Ski Builders Forum

I don't have any of this to try yet, but I heard about it through other composite projects. My first internet research suggests it is light and reasonably priced. It is also strong and bonds well. Makes me think of back country ski layup.

High-modulus polypropylene fiber, aka Innegra. Big article about it in the latest(dec 09)composites tech mag and how it is already being used with great success with custom SUPs and surfboards. The boards are lighter and tougher. It also improves the feel of the ride with its dynamic tenacity and vibration dampening effects. Some people like to call it white kevlar. Not too long before you might see it more often in the next generations of custom and production boards.

I just skimmed through the articles, but it looks like they aren't using PP fibers exclusively?

I'd like to also see some SEM images of the fibers in a matrix.

It seemed to me that the fiber has to be used in conjunction with glass. There was a comparison of 8 layers of this fiber vs 8 layers of glass vs 4 of each, and the 4 of each was significantly stronger than either of the other layups. I am going to try and get a hold of some of this for some tests. I think I could use it in place of the kevlar in some of my builds.

I've worked with pp fibers in the past for anti-balistic purpopeses, however they have a drwaback the dont bond well to epoxy. Therefore the tensile stiffness is high (the fiber does much of the work) and the compression stiffness is low, the fiber moves in the epoxy. But im interested to see what your results are