CompositesWorld
Issue link: https://cw.epubxp.com/i/576646
OCTOBER 2015 82 CompositesWorld » It has become a familiar scene on Saturday and Sunday afternoons during the American football season: A lightning-fast play, a helmet-to-helmet hit and a player laid out, semi-conscious on the ground. For many years, of course, composites have been incorporated into headgear and helmets used in military, industrial and recreational sports activities, such as those for skiing and whitewater kayaking. Composites also have recently moved into headgear used in wide-participation, mainstream sports: In 2013 Major League Baseball (MLB) and the MLB Players Assn. adopted the Rawlings Sporting Goods Co.'s (St. Louis, MO, US) S100 Pro Comp batting helmet, constructed of aerospace-grade carbon fber composite, as the league standard. Rawlings says the helmet is 300% stifer and 130 times stronger than the conventional ABS helmet it replaced, while providing enhanced protection for ball strikes of up to 100 mph. Yet, despite being a sport that involves physical contact on every play, and despite growing alarm about the frequency and severity of head injuries, American football teams almost exclusively equip their players with a helmet consisting of a polycarbonate (PC) exterior shell with an interior lining of foam padding — a basic design that has gone unchanged for more than 30 years. "Te innovation in football helmet design has basically been with respect to the interior padding and facemask, and very little to the shell," says Elizabeth Cates, VP of R&D; at Innegra Technologies LLC (Greenville, SC, US). By Michael LeGault / Contributing Writer Composites tackle concussions The launch of the frst commercial composite football helmet and new research thrusts show FRPs could play a critical role in mitigating head injuries.