what is this gallium/electra you speak of?

[mattman]

So I frequently see ski companies list there base material as sintered, but it has to be 4000 Gallium or 4000 Electra or even (if you're lucky) Electra Gallium 4000! So the 4000 seems pretty obvious (4000 series - from Durasurf if sintered, from Iso if extruded/unspecified). Now what does the electra or gallium refer to? I dont think I have ever seen these phrases on any suppliers' sites. Is either referring to Durajet? I hope everyone else is similarly perplexed, because this would be on the first page of the book "101 Things you Wanted to Know About Ski Building but were too Afraid to Ask"

[MontuckyMadman]

who and where do you see this listed like this? Links? My guess is if you ordered a couple miles of material from any of these guys you could call it whatever you want.

[mattman]

The first examples I can think of:

-Wagner: World Cup Base (Ptex 4000 Electra high-carbon base)
*its different than their Durajet option, so I guess that guess is out...

-Nordica Dobermanns: sintered graphite Electra Gallium

-Ridea: P-tex 4000 Gallium electra

thats just 3 of the first 5 I checked...but I promise if you flip through any Buyer's Guide you'll find plenty of others.

[More]

The use of Gallium is patented, so you can read all about it:

A synthetic resin composition having particles of metallic gallium or gallium alloy dispersed uniformly in a synthetic resin is particularly useful for the production of a surfacing material for a glider on snow or ice. This is because when a molten paraffin wax is applied to such surfacing material, part of the wax penetrates into the sheet to form a gallium-paraffin mixture on the surface of gallium particles and at lower snow or ice temperatures, the gallium particles expand, and as the result of their expansion, gallium particles are held strongly enough on the gliding surface of ski to maintain good water-repelling and glide characteristics over a prolonged period without allowing the gallium-paraffin mixture to come off the ski.; The composition is also useful for many other similar uses such as a plastic gear, a constructional material, a marine structural material and the like because of its excellent glide, water-repelling and wear resisting properties, which can be retained for a prolonged period.

http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicat ... cale=en_EP

as for Electra, near as I can tell from a googling is it appears to be a brand name for sintered UHMW-PE with graphite added.

Electra base is a sintered p-tex to which 15% carbon black and graphite (or a similar metallic substance) have been added to increase electrical and thermal conductivity. The frictional heat that develops (especially at higher speeds) is dissipated better along the entire ski or snowboard base due to this thermal conductivity...it helps reduce the water film that can otherwise build up and create suction and drag. The improved electrical conductivity helps reduce static electricity build-up that attracts and holds dirt and pollutants on the base, also creating more drag.



The addition of graphite has been shown in tests to reduce friction and increase glide on snow by 20% or more over clear (non-graphite) p-tex bases in cold dry snow (under -13°F or -25°C), and by 15 to 20% more in warmer snow (over 23°F or -5°C) when humidity is 40% or above.

The drawback of Electra bases, however, is less water repellancy and both impact and abrasion resistance than that offered by clear sintered p-tex.

Electra-spec, double-sint, and triple-sint bases are a blend of clear sintered, colored sintered, and/or electra p-tex mixed together and reheated. While the cosmetic impact of these exotic recipes may be impressive, there is no performance advantage over standard sintered p-tex bases.

from http://www.tognar.com/base_repairs_tips ... board.html

[mattman]

Very good find on the description...so what supplier makes gallium base?

[SHIF]

You can buy the gallium ski base here:
http://snowboardmaterials.com/pages/base.htm

Looks to be the sintered base with galluim infused.


-S

[mattman]

So is this an isosport product? I've never come across "gallium" on isosport's site. Perhaps I'll have to ask Lindsay...

[olie25]

first off most of these different base names are for the most part bull shit marketing words. if you look at the crown plastics "a la carve" base you will see a whole list of additives you can add to the stock material line, all kinds of stuff. once the company has some unique (but not really) product you can call it super turbo awesome base if you want to. this applies to many other materials you find in a board/ski most major manufactures use common products weather its from iso/crown/vectorply etc..... but you will see them called a million different things

[olie25]

http://www.crownplastics.com/wp-content ... aCarve.pdf

[mattman]

I never spotted that on Crown's site...that probably is one source (for companies that legitimately have gallium in their base...and arent just using the term carelessly). I think you hit the nail on the head with "marketing bs"...who doesnt want Super Turbo Awesome Base. I know I do.