Anyone know any methods to make your strings more durable? i'm wondering if you wipe your strings with a moist cloth will it make it less dry making it more prone to snapping. i'm just throwing out weird ideas hehe.
Yeah i have thought about this too but my conclusion is that moisture of string should have little to do with string durability. My reasonings are: Tendency of snapping increases when tension increases Snapping is caused by continuous impact force from shuttle applying to one spot of the string area, thus creating a worn-out patch which gets weaker and weaker until that area of string finally breaks There are natural guts string and synthetic string. I don't know much about natural gut string so I can't comment. But for synthetic strings the synthetic fibre which forms the string surface does not absorb water (I may be wrong though, please correct me if so), so moisture would not have any softening effect making it less easy to snap. The brittleness of the string should be pretty constant. And IF I were wrong, assume moisture does have softening effect making the string less easy to break, moisture would also dampen the repulsion power of the string...
i based my hypothesis on the bg 65 strings i use because they seem to get really "dry" as time goes on and they eventually have tiny fractures around the sweetspot. So i just though this would be an interesting subject to discuss
fair enough... well think of it the other way too, some materials are easier to break with moisture (just an example - paper), so moisture MAY possibly make your string break quicker....??
hmm good point hehe, i hope others can give us some more insight cuz it would definately save me a few bucks on strings !
Property of string vs moisture Summary (please correct me if I am wrong). If string is make of nylon based and with non-water resist coatings and lubrication. than Adding moisture on Nylon will make it more stable, So string will be little bit soft, less brittle and last longer. Reason: It will be long, you can skip. (1) Why only nylon String can made from variaity of material It can be polyamid (nylon) Aramid (Kevlar0 Ployester and peek materal. Moist popular string is Nylon 6, nylon 6/6 nylon 12. the differentiation is the number of carbon atoms between the amid group (2) why moisture make nylon softer and more durable more plasticizer "{Nylons absorb more moisture from the air than most other polymers. This has an effect on processability, dimensional stability and physical properties. Moisture acts as a plasticizer, reducing tensile strength and stiffness and increasing elongation. But, while absorbed moisture reduces many properties, nylon owes part of its toughness to the plasticizing effect of moisture. As moisture content rises, significant increases occur in impact strength and general energy absorbing characteristics. Properly recognized and accounted for, the effect of moisture on the processing and properties of nylon need not be of great concern. " (3) Coating and Lubricant The coatingh is for durability of stringability. Usually the materials are the same as the resins. Finding a coating what will bond with the fibers with mulitple layers etc... Lubricaant are also added to the boating or as outest layer of string ieself. A lubricant serves the same purpose as waxing the string to facilitate weaving and will evaporate quickly to prevent excessive string movement.
[(2) why moisture make nylon softer and more durable more plasticizer "{Nylons absorb more moisture from the air than most other polymers. This has an effect on processability, dimensional stability and physical properties. Moisture acts as a plasticizer, reducing tensile strength and stiffness and increasing elongation. But, while absorbed moisture reduces many properties, nylon owes part of its toughness to the plasticizing effect of moisture. As moisture content rises, significant increases occur in impact strength and general energy absorbing characteristics. Properly recognized and accounted for, the effect of moisture on the processing and properties of nylon need not be of great concern. " (3) Coating and Lubricant The coatingh is for durability of stringability. Usually the materials are the same as the resins. Finding a coating what will bond with the fibers with mulitple layers etc... Lubricaant are also added to the boating or as outest layer of string ieself. A lubricant serves the same purpose as waxing the string to facilitate weaving and will evaporate quickly to prevent excessive string movement.[/QUOTE] For StrikerCase point (2), I would like to add one counter point. Since moisture increase elongation, it also reduce tension too. If that is the case, will you suggest a stringer steam a pack of string before string a racquet? For your point (3), string last longer with ti coating accoring to yy and other string manufactures. However, I think you loss some control on the shot because the lubed string do not bite the shuttle as well as a rough string. I feel is a trade off a player need to consider when he/she choose a string. About natural guts,waxing is good to keep moisture out. Moisture will make a natural gut string swell up and lose tension.
Boil the String? Silentheart I agree with you 100% on (2) that there are trade off between moisture and strength. However, most of string manufacture already try to trap enought moisture inside of string and coating is try to trap the moisture comes out also keep moisture into the strings (shipping in container at sea). However, If we are talking about string have been used for couple of moth, I believe outside coating will be rub off little bit. it do help at limit base. Remember the max the moisture capacity of nylon 6/6 (regular string material, white color) is only about 0.15% - 0.2 %. I do not think boiling will help. For your point (3) comment, Sorry,:crying: I do not have experience on the Ti coating and can not comment on it, "About natural guts,waxing is good to keep moisture out. Moisture will make a natural gut string swell up and lose tension" Yes, agree with you! you are great.
