Monofilament string for use in string racket sports
AssigneeLuxilon Industries NV
InventorThierry BEYLTIENS
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A monofilament string for use in string racket sports, wherein the monofilament string comprises: a covering material; a core material embedded in the covering material, wherein the core material comprises: a sea region comprising a thermoplastic elastomer; and a plurality of island regions comprising a thermoplastic plastic doped with one or more doping agents, wherein the plurality of island regions is embedded in the sea region; and wherein a geometry and/or a distribution of the island regions in the sea region is such that a tangent modulus of a stress-strain curve of the monofilament string increases with increasing strain in a playing stress range.
Claims15
A monofilament string for use in string racket sports, wherein said monofilament string comprises:
- a covering material;
- a core material embedded in said covering material, wherein said core material comprises:
- a sea region comprising a thermoplastic elastomer;
- and
- a plurality of island regions comprising a thermoplastic plastic doped with one or more doping agents, wherein said plurality of island regions is embedded in said sea region;
- and
- wherein a geometry and/or a distribution of said island regions in said sea region is such that a tangent modulus of a stress-strain curve of said monofilament string increases with increasing strain in a playing stress range.
A method for manufacturing a monofilament string for use in string racket sports, said method comprising the steps of:
- providing a covering material;
- providing a core material;
- embedding said core material in said covering material by forming a sea region comprising a thermoplastic elastomer and by embedding a plurality of island regions comprising a thermoplastic plastic doped with one or more doping agents in said sea region, thereby forming a monofilament string matrix, and
- wherein a geometry and/or a distribution of said island regions in said sea region is such that a tangent modulus of a stress-strain curve of said monofilament string increases with increasing strain in a playing stress range;
- extruding said monofilament string matrix;
- cooling said monofilament string matrix;
- subjecting said monofilament string matrix to a process cycle comprising:
- stretching said monofilament string matrix, thereby resulting in a stretched monofilament string matrix;
- annealing said stretched monofilament string matrix;
- thereby forming said monofilament string.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.