Page 536 - 04. Subyek Engineering Materials - Manufacturing, Engineering and Technology SI 6th Edition - Serope Kalpakjian, Stephen Schmid (2009)

5|6 Chapter 19 Plastics and Composite Materials: Forming and Shaping

vibration of the racquet encountered with every piezoelectric material (see Section 3.7); that is, it
stroke, especially when balls are struck away from the produces an electric response when deformed.
sweet spot. Modules of the fibers, called Intellifibersm, are
An innovative tennis-racquet design, the integrated into the throat on all sides of the racket
Protectorm (produced by Head Sport AG) uses lead (i.e., left, right, front, and back). The module consists
zirconate titanate (PZT) fibers as an integral layer of of about 50 PZT fibers (each approximately 0.3 mm in
the composite racquet frames. PZT is well known as a diameter) sandwiched between two polyamide layers

- Intellifibersw'

\ Chipsystemw'
incorporated into handle

_ Racquet head
tube prepreg

(8)

Intellifibersll”
.\_:
\"%\\

Electrical connection
to lntellifibersw

1 Chipsystemm'

(D)
FIGURE I9.30 (a) The composite Head Protectorm racquet immediately after molding;
(b) a completed Head Protectorm racquet, highlighting the incorporation of piezoelectric
Intellifibersm. Source: Courtesy of Head Sport AG.