What makes our Karophite Blade Tours so Special.
Carbon Black technology is not new to tennis. In fact, the process has been around since the 1970's and is claimed to be the primary technology of several tennis companies.
According to Peter Morgan's 2005 work entitled Carbon Fibers and their Composites, in a chapter entitled "The Uses of Carbon Fibers" (Chapter 23),
Dunlop Sports were early leaders in the use of carbon fiber in tennis racquets, using athermoplastic molding compound [164], but this was replaced by carbon fiber prepreg. Latest racquets have advanced considerably in their design and performance and the so called Muscle Weave racquets are made with twisted braided carbon fiber to give a stronger, morepowerful frame and are available in versions for the power hitter with a fast swing speed, theplayer with a slower swing speed and oversize. CAD/CAM programs are now used to designthe products in the UK but the racquets are made in the Far East. A cfrp racquet willmaintain its high performance beyond the endurance life of conventional racquets.Prince, now part of the Benetton Group, has been involved with mass production oftennis racquets in the USA from the early 1970s and has expanded production into Mexico.Prince introduced the oversize racquet in 1976, followed by the longbody version, acquiring Grafalloy and Grafamex in 1983, and expanding into squash racquets in 1987. Versions ofracquets have been introduced utilizing carbon fiber and Ti in their construction.Wilson, in its design of tennis racquet, has introduced models with a Center of Percussion(i.e. a no shock point or, as termed by some manufacturers, the sweet spot) at differentpositions on the racquet head to accommodate the requirements of players.Wilson and Head favour a mixed construction of Ti and carbon fiber for their racquetballracquets.Unfortunately, racquets using carbon fiber in their manufacture have been universallytermed graphite, which is technically incorrect and it is interesting to note that Prince hasintroduced Graphite ExtremeTM branding in 1998 to differentiate between the use of apremium grade of graphite (carbon) fiber, which could well be an intermediate modulusversion.Pro Kennex states that it uses a mix of 70% ultrahigh modulus graphite and 30% fiber-glass in one of their tennis racquets. Badminton racquets are made from 100% carbon fiber.
Additionally, a Carbon Black/ Graphite composite has more of a dampening effect. According to MacGraw Hill's "Handbook of Plastics, Elastomers, and Composites," "Tennis players also experience
less fatigue and pain, because a carbon/graphite composite tennis racquet is lighter and has some inherent vibration damping (p.231). We can immediately see how Wilson's claim to this technology is simply repeating what is known of this type of composite.