Sporting Goods
Carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer has found use in sports equipment such as racing bicycles. For the same strength, a carbon fiber frame weighs less than a bicycle tubing of steel, aluminum, or titanium. The choice of carbon-fiber weave can be carefully selected to maximize stiffness and minimize the chance of failure. The variety of shapes it can be built into has further increased stiffness and also allowed aerodynamic considerations into tube profiles. Carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer frames, forks, handlebars, seatposts, and crank arms are becoming more common on medium- and higher-priced bicycles.
While carbon-fiber frames and components can be both lighter and stiffer those made of traditional metals, under some circumstances they have shown significant rates of cracking and failure. This can occur as because of a collision, but if components are overtorqued or improperly installed, cracking and failure can also result. It is possible for broken carbon frames to be repaired, but because of safety concerns it should be done only by professional firms to the highest possible standards.
Other sporting goods applications include rackets, fishing rods, longboards, and rowing shells. The large majority of NHL ice hockey players use carbon-fiber sticks. Modern Pole vaulting poles are made of Carbon-fiber. Amputees athletes like Oscar Pistorius use carbon fiber blades for running.
This material is used when manufacturing squash, tennis and badminton racquets. Carbon-graphite spars are used on the frames of some sport kites and in the manufacture of high quality arrows for archery. Shoe manufacturers use carbon fiber as a shank plate in some basketball sneakers to keep the foot stable. It usually runs the length of the shoe just above the sole and is left exposed in some areas, usually in the arch.
In 2006, a company introduced cricket bats with a thin carbon-fiber layer on the back which were used in competitive matches by high-profile players (e.g. Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey). The carbon fiber was claimed to increase the durability of the bats, however they were banned from all first-class matches by the ICC in 2007.
Read more about this topic: Carbon-fiber-reinforced Polymer
Famous quotes containing the words sporting and/or goods:
“The Boston papers had never told me that there were seals in the harbor. I had always associated these with the Esquimaux and other outlandish people. Yet from the parlor windows all along the coast you may see families of them sporting on the flats. They were as strange to me as the merman would be. Ladies who never walk in the woods, sail over the sea. To go to sea! Why, it is to have the experience of Noah,—to realize the deluge. Every vessel is an ark.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Crowns in my purse I have, and goods at home,
And so am come abroad to see the world.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)