The day before yesterday, in the final of the freestyle ski women's big jump at the Beijing Winter Olympics, China's Gu Ailing broke through the limit and reversed the opponent with high difficult moves, and finally won the third gold of the Winter Olympics with a score of 188.25 points for the Chinese team, which was very exciting.
Gu Ailing, who is only 19 years old, set a record and refreshed our cognition again. Swiss ski brand FACT has customized its "dragon among men" skis, adding a strong Chinese style to the champions.
For athletes, having good skis is one of the important guarantees for good results. So, what kind of evolution has the material of skis undergone? What are the mysterious structures of modern snowboarding? What else can abandoned skis be used for? Today, let's follow the small editor to understand the mystery of snowboarding
First, the origin of skiing is in China
In 2005, a Xinjiang farmer discovered a cave on ski petroglyphs in Dundebulak, in Xinjiang's Altay region, which archaeologists speculate is a remnant of the late Paleolithic period from 10,000 to 30,000 BC, predates northern Europe.
After continuous discussion and research by Altay and China's multidisciplinary team of experts and experts outside the United Nations, after four major discussion meetings, the Altay Declaration and the 2015 Altay Declaration were issued in 2006 and 2015 respectively.
The Altay Declaration declares that "human skiing originated from the Altay region of Xinjiang, China", and the release of the 2015 Altay Declaration marks the international recognition of Xinjiang Altay as the earliest origin of human skiing.
Second, the knowledge of skis
Snowboarding is generally divided into alpine boards, cross-country biathlon boards, jumping boards, freestyle boards, snowboards and so on. There are three types of snowboards (all-around boards, park boards, and alpine boards), which map several ways of playing and terrain of snowboards (slalom, jumping, U-slot, flat fancy, BOX, RAIL, alpine). The basic parameters of the snowboard are length, width, hardness, plate type, elasticity, effective side length and so on. The technical elements of the snowboard are the core, the bottom of the board, the surface of the board, the blade of the plate and so on.
1. The earliest timber skis
In the early days of skiing, wood was the first choice for snowboarding because of its low density, high strength, a wide variety of shapes, and ease of handling. In order to facilitate people's handling, the skis were thin and long at first, and there was a thick piece of wood at the joint.
In Altaylor, the birthplace of human skiing, fur skis are still used today, and fur skis are now the intangible cultural heritage of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Fur skis are simple to work on, mainly with steps such as wood selection, sawing, pressing, horse skin, nail skin and so on. Skis are made from a single piece of wood. In order to pursue the curvature of the skis, the template should be continuously wet with boiling water when making, and the mold will be put on after the wood is soft to form it. Once the ski is formed, the bottom of the ski is wrapped in fur from the horse's calf. Each process is strictly demanding, and the skis made meet the requirements.
However, the fatal wound of wood is that it is relatively low in the state of susceptibility to moisture deformation and torsion. Therefore, the subsequent skis changed the traditional monolithic wooden structure, mixing structural elements such as plastic board base, steel, edge and aluminum alloy, which greatly increased the strength, elasticity and stability of the board, and the length of the board gradually became shorter.
2. The core material of the ski
The core of cross-country skiing is considered the most important part of skiing, as it is responsible for the intensity and flexibility of skiing. This core, which used to be made of wood, is now built with a variety of materials. With the introduction of metal in cross-country skiing, the material of the skis is now becoming crucial. Ski manufacturers and enthusiasts are divided into two camps, one prefers wood, such as many cross-country snowboard manufacturers still prefer wood as an inner core, and the other faction chooses foam materials, such as XC snowboard manufacturers firmly support foam.
With wood as the core, cross-country skiboard manufacturers need extreme precision while matching the amount, type, style and cut of wood used in each pair of skis. This allows the left and right skis to move in the same way at high speeds. The wood core is made of laminated hardwood strips that extend along the length of the board. Ash willow, beech, poplar and ash trees are the most common woods in skis. However, the wood core is also not completely independent of use, and sometimes foam support is required. This is done to give different areas of the ski different strengths, bends and weights, resulting in different properties and characteristics.
Foam was first introduced as a core material in the 1970s, and some of the wood cores of modern skis are also being replaced by foam cores. The foam-based core makes the ski lighter than comparable products. In addition, the construction of foam-based cross-country skis is relatively easy because it can absorb different vibrations and helps manufacturers design curves. Most foam cores are made of polyurethane, and the core made of honeycomb is lightweight and very strong. Foam cores are easier to control during the manufacturing process and absorb vibrations better than wood. It also has the added bonus of being cheaper than wood. So these cross-country skis end up costing less than skis with wooden cores.
Despite the lightweight advantages of foam, as more materials emerge and are replaced, some manufacturers no longer use foam as the primary material because they worry that the board will soon lose its arch and be a bit soft, and the foam core will sometimes lose its elasticity. The use of a wood core ensures a smooth response and a lively bend from the board. While foams can still appear in some low-stress areas of the core to reduce weight, however, they may have underestimated the invincible evolution of foams.
3. PMI foam: add value for high-performance skis
In professional-grade skateboarding, where foam is under pressure that some manufacturers perceive as marginal, DPS has done the opposite, introducing aerospace-grade foam into the core layer of its new product, the Pagoda Tour series. The foam has incredible strength, energy and lighter weight as well as excellent downhill performance. When sandwiched between two pre-immersed carbon laminates and combined with plenty of paulownia and some ash, the result is that the foam skis are very lightweight, allowing you to be both strong and confident when you descend, but relatively light for a more pleasant ascent.
This aerospace-grade foam is a carefully designed closed-cell rigid polymethacrylimide (PMI) foam. It has impeccable high mechanical properties: it has high specific strength and high specific modulus; its tensile, compressive, bending and shear strength and modulus are far superior to other foam or balsa cores such as PVC, PU, PET, and are isotropic.
PMI foam sandwich composites have a higher strength-to-weight ratio compared to solid composite laminates alone, and when they have to be delivered quickly, this is a huge advantage that PMI foam sandwich panels have over solid composite panels. PMI foam ultimately makes snowboards have to withstand the high dynamic pressure of this top competitive sport.
Many winter sports enthusiasts have rediscovered cross-country skiing, thus driving a new trend in winter sports. Over the years, cross-country skiing has become increasingly popular, especially inspired by the success of Germany's top athletes, Norwegian snowboard manufacturer Madshus has been using Evonik's ROHACELL high-performance PMI rigid foam as an integral part of its ski core.
4. Let the composite materials win-win
While high-performance foams are often very expensive, they have a very unique combination of properties. When combined with wood, the best of both worlds can be achieved: the skis are lightweight, but still retain damping and innovative design, which in turn makes wood core skis popular.
The combination of sandwich design overlays made up of fiber plastic composites and high-performance foams is increasingly important for modern sports equipment. Through heating and pressure applications, high-strength PMI foam can be combined with all conventional plastics to form an extremely durable composite.
Composites with overlays made of materials such as CFRP enable a high-strength, rigid design and extremely low weight. These materials are ideal for lightweight but durable sports equipment such as cross-country skiing and downhill snowboards, racing wheels, rackets, hockey bats, skis and surfboards.
5. Pay attention to the concept of environmental protection
In addition, in order to reduce carbon emissions in the snowboarding process, the addition and composition of bio-based materials and recycled materials is also the key to the ski brand's commitment to sustainability in recent years. For example, THE AGENT 4.0 POW series of skis launched by FACTION is made of bio-based resin, recyclable board material.
Third, about the reuse of skis
Signal
Among the many brands in snowboarding, Signal may not be the most famous one, nor the most popular good wood, but it has gone beyond the commercial brand posture and created unprecedented success under the leadership of the company's founder, Dave Lee. That's the all-in-one Signal home-made video show ETT (Every Third Thursday).
With only 17 employees, Signal, led by Dave Lee, became a mad scientist, burning his brain hole in the factory and finally completing all kinds of snowboards that were difficult to replicate: underwater, made of paper, made of glass, poured with whiskey, converted from old skateboards... There's even an inflatable snowboard! And they can all glide on the snow.
Let the birds of the city have a nest
Danish artist Thomas Dambo recycles woodboards, skis, sofas, lamps, tables and chairs, etc., all hand-cut, stitched and colored to create a colorful bird house. In addition to promoting the concept of environmental protection, it also allows birds flying in the sky to have a place to stay
Creative road signs
In Ohio, USA, a company took the old snowboard that was previously rented out, removed the retainer and removed the front and back cocks and front and rear blades, turning them into street signs. To do this, they first filled the holes in the retainer with epoxy resin and sprayed primer on the skis, then sanded again, spraying the painting using a paint spray gun. They made letters, chests, and symbols out of vinyl. Finally, brush their surfaces with a layer of gloss paint to protect the vinyl and paint on the board surface. ”
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