Nanotechnology in Sports EquipmentTHE GAME CHANGER

BY BÎRLĂDEANU ANDREI& CRĂCIUN ALEXANDRU

Content

• Introduction

• Impact of Nanotechnology on Sporting Equipments

• Is nanotechnology present in today’s sports?

• List of nano-materials

• Conclusion

• Innovations bring a lot of complexities to a sport, but they enhance performance level of athletes and reduce the chances of injuries, making sport more enjoyable both for the spectators and the athletes.The world of competitive sport is highly influenced by even the minute changes in sports equipment, which could be a matter of winning or losing. Recently, the sports equipment industry has run into a sophisticated yet commercially viable hi-tech industry where advances have revolutionized the world of sports.

Introduction

Impact of Nanotechnology on Sporting Equipments

• Nanotechnology, like any other innovative idea has had a remarkable impact on the degree of competitiveness in sports. Regarding the domain of sport equipments, nanotechnology offers a number of advantages and a great potential to make sporting equipments even better making athletes safer and faster than ever before. Some sporting equipments like baseball bats, tennis and badminton racquets, hockey sticks, racing bicycles, golf balls are just a few examples of the performance and durability that nanotechnology brings.

• Carbon nanotubes, silica nanoparticles are one of the many nanoparticles which improve the performance of athletes as well as equipments. All of these materials are responsible for advantages such as strength and stiffness, durability, reduced weight, abrasion resistance etc. These nanometarials make the tools 100 times stronger but 6 times lighter. They are being used to create super strong handlebars for mountain-bikes, durable tennis racquets and ultra-lightweight bicycle frames.

The famous Swiss tennis player, Roger Federer has won a lot of important tournaments throughout his career, including Wimbledon, using nano-enhanced racquets, as they are more stable, stronger and add a lot of power when it comes to ball hitting.

Picture (a) – Roger Federer at WimbledonPicture (b) - Oscar Pereiro Sio at Tour de Romandie 2007

Is nanotechnology present in today’s sports?

• Equipments such as footballs/tennis balls with nano-clay lining as a barrier material uphold pressure for a longer game-play. Incorporation of nanomaterials lightens the golf clubs by lowering the centre of gravity, which increases the power and accuracy during the game-play. Ice-skating has also benefited from nanotechnology: ultra-hard nanoceramics were added to the edges of the skates in order to make them shrper. Also, bionic nanoparticles are used in land speed cars to improve the fuel economy and to offer higher speed.

List of nano-materials and their benefits in different sports

Conclusion

• With advancements in nanotehcnology being more and more present in today’s sports world, there should be a dividing line between athlete’s natural abilities and technology, as the later one can overshadow the natural achievements of an athlete. The competetitions would become unfair unless every participant has access to nanotechnology influenced devices. All technological advances in the sports area should be highly monitored and implemented with great care.