VIBRATIONAL ANALYSIS OF TENNIS RACQUET COMPOSITE GRIPS WITH RATIOS OF CARBON AND GLASS FIBRES

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the vibrations from different tennis racquet grip materials. For this study, five different kinds of tennis racquet grips were used. The materials in the actual grip were composed of a mixture of carbon fibre and glass fibre in the ratio of 10 to 0, 7 to 3, 5 to 5, 3 to 7, and 0 to 10. Two accelerometers and BioPAC system were used to acquire the vibrational signals. The results of this study indicated that the tennis racquet made of pure carbon fibre, had a higher damping ratio on the center and off-center impact. The damping ratio was significantly decreased as the content of glass fibre in the racquet was increased (p.05). However, the value of the integral power spectrum was significantly increased (p). Therefore, based on the vibrational analysis among the difference in material composition of tennis racquets, it concluded that increasing the content of glass fibre in the racquet would increase the load carried by the tennis player’s arm.