting
look to it.

The Giro Avance
MIPS reinforced with
spreadtow fabric from
Textreme

No110 January - February 2017

Vittoria has put out an all-carbon bicycle wheel, using a
graphene-filled resin called
Qurano 46 for the rim.
According to the manufacturer, the mechanical properties are 10-30% improved.
The graphene also reduces
the accumulation of heat during braking, and increases the
spoke hole strength and lateral
stiffness.
Music
instruments
haven't been left behind, either.
Blackbird had already innovated with carbon guitars, placing
a head sound port in a hollow
neck. Now it has put out the
El Capitan, a guitar made of
biosourced resin reinforced
with flax fibre and which produces the authentic sound of
old wood, minus the stability
issues that arise in conditions
of humidity and temperature
change.
In Switzerland, Nägeli Swiss
AG worked with project initiator daCarbo AG, Musik
Spiri
(in
Winterthur),
the Rapperswil Technical
University, and also with the
University of Vienna's Musical
Acoustics Institute, to develop
the first CFRP trumpet bell using a Huntsman resin. The new
RTM-moulded carbon design
suppresses vibrations in the
tube that waste energy.
More information:
www.jeccomposites.com

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #110 - January/February 2017