Teflon base?

Thorpster · Post by **Thorpster** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 7:52 pm

Hi. New here. Has any one tried Teflon for thier base? They would be hard to repair. And maybe to soft. But fast as long as they last. I am thinking of tring it. Any help would be great!!

skidesmond · Post by **skidesmond** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 11:33 am

I know teflon has been mentioned in the forum but I don't think anyone has tried it. Are you able to get it in thin sheets?

Thorpster · Post by **Thorpster** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 4:46 pm

It's expensive. But I can get 12" wide by.06 thick Teflon Eched to bond with epoxie on one side for about $38.oo / ft!!

12 ft. min

I tested a peice on some vds and bonds great.

vinman · Post by **vinman** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 4:49 pm

Spray it with some cooking spray and wipe it down, just like on Christmas Vacation....

skidesmond · Post by **skidesmond** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 3:58 am

That's pricey. So are you going to try it?

Vinman - LOL

mattman · Post by **mattman** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 5:04 am

I read an article about base material and coefficient of friction. Whats happening when you ski is the friction generated by the wax is heating and melting a thin layer of snow...so you are actually gliding on water. There is a point at which the friction would be too low, the snow would not melt, and you could be worse off. In the paper I think they actually test teflon. It was written by Gian Tessari for Slegar Ski. A google search should find it if you are interested.

skidesmond · Post by **skidesmond** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 4:12 pm

mattman wrote:I read an article about base material and coefficient of friction. Whats happening when you ski is the friction generated by the wax is heating and melting a thin layer of snow...so you are actually gliding on water. There is a point at which the friction would be too low, the snow would not melt, and you could be worse off. In the paper I think they actually test teflon. It was written by Gian Tessari for Slegar Ski. A google search should find it if you are interested.

Interesting read. Thanks.

Damon · Post by **Damon** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 6:59 pm

Cost prohibitions aside, PTFE exhibits poor mechanical properties, notably at low temperatures.

ferniebiker · Post by **ferniebiker** » Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:05 am

It is brittle and will break when the ski is flexed. Simply won't work

Skammy · Post by **Skammy** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 5:20 am

Teflon is no good for abrasion resistance

Greg · Post by **Greg** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 9:06 am

So, seeing as how my research group works very closely with research on ptfe, friction, and ski friction... I am going to give my opinion. I haven't contributed to the forums for a year or two, but was very interested in the topic.

PTFE is an excellent friction material against snow. PTFE particles in wax provides a noticeably faster wax on XC skis until it wears off. PTFE is even better in water (my specific research area).

However, there are two reasons why I believe PTFE is not used in skis:
1- PTFE is very susceptible to wear in wetted conditions and PTFE with reinforcing fibers loses a lot of its good friction characteristics (from my own research).
2- But the real issue is that nobody has figured out a good method of getting PTFE to stick to the rest of the structure in a ski.

An example of the challenge of getting PTFE to 'stick' to anything is that when they build sliding bearings out of PTFE, they heat up the PTFE and press it into a thick wire mesh to mechanically hold it.

If you figure out a way to stick PTFE to a ski base that is reliable... you could patent it!

Ski Builders Forum

Ski Builders Forum

Teflon base?

Teflon base?

Teflon base?