Crusade on a long board

 

Stiffness and flexibility is what it ‘s all about with long boards. Typically these boards are made of plywood. According to Smeets, however, composites are a far better material for the boards as they allow for much more fine-tuning of the stiffness. In January, he hopes to defend his thesis for a master’s degree in integrated product design on this topic.

The boards Smeets developed and tested are made of natural fibre composites, consisting mainly of flax and a natural resin. The material is known as NaBaSco (Nature Based Composite).

“With this material I can make customized boards,” says Smeets. “I can make very stiff ones for people who want to ride off mountains or very flexible ones, which is what you would want to have if you ride in the city.”

Smeets, who has a workplace in the former faculty building of mining and petroleum engineering, chose to use this kind of composite instead of the much more common glass fibre composite because, he says, “it is a lighter material, more environmentally friendly to produce and more practical to work with. The glass fibre can cause a lot of skin irritation when handling the material.”

The student works with NPSP composieten, a company based in Haarlem that creates diverse objects from NaBasCo ranging from signposts to train parts. The long board is something completely new. Smeets and his partners hope that this product has ‘a special feel to it’ that will catch the eye and thereby put the material in the spotlight.

And so does Smeets’ supervisor, Dr. Erik Tempelman of the section reliability and durability (IDE faculty). He says he is on a crusade to get more attention from designers and product manufacturers for new lightweight materials.

When it comes to strength, glass fibre has the upper hand against natural fibre composites. But in stiffness they equal each other. “Stiffness is often the limiting factor,” says Tempelman. “If the stiffness is good enough, than strength usually is sufficient too.”

Glass fibre composites have one other huge advantage though. They have been in use since the 1950’s and have grown immensely popular. For any kind of application you can find specially suited resins and fibres, and manufacturers can obtain these in huge quantities.

Natural fibre composites aren’t there yet. There is much less choice in resins and the fibres, such as flax fibres, are mainly developed for the textile industry and are rarely optimized for composite use.

Despite these disadvantages Smeets believes he has a business case with his long boards. He wants to start a company after his graduation to produce and sell the boards.

Tempelman is enthusiastic too. “Nabasco might be better at withstanding shocks than glass fibre composites do,” he says. “A skate board is an ideal object to test this, as it endures a lot of impacts.”