Softball Bat Rolling How Does it Work
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You just bought a brand new composite bat and are holding it admiringly in your hands. What is is made from and what does composite really mean? Also, why does bat rolling make a composite bat so much better? Can’t they make a composite bat that doesn’t have to be rolled, but rather comes right off the assembly line as good as it will ever be?
Wahat Does Composite Mean?
The actual word composite refers to a substance or product that is made from more than one ingredient. Metal bats are not composite bats, because they are made entirely from metal. Composite bats however; are made from graphite fibers and a polymer that is used to bind the fibers together as one unit in a linear fashion.
Graphite Fibers
A polymer, is a resin or glue that requires that more than one ingredient be mixed together to create a reaction. When a polymer resin and graphite fibers are used to make a composite bat, the results are great, because the fibers are long and strong and everything is solidly bound together tightly by the polimer.
A Solid Finished Product
However; while the manufacturing process for a composite bat works great the composite materials in the finished product are in fact a little too tightly bound. By nature of the materials that are used it is impossible to avoid this during the manufacturing process.
A Much More Even Break in
By rolling the bat repeatedly between to hard rubber wheels, some of the graphite fibers inside of the bat are ever so slightly freed up to become more springier. At the same time the integrity of the outside of the bat is completely unaffected. The result is that the bat will be completely broken in in a much more even and well distributed fashion.
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