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Comparing composites

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Topic: Comparing composites
Posted By: BobPong
Subject: Comparing composites
Date Posted: 03/31/2020 at 2:33pm
I am relatively new to this thing and trying to understand various composite materials in the contect of table tennis blades. Are there any websites that talk about this ?  Looks like ALC is the fad now .

I heard that they used to have just one material such as carbon only or kevlar only but now it is ALC or ZLC etc 

Also what does it mean 15% maximum limit in your blade ?  is it by weight or thickness ? How would an umpire measure it anyway since many players these days use custom made blade ? 




Replies:
Posted By: jpenmaster
Date Posted: 03/31/2020 at 3:27pm
You can use just about any composite out there. They all have different properties. I made some blades recently with Innergra that worked very well. Composites have different weaves 3k is standard and 1k is considered "super".  Textreme is a tow weave. There is also fleece in various thickness. The  percentage is by thickness. Most of your commercially available composite weaves used for making a TT blade are .25mm  so with 2 sides you end up with .5mm +/- .   Personally when I made blades that were past 20% composite they get too stiff and were not very playable.  There is discussion of ITTF allowing 100% composite blades soon . Guessing you would start with a foam core. As for an umpire checking a blade it would be rare unless requested. I actually saw that Killerspin carbon blade at a USATT tournament once. No one really cared. Plus unless you are playing in the open or over 2400 event semi or finals, umpires usually aren't at matches.

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OSP Expert II w DNA Dragon Grip


Posted By: Baal
Date Posted: 03/31/2020 at 3:30pm
ALC blades have been around for nearly 20 years and popular for a good portion of that time.  ALC or ZLC give some extra speed, like carbon always did, but the arylate or zylon woven with the carbon keep it from feeling like you're playing with a piece of glass.  Arylate and zy,on are liquid crystal polymers that absorb some high frequency vibration.  The extra speed of composite layers caused its popularity to really take off after introduction of 40 mm balls,  and even more after 40+ balls in 2015.  Some people who found composites too fast before found them to be just right after the balls got larger.

Arylate or kevlar or zylon by itself is pretty slow but some people like it.  The availability of cloth with carbon and arylate woven together was a big advance for blade designers.


Posted By: TT newbie
Date Posted: 03/31/2020 at 8:35pm
Arylate is what BTY used to call Vectran Fiiber. It has property to absorb impact and reduce vibration.
I tried some pure Arylate blades and didnĀ“t like at all. They all became too slow without the carbon to combine. The only Arylate blade I liked was Moonbean, that was fast but due to the big mass, the blade was around 9mm thick.
Also tried Zylon (Photino), Fiber Glass (Persson Powerfibre) and a lot of pure carbon blades, but imo no material suits best than ALC for table tennis.
Never tested Titanium or Texalium blades.


Posted By: mykonos96
Date Posted: 03/31/2020 at 8:52pm
Originally posted by jpenmaster jpenmaster wrote:

You can use just about any composite out there. They all have different properties. I made some blades recently with Innergra that worked very well. Composites have different weaves 3k is standard and 1k is considered "super".  Textreme is a tow weave. There is also fleece in various thickness. The  percentage is by thickness. Most of your commercially available composite weaves used for making a TT blade are .25mm  so with 2 sides you end up with .5mm +/- .   Personally when I made blades that were past 20% composite they get too stiff and were not very playable.  There is discussion of ITTF allowing 100% composite blades soon . Guessing you would start with a foam core. As for an umpire checking a blade it would be rare unless requested. I actually saw that Killerspin carbon blade at a USATT tournament once. No one really cared. Plus unless you are playing in the open or over 2400 event semi or finals, umpires usually aren't at matches.

wow. 100% composite blade aproved by ITTF? can you show me that discussion?


Posted By: jpenmaster
Date Posted: 04/01/2020 at 10:07am
Back a few years ago there was an ITTF resolution to look at different materials for TT blades. They said nothing could or would take effect till after the Olympics if the ITTF decides(votes) to make a change.

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OSP Expert II w DNA Dragon Grip


Posted By: murrayblhrc
Date Posted: 04/01/2020 at 1:46pm
Blade materials would go 100% composite if not for rule 2.4.2.

Look at every other racket sport.

Tennis, racketball, badminton, squash, but especially Pickleball. Can barely find a modern racket made with wood in these sports.


Posted By: murrayblhrc
Date Posted: 04/01/2020 at 6:24pm
Speaking of which, anyone on this site have a first hand experience using

https://www.killerspin.com/products/stilo7-svr-limited-edition" rel="nofollow - https://www.killerspin.com/products/stilo7-svr-limited-edition

The reviews locally there read as written by fraternity house basement champions... 



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