News

Monofilament Yarns for Sport

The monofilament – Polymer engineering and a multitude of applications in sport and leisure. The idea is simple. A polymer is melted and the resulting liquid is pushed through a hole. On the other side of the hole the polymer pushed through is drawn and manipulated to achieve a consistent cross-section, suitable strength and elongation characteristics and cooled down and wound onto spools ready for use in a textile process,.. or a sport. But where is monofil used in sport? In angling we have some wonderful opportunities to use fishing lines usually made of nylon monofilaments. It is transparent. Has high tensile strength and the elongation properties can be engineered in manufacturing so that there is sufficient ‘give’ in the filament so that it doesn’t snap on contact with a big fish but just enough elongation to give the angler a feel for the fish without the line being too elastic. Despite polymer advances nylon remains the main used monofilament in angling. However PVDF, polyvinylideneflouride monofils with a low refractive index in water can have advantages for this application. Tennis consumes polyester strings which are durable and can have some advantages to create spin on the tennis ball. The profiles are not always circular and there are co-polyester extruded monofilaments where some other properties (i.e. grip) can be incorporated in the spinning stage. There are other solutions for tennis strings but polyester monofil is at the forefront. The surfaces sports are played on are also often incorporating some element of monofilament into the pitch. Rugby and football increasingly see this with people such as Don and Low targeting this area with their Polypropylene monofilaments The Right Yarn Choice | DLG® By Don & Low (donlow.co.uk) There is no doubt that plastic pitches enable football games to get played against grass pitches that are subject to the weather and the grass growing back. Spacer fabrics also use the stiffness of monofilament yarns in between fabric layers and play a key role in applications such as sports shoes where cushioning, breathability and lightweighting play a part. Polyester monofilament is most used here. And in terms of the playing fields and maintenance of these and other gardens and parks don’t forget that strimmers rely on monofilaments, generally nylon ones due to the high abrasion resistance to cut back growth around trees and other areas. Monofilaments continue to be important when you think of all the industrial applications Monofilament Yarn - Yarn Wholesale UK Supplier - SageZander and further possibilities in musical instrument strings, toothbrush bristles and 3D printer filaments. They are all around us