Consumer Recreation
Understanding Thermoset and Thermoplastics
We all react to heat differently, which is a simple description of the distinction between thermoset and thermoplastics—they behave differently when heat is applied to it. The chemical properties of thermoset become permanently strengthened when exposed to heat. Once thermoset plastics are altered by exposure to heat, they cannot be remolded. Thermoplastics, on the other Read More…
Benefits of Using Composites for Canadian-Made Hockey Sticks
Composite hockey sticks have taken over the hockey stick industry throughout Canada and beyond. Benefits of composite materials for Canadian-manufactured composite hockey sticks Composite materials were first used to make hockey sticks in 1999. Since then, composite hockey sticks manufactured in Canada have been a mainstay of professional hockey leagues around the world, including the Read More…
New Technology Integrating Composites in Sports & Rec
Steve Ehlers is the vice president of golf club innovation and development at Callaway Golf in Carlsbad, Calif. Ehlers has over 30 years working with composites, 20 of them in the aerospace industry working with large structures such as spacecrafts and helicopters. In 1997, he moved into consumer products and was interested in the new Read More…
Sports and Recreation Composites
Golf clubs, tennis rackets, hockey sticks and bicycles benefit from the high strength and light weight qualities of composites — particularly carbon fiber composites. Filament winding is the dominant manufacturing process in this market. Read more: http://www.compositesworld.com/zones/sports-and-recreation-composites
Composites in Sports and Recreation
Composites are found in products used in 7 of the 10 most popular outdoor sports and recreational activities. Glass- and carbon-reinforced composites (alone or in hybrids with other fibers) continue to replace wood and metal in fishing rods, tennis racquets, spars/shafts for kayak paddles, windsurfing masts and boards, hockey sticks, kites and bicycle handlebars, as Read More…
Carbon Bicycle Recycling Pioneer Predicts Robust Market for Repurposed Materials
Recycling carbon fiber may be complicated but Trek Bicycle decided that keeping this valuable material out of landfills was the right thing to do regardless. This past spring the company, which designs and manufactures bicycles, launched an ambitious full-scale carbon fiber recycling program at its Waterloo, Wis.-based manufacturing facility. Trek’s proprietary OCLV (optimum compaction, low Read More…
