Things like Badminton rackets, Tennis rackets, golf clubs, softball bats and hockey sticks. I know its light and all but what are the other reasons why is it used as a stick to hit objects? Can someone give me a detailed answer? Edit: Is tensile strength an important factor to making these sticks if so why?
In: Engineering
One downside to carbon fiber is that when it fails, it does so catastrophically. Bump into a car with a metal bicycle, and you might bend your frame. Do that with CF, and you probably busted something in two.
Just popping into to say that there are no tennis racquets that use carbon fiber. Graphite is the preferred material
There’s a whip action with carbon fibre golf clubs that increases distance that is helpful when your swing slows down as you get older
Carbon fiber composites are anisotropic meaning they have property that is different when measured in different directions like tensile strength or stiffness or ductility. This is especially important in making the part lighter because you’re only applying material where the forces need to be supported, so there’s no “wasted” space/unnecessary material. As for swinging sticks, it gets incredibly tiresome to swing heavy things repeatedly.
Carbon fiber composites are resistant to corrosion because the carbon-carbon bonds are resistant to oxidation.
Carbon fiber composites are actually susceptible to impact damage. The fracture modes can actually lead to catastrophic failure. In metal materials you will normally see some buckling before failure but in carbon fiber composites it’s more sudden and there’s not a lot of indication.
Carbon Fiber not really economical compared to other materials that have *just slightly worse* performance/physical characteristics, which limits its use in sports.
What we all commonly call “Fiberglass” is a composite of glass fibers and a plastic resin. What we commonly call “Carbon Fiber” is a composite of carbon fibers and a plastic resin. Fibers made of carbon are more expensive than glass fibers…
If you make two rackets, one of fiberglass and one of carbon fiber, you’ll have a great cheap racket and a really great expensive racket. The cheap one is still pretty darn good, but it will weigh a tad more (silicon in glass weighs more than carbon).
That’s mostly what holds-back the proliferation of carbon fiber. As carbon fiber technologies mature their cost will continue to go down and their use will further expand.
TL;DR:
There’s three things you need to know about Carbon Fiber (CF):
1. It’s light, means swing faster, means can hit things with more energy.
2. It’s strong; either in one direction, or many directions. You can tailor the characteristics of the CF in one or more directions depending on the application.
3. It combines with other materials well. Compounded with the custom strength directionality, you can use resins or other materials to take advantage of their elastic, or rebounding properties to get out more energy than you put in. (Look at a [hockey stick flex in slow motion.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsCdywftyok))
Long, maybe an ELIgrade9 or ELIgrade10.
Review: There’s three things you need to know about Carbon Fiber:
1. It’s light.
2. It’s strong; either in one direction, or many directions.
3. It combines with other materials well.
1. Weight plays into a factor when looking at sports sticks that hit things like hockey sticks, badminton rackets, tennis rackets, baseball bats, golf clubs, etc., because the more weight you add, the harder it is to swing the stick. The easier it is to swing this stick, not only is it less effort, but you can also impart more *kinetic energy* into the object you’re hitting with the stick (ball, puck, shuttlecock). The equation for Kinetic Energy is:
`KE = 0.5 * mv2`
Where *m* is the mass of the object, *v* is the velocity of the object that is moving. The important part to focus on is the *v**^(2)* term, which is a product of the *SQUARE* of the velocity of the object. This means the faster you swing, the energy goes up like.. REALLY fast. For example, swinging a 2kg object at different speeds this is what you get:
|Object weight|Velocity|Kinetic Energy|
|:-|:-|:-|
|2kg|1 m/s|1 J|
|2kg|2 m/s|4 J|
|2kg|3 m/s|9 J etc… |
|3kg|1 m/s|1.5 J|
|4kg|1 m/s|2 J|
|5kg|1 m/s|2.5 J|
So as you can see, increasing the speed of the object increased the KE *much* faster than increasing the weight. That’s why head speed in golf is so crucial for maximum distance. (also why the longer clubs go farther, larger arc etc… that’s another ELI5 entirely)
2. Carbon Fiber is actually just that, it’s fibers of Carbon material, literally woven together like your rug, or t-shirt is. It can be woven in many different patterns for different applications. The reason this is important is because the strength is entirely dependant on the *axis* of the weave. If you place all your fibers in one direction ([uniaxial/unidirectional](https://www.speednik.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/08/2015-08-27_22-31-54-640×427.jpg)), you have LOTS of tensile strength (which is where CF gets all its strength) in that one axis, but if you pull it apart in the other direction/axis, the fibers pull apart easily.
If you offset these axis by an angle, now you have [biaxial/bidirectional](https://www.speednik.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/08/2015-08-28_20-47-09.jpg) CF. Now the material is strong in two directions, typically offset 90 degrees from one another. You’ll likely recognize it, as this is the most common “print” you can find on vinyl wraps, hydro dips, or other fake CF prints.
There are more complex weaves (twills) that go into lots of details ripe for PhD research if you’re so inclined. The other cool looking one is “[forged](https://vinzers.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/forged_s9.jpg)” CF, or chopped CF. Unfortunately, it’s not forged in the traditional sense. Oftentimes it’s created purely for an asethetic as the top layer that shows, and doesn’t serve any significant structural purpose (AFAIK) due to the non-continuous fibers. It will also likely have a much worse strength/weight ratio, as pure “forged” CF will have a higher density of resin.
3. CF is oftentimes referred to as a “composite” material, because it is. It is composed of many types of material, for instance you could have a “forged” CF top layer, two layers of uniaxial CF wrap, two more twill layers, and finishing off with two bi-axial, 45-degree offset layers. You’ve just created a composite sandwhich of Carbon fiber layers! However, if you don’t add any bonding agent to this roll of CF, the hockey stick you tried to build will be floppy. You don’t be hittin any dingers, or sniping any pockets with a wet noodle, now would ya bud?
This is where the resin comes into play. It is the bonding agent that gives CF objects the *compressive* strength. It also contributes to the elastic strength a little as well, depending on the selected resin. You can also mix in a few different resins while you build, or *layup,* the carbon object you’re building. The first layer to go down will likely be a UV-resistant overcoat resin that will protect the outside of the part. Next, maybe you’ll use something like a quick-set resin to get that layup a stiffy before you take a break that night. To finish it off, there’s a few tricky bends and bubbles you want to squeeze out so you use a long-set resin to really make sure that the final structure is perfect.
So, as you can see, the CF product of any type is a gentle massage of getting many different materials of various abilities to work together, not just the Carbon Fiber.
My favorite use of CF in my personal life is [my hockey stick](https://www.frontierhockey.com/images/portfolio/f11.1/f11.1-shaft-radius-large.jpg). It’s largely a rectangle with rounded corners and concave long sides, which makes it easy to hold in the hand, very comfortable, and the concave shapes give the shaft a little more stiffness while retaining the ultra-light structure. The best part I can’t find a picture of, but the shaft tapers down to an elliptical near the blade, which isn’t as stiff as the rectangle meaning the stick is very stiff uptop, but soft and playful down low. This complements quick loading for ultra-fast releases on shots, to catch an unsuspecting goaltender off guard. This is the sort of material manipulation you can only get using the miracle that is Carbon Fiber, or VERY expensive processes thinning walls and using generative design + 3D printers and metal.
Hopefully someone enjoyed. I had a great time chatting about this with myself, so thanks for the ELI question!
Chess is a good example where carbon fiber wouldn’t be a great fit. The benefits of using carbon fiber pieces would be to delay arthritis and help reduce repetitive strain injuries. But the cost of producing carbon fiber pieces is more expensive than the wood and plastic currently used. Carbon fiber would only grant a very slight advantage on health, not in the game itself.
Hope this helps.
The real question is, why in the US do we call it sports equipment, but have Sporting Goods stores?
As for weird sports I know carbon fiber is used in both sailing and archery. Both are because of it being lighter but more durable than traditional equipment.
In archery, most higher level competitors have at least one set of indoor arrows and one of outdoor arrows. Like most people my outdoor arrows are really light and skinny carbon fiber composites with short fletchings. These are light enough to make it to the target that is 50 meters away and the extra airtime allows the arrows more time to correct themselves with the help of the vanes.
My indoor arrows are much heavier and thicker aluminum arrows with substantially longer fletchings (4 in feathers compared to 1.5 inch plastic vanes). I can use helical feathers because of the increased drag and spin. This slows the arrows and provides for more corrective stabilization which helps even out mistakes since they are only traveling 18 meters and aren’t in the air as long.
Using the right arrows also helps with tuning. I do not use a sight, so I have to aim using the point of my arrow. If I am outdoors, I typically have to aim at the top of the target to have my arrows go in the middle. If I were to try and use aluminum arrows outside, I would have to aim well over the target and I would not be able to be consistent since there is no reference point that I could use
I think they also also produce better results.
Anecdotally, players who I never thought could shoot well are now getting decent velocity on their shots. Players who can shoot before are now in able to fire howitzers at me.
Source: Am (Hockey) goalie.
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