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
I remember when they started making bikes out of it the stress machines they’d put them on were mean and they could run for decades without critical damage.
My newest hockey stick is carbon fiber. I think the previous stuck was a fiberglass composite. The new stick is way lighter, but harder to play with due to the being so light
Carbon fiber is EXTREMELY strong and super lightweight. We use carbon fiber handles for the knives we manufacture. After they’ve been machined they’re about 1/8th inch thick and you can’t even bend them. It’s incredible. However when it does break or if you’re sanding down rough edges on carbon fiber it’s basically fiberglass and if it gets in your skin it’s going to itch and burn BAD.
So I own sporting equipment manufacturing company and our high end products are made with carbon fiber.
The primary thing that distinguishes carbon fiber from other fiber reinforced plastics is that carbon fiber is very stiff (and strong). Light and stiff are two properties that are desirable in a wide range of products.
Pessimistic answer: sporting people have money and carbon is great for parting it from them.
Science answer: great stiffness and strength properties. Stiffer stick does what you want, floppy stick does kinda what you want.
An answer that I don’t see others mention but worth noting… Carbon Fiber can be directionally strong.
Carbon Fiber is light, yes. And it’s strong, yes. It’s a weave of strands bound with epoxy. That weave part is important and it means that they can make it stronger/weaker against certain forces depending on how they weave it.
Granted, most consumer equipment probably doesn’t get that much attention along these lines (it might), but in theory at least, they can select weaves strong to select forces but will flex under other forces. For example, the first time i remember hearing about someone doing this was MotoGP motorcycle rear swing arms (again, very much not consumer, but still) since they can keep the swing arm stiff for side-to-side movement but let it flex a bit up and down to help absorb bumps in the road.
The weave aspect of carbon fiber makes it a good choice for a lot of things because you can design in characteristics that can be controlled just by the type and direction of the weave
Lots of these answers use big words…
Carbon fiber is light & strong, yes. That is very good.
But IMO some other big reasons it is used in sports are:
1) Can be economically manufactured into complex curved shapes. It is molded.
2) Has excellent energy return. The fibers are springy.
One sport I haven’t seen is Curling. Carbon Fiber handles have replaced wood and plastic curling brooms to reduce the weight. It allows greater transfer of energy to the ice and is less tiresome during the rigorous sweeping action.
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