Hi,

Pardon my lack of knowledge om rackets and all the technologies go into manfacturing a badminton racket.

Could any one can explain how a modern one piece badminton racket is manufacured?
What materials are used and what or where does all these Nano, woven, Titanium etc go into a racket?
What eaxctly do they do or contribute towards the formation of a racket or assist in the play?

What else are there in the market that are not so well known?
Who have the technology or process to manufacture them?

What part is what and how each part or the technology contribute to the development of a good racket?

I am sure some of you knowligible person out there can show us what exactly is a good manufactured racket and which are just marketing jargon.

Thanks

A racquet is composed of 4 parts (I think); the frame, the shaft, the cone, and the grip. Also, there are many shapes to the frame. Yonex has 3 types of them; box, aero, and delta (combination of box and aero). The Armortec serie has a new type of box frame call Armor System. Most of the frames have materials like titanium, graphite, some nanotechnology, and/or other various alloy. The shaft is the middle-stick (LOL) of the racquet. I'm not quite sure about this but the shaft should be a high-modulus graphite tube with some sort of material inside of it. The cone (or cap as some may call it) is the part that connects the shaft and the grip. Yonex has introduced several cone technology like shockless and C.S. cap. But the effect could be lessen the vibration to the player when she or he strikes the shuttle. The last part is the grip, which are mostly composed of wood. I'm not sure what it looks like when it is surgically opened up as I would not dare to open it up.

That's how much I know about racquets. Perhaps some experts may want to clarify this.

Thanks!~

http://shuttle-house.com/page_top_ENGLISH/New_Infomation/Racket_Factory.html

it's in engrish, and quite interesting!

http://shuttle-house.com/page_top_ENGLISH/New_Infomation/Racket_Factory.html

it's in engrish, and quite interesting!

Wow....Talk about workplace safety. None of them had any mask or gears to prevent them from inhaling toxic substances. By the way, what brand of racquet is that... It looks like some sort of run-down factory...

Wow....Talk about workplace safety. None of them had any mask or gears to prevent them from inhaling toxic substances. By the way, what brand of racquet is that... It looks like some sort of run-down factory...

China has no workplace safety at all.

Wow,

Wish the pictures are bigger and can see better.
It seems very labour intensive

Health and safety in a lot of the other part of the work is very far behind.
In undevelop countries or developing countries, it is not so high priory.

eg Health and Safety at work Act 1974(UK) but same(based on 1974 Act)only get introduced in an South East Asian Developed Country in 1994.

Thanks for all the feedback but I hope someone can still enlighten me regarding the materials used etc
Gemcat gave a good attempt & if there are other who like to give there version too, will be great so we can all compare.
Those who are shy to post can perhaps try on paper themselves and check later

Thanks

Hi

If one piece racket, I wonder still make frame and shaft separate and then joint them?

My basic understanding now is that a racket contain:

Grip(wood)
Cap/cone (interface between Grip and shaft)
Shaft
Throat(interface between shaftand frame)
Frame
Holes & grommets (interface between Frame and string)
StringQ1) Grip: is the wood, any type of wood or have to be specific?
Q2) Other than adhesive, how the wood is joint to the cap/cove so well?
Q3) What types of cone/cap are available and what materials is this make off and how it affect play (eg vibration damper???)
Q4) What material is the shaft make off and what technology imput that make shaft Flexing or vibration damping etc

Ther are other questions too, let start with these.

Thanks

Hi

SHAFT:

Most racket listed as:

H.M. Graphite (High Modulus Graphite)
Elastic Ti
Fullerene
Carbon Nanotube GraphiteWhen they manufature the shaft, do they spun around to create the shaft with the mixture of the combine materials or How is the shaft made?

What exactly is H.M Graphite? and what properties it has to be suitable to use on badminton racket?

Hope someone can enlighten me
Thanks

High Modulus Graphite, as the name implies, is a type of graphite which has a very high modulus. When we talk about modulus, we're referring to the Young's Modulus. The higher the modulus, the higher the strength of the material. HMG typically has modulus surpassing quite a few kinds of metals. Comparing the weight to strength ratio, HMG is far superior than steel. This makes it a very desirable material for manufacturing racquets (not only badminton, but tennis, squash and so on)...

High Modulus Graphite, as the name implies, is a type of graphite which has a very high modulus. When we talk about modulus, we're referring to the Young's Modulus. The higher the modulus, the higher the strength of the material. HMG typically has modulus surpassing quite a few kinds of metals. Comparing the weight to strength ratio, HMG is far superior than steel. This makes it a very desirable material for manufacturing racquets (not only badminton, but tennis, squash and so on)...

High modulus graphite has higher tensile strength but lower young's modulus than ultra high modulus graphite. So the higher grade ultra high modulus graphite is not quite as strong as the cheaper high modulus graphite.

The higher the young's modulus the less strong it becomes relative to high modulus garphite.

Hi hellojeffo & taneepak,

Thanks for the info & now this move info technical ground (physics) & interesting too.
It is great but for those who read this thread & do not have the physics background, could you sort of brief it in layman language too.
How is all the HMG or UHMG measure in? IS it gramme per 1000 or what unit?

So in badminton racket SHAFT, which one HMG or UHMG is better?
BETTER also in which sense?

I cut one of my old yonex and found the shaft to be hollow in the middle, presumably, the shaft is make by wrapping this HMG round a rod or something to create a tube?
Does ant of the other materials like Ti or Titanium or Fullerene mixed with the HMG or UHMG or is it a second processs?

Anyone know?
What about the lower end rackets with metal shaft?
I see on another thread there is a guy APACS_UK. since APACS is a UK produced, maybe he can educate us up with details too. Anyone here knows him?

Thanks

Hi

Found this:
http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28295

taneepak back in 2005

so looks like graphite rackets are in high modulus & ultra high modulus
the ultra is stiffer than the High modulus and high modulus is stiffer than the graphite.

presumably stiffer means less flexible so thos goodplayer(pro) who like stiff racket use the ultra high modulus graphite

What di fullerene and titanium do to the shaft or the graphite?

see below:
http://www.ashaway.co.uk/badmintonrackets.htm

What is the 40 tonneultra high modulus means?

The 40-tonne UHMG basically means (i stand corrected though) that a piece of material of a certain dimension can withstand a loading force of 40-tonne before it critically fails.

The above is very ambiguous though. The force could be a point force, or an equally distributed force. And the material to be tested upon must have a fixed dimension for constant testing.

Whatever it is, it just means it's one heck of a strong material!

The 40-tonne UHMG basically means (i stand corrected though) that a piece of material of a certain dimension can withstand a loading force of 40-tonne before it critically fails.

The above is very ambiguous though. The force could be a point force, or an equally distributed force. And the material to be tested upon must have a fixed dimension for constant testing.

Whatever it is, it just means it's one heck of a strong material!

Tensile strength and compressive strength are measured in ksi, where one ksi is one thousand lbs per square inch. So 40 tons is only 88 ksi. There are medium grade carbon graphite, which is a grade lower than high modulus graphite, having a tensile strength of up to 1,000 ksi; and one silly racquet manufacturer actually used this material. BTW this particular 1,000 ksi material is only good for applications in aero space vehicles, satellites, and hydrogen tanks for fuel cells, and have rather low young's modulus for a top grade racquet.

Hi taneepak,

Thanks for the info.

So if a manufacturer quote a 40T HMG, does that mean it is "better" than a 30T HMG or 25T UHMG?

I surpose "Better" need to be clarified but in terms of badminton rackets, how can I interpret these?
Hope you can enlighten me & maybe others who will be looking into ackets sometime in the future.

Thanks

Hi taneepak,

Thanks for the info.

So if a manufacturer quote a 40T HMG, does that mean it is "better" than a 30T HMG or 25T UHMG?

I surpose "Better" need to be clarified but in terms of badminton rackets, how can I interpret these?
Hope you can enlighten me & maybe others who will be looking into ackets sometime in the future.

Thanks

As far as I am concerned it means nothing. Tensile and compressive strength are not my priority. I worship tensile or young's modulus with a reasonable level of tensile and compressive strength. Even then, the frame profile and design are equally important.

Hi Taneepak,

Could you elaborate a little on the reasons behind your preferance?

Maybe an example using a typical popular badminton racket so I can understand better.

I noticed that you mentioned Frame. So the frame & shaft to be considered as one or we are talking purely on the shaft.
I was under the impression that we were talking on the shaft only and that gives the FLEX : Extra Firm, Firm, Medium etc

Hope you will have the patient to educate me

Thanks

Hi Taneepak,

Could you elaborate a little on the reasons behind your preferance?

Maybe an example using a typical popular badminton racket so I can understand better.

I noticed that you mentioned Frame. So the frame & shaft to be considered as one or we are talking purely on the shaft.
I was under the impression that we were talking on the shaft only and that gives the FLEX : Extra Firm, Firm, Medium etc

Hope you will have the patient to educate me

Thanks

This is a very complex subject-the racquet frame which includes the head and shaft. Even the use of the word stiffness has two entirely different meanings, one for the materials used and another one for the flex of the shaft. You can have one racquet with much stiffer materials because it uses better and higher young's modulus materials than another racquet, but yet its flex could be more flexible than the second racquet because it has a longer shaft.
Generally longer shafts are better for singles and shorter shafts for doubles. Shaft length has nothing to do with overall racquet length. Usually longer shafts give more power, AOTBE.
The racquet frame head is even more complex but generally the slimmer the x-section the faster and more whippy the racquet in the direction of the racquet swing, but frame stability and distortion will be potential problem if it is too slim. You can minimize such problems with extremely high young's modulus materials but at a very high cost.

Hi Taneepak,

Thanks, that is well explained.
Let takes an example,
Yonex Carbonex 21 (I think this is an oval shape head & well received)
Q1) What frame head is this?(X section)
Q2) In which categories of of "Slim-nest" this comes into?
Q3) Stability and distortion on this racket overcame?
Q4) Since the Carbonex 21 frame head x section, what other frame head cross section are considered improved (In your opinion, and in whch combination of materials used)
Q5) Shaft: assume that the shaft length is the same what is a good comparison with the Carbonex 21.

Thanks

Hi,

Tannepak had given a great insight into the technologies involve in the frame head and shaft.

What does the technologies involve at the cone and how does it affect the racket or play?
I have not had the opportunity to saw out any racket and see the cone or grip so can't say I know how it is jointed even.
Maybe someone who have a picture can post & let us analyse & discuss?

The "Troat" or "T" is another area which I wouldn't mind learn regarding the technologies involved and the effect on racket and play.

Thank you
Anyone else find this interesting and able to contribute?
Maybe some of the more experience rackets tester/reviewer could give us their view regarding rackets & their suitability too.

Thank you

Hi

Can anyone else help to contribute on this thread?

Thanks

Keep in mind, Graphite is very brittle specially the stiffer it is. That is why in most modern racquets, the shaft is not constructed of pure graphite, and instead as Ultimum TI or Elastic Ti embedded inside, which allows it to flex.
Now the frame, is made out of graphite, and a whole mixture of metals, typically because of weight balance, recoil control and racquet head strength.
The cone is just plastic.

Hi,

I found these on Youtube
Very interesting

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kQAQiQgmU5A

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=meOZtZLYr8o

I wish there are more programme like these to enlighten us on the sports with have so much interest/passion in.

Hope you all enjoy these.

Skanbuzz, this is incredible! I wish there were more programs like these, but it makes me wish that I live in asia, where there are so many more rackets to choose from. HMM on second thought, i don't think I would have the will power to control myself...I'd be broke in a month