Quite a few BFers are contemplating buying rackets that incorporate nanotubes (Yonex NSs). The process of producing these nanotubes is elaborate and very expensive. On the world market, their is price around US$300 per gram! The average price of a NS7K/8K is US$200. Not knowing how marketing works, I have to make an intelligent estimate as to how much it costs Yonex to produce, for ex. a NS8K. Let us say, US$100. Suppose this amount is used all on nanotubes. It works out to about 333 mg/racket. If the racket weighs 85 grams, 333 mg is just .39% of the total mass. Can we really believe that this minuscule amount is sufficient to make the racket stronger and faster? Just a sobering thought. PS. I hope, I have my calculations right. Cocotte.
Kudos for your research on Nanotube costings. It is true that Nano materials cost alot. However i do believe that Yonex does not use 100% nano materials in their NS series since the nano materials is combine with other materials like ti, graphite etc..How can Yonex make rackets out of Nano materials so cheap? Well that one is yet to find out. And that is also one of the reason that Yonex is always ahead of other competitors in terms of the know how and research. Anyone can hardly copy their technology except for Cosmetics.
Lol, would anyone be willing to pay $22 500 for a full racquet woven from nanotubes, or a 300 dollar nanospeed?
Hi, I also do NOT believe that a Yonex NS racket consists of 100% nanotubes as the majority of the mass is graphite. But this means that the amount of nanotubes/racket is even smaller than 0.39%; not convincing enough IMHO to render the racket lighter and stronger. You did not comment on this part of my article. Are we not just victims of clever marketing by Yonex sales personnel?
Personally i think even with a small percentage of Nanotubes can make alot of difference in terms of the racket performance and duralibility.
Well, did Yonex ever claim that the NS racquets contain 100% nanotubes? Even with its Titanium models, there's never been 100% of the said material. Yet Ti-10 was a high selling top model and still is popular. People don't keep using a model for its material. Racquets do get lighter after every new model, it's a trend that will keep going.
more nano tech coming to u soon Carbon Tube Sheets May Have Many Uses 1 hour, 12 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Transparent sheets made from minute carbon tubes may have uses ranging from artificial muscles to light-producing displays to electronic sensors, according to researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas. The Texas scientists say the newly developed sheets are stronger than steel sheets of the same weight. Commercial applications of the sheets may be possible in a short time, according to Ray H. Baughman, a co-author of a paper reporting the development in Friday's issue of the journal Science. The researchers developed tiny carbon tubes, too small to see with the naked eye, and worked out a system to weave trillions of them into sheets about two inches wide and three feet long. The sheets are stronger than equivalent steel or mylar, can carry electricity and produce polarized light. Potential uses, the researchers said, include space applications such as solar sails, electrodes for light emitting diodes for displays, as solar cells to collect light, as bendable artificial muscles, as sources of polarized light, as antennas embedded in car windows and as electronic sensors. Baughman said other potential uses being explored include structural composites that are strong and tough; batteries, fuel cells and thermal-energy-harvesting cells using nanotube sheet electrodes. The nanotube sheets were developed by the Texas researchers working with researchers at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Australia. The research was funded by the Defense Department's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Texas Advanced Technology Program, Robert A. Welch Foundation and the Strategic Partnership for Research in Nanotechnology. -------------------------------------- I think material design engineer is given a new path of making better (stronger and lighter) rackets.
Hi cooler,will you be so kind to tell me where this news came from, from which website of newspaper?? youngwind.