Hi, Although I myself used many rackets of YEARS, it never dawned on me until recently that a racket could have a 'lifetime'. Even if it doesn't break or anything it loses 'structural integrity' with continued use. How true is this? I recently conversed with a group who was adamant that as we go we cannot keep putting for example 25lbs on the same racket for years and should decrease with time as the racket structure is more 'feeble'. It is an interesting notion, which is not totally devoid of logic but how true is it?
i have about 5 retired rackets but mostly due to breakage... i have never experienced death of a racket due to only prolonged use but it is an interesting concept. many variables are in play (tension, stringer experience, frequency of play and clash and how you use your racket). input from anyone who has more info and experience will be appreciated.
I have been actively playing badminton since 9 yrs old for about 7 yrs before i stopped and then play again 5 yrs ago. During those time i have never experienced anything like racket lifetime expiring. Most of racket i thrown away was due to physical breakage (i broke 3 wilson N series and 1 YY NS9000). Having said that its always on my mind about how long a racket can last, and I also believe carbon racket will die eventually. Most of my rackets are in very good as new condition except for the 3 yonex (NS9900, AT900T and AT800D) which i bought 2nd hand and 1 Apacs which all i use extensively, I really like to test the durability issue on them and find out how long would it last.
I'm not really sure or quite understand what you mean. So i'll just make an assumption here. If my assumption is wrong please don't get mad that i've input the wrong idea. So if you guys talking about the "lifetime" of the racquet, then which means the material might get weaker? True, why? Heat, temperture changes. Hot to cold then hot then cold (leave it in your car) or even anywhere that where the temperture get over 80 to 90 degree and then change it down to 50 to 60 degree. 2nd clash, chips of paint and stuff. that's obviously make the racquet frame weaker. Stringer doesn't dare to string high tension with old racquet because simply they afraid of breaking your racquet.
In fact I am ASKING the question. The logic which I find behind it is that when a racket is used it is always hitting something. Means that the frame is bearing the brunt of the action, meaning that the material of the frame is being 'used'. It's elasticity put to test etc etc etc. So based on this is it true that the frame 'weakens' with use? Most of us probably do not experience this 'old-age' as their racket BREAK simply during a match.
The shaft is prone to fatigue from repeated flexing, while the frame is more likely to suffer impact damage from clashes/mishits/etc - even apparently superficial contact will likely cause some weakening of the frame. If you don't use the racket, it won't deteriorate over time (I guess if it's exposed to extremes of temperature then maybe, but those of us living in the UK can only dream about that). In practice, the racket will usually either suffer catastrophic damage (ie. a major clash) or become obsolete (replaced by a more modern and technologically advanced model) well before any of this is an issue. You're also unlikely to notice any change, because it's a gradual process, and older rackets were generally stiffer to begin with.
I have an old-logo Cab21 with factory strings on it, bought second-hand online. Looks nearly brand-new with no chips or anything, but i can easily warp the frame by putting pressure on it from the sides, although it returns back to shape. Same thing with the shaft, it's super flexible compared to a newer cab21. I'm never going to use this or even get it restrung lol..
Yes this one is flexible alright. I strung one 2 weeks ago at a mere 22lbs and the head part of the frame was moving 'precariously'. But it resumed its shape right after each pull.
If you were to use the same racket extensively (I suppose I'm talking about playing 6+ days a week for at least a few years) and restring it regularly then it would undoubtedly weaken over time. Stringing is probably the biggest stress a racket comes under providing you don't abuse your equipment so restringing regularly at high tensions could weaken the racket head quite a bit if it was done for a long period of time; however I'm not sure how long it would take for this fatigue to become noticeable - probably longer than you'd keep the racket for. Likewise, continually hitting shuttles with the racket would put some stress on the head and more on the shaft. Over time, I would imagine that the shaft would become noticeably more flexible when compared with a brand new racket but I think the change in stiffness would be so slow that you wouldn't notice it happening unless you made a comparison with a much fresher racket. As Sketchy posted, I don't think you'd notice any change over the average lifespan of a racket being as you probably wouldn't use one racket the amount that you'd need to in order to create a noticeable difference. We must remember that the sort of players that play and restring enough to create this kind of fatigue will almost always have more than one racket and will probably use them in rotation. I'd love to do an experiment to chart the effects of use and stringing on rackets but it would be a very long term test and I'm pretty sure that I'd struggle to get by using only one racket.
I probably omitted to mention that I was looking at it from a stringer's point of view. But here I got my answer which as U said logically 'weakens' the racket. As a stringer I get all sorts and the older the racket the more I hv to be careful as the theory seems to stand.
