Wax monkeys only

H

headlight

Member
awesome pictures - electron microscope images of a new ski base made of P-Tex2000 by Davide Uglietti

ski base without wax Unwaxed base 100 x magnification http://www.escnordic.org.uk/viewpic.htm?&pic=myths/pictures/base100x.jpg&tit=Unwaxed%20base%20at%20100%20magnification%20by%20Davide%20Uglietti

500x magnification http://www.escnordic.org.uk/viewpic.htm?&pic=myths/pictures/base500x.jpg&tit=Unwaxed%20base%20at%20500%20magnification%20by%20Davide%20Uglietti

waxed, scraped and brushed. 100x magnification http://www.escnordic.org.uk/viewpic.htm?&pic=myths/pictures/basew100x.jpg&tit=Waxed%20base%20at%20100%20magnification%20by%20Davide%20Uglietti

500x magnification http://www.escnordic.org.uk/viewpic.htm?&pic=myths/pictures/basew500x.jpg&tit=Waxed%20base%20at%20500%20magnification%20by%20Davide%20Uglietti

Can you see any pores? Me neither. Anything there to soak up wax ?

 
Hmmm, very interesting. Not what I thought it would look like! I don't see any pores either.
 
thats looks like some creepy little virus thing that you see in bio class. def not what i thought it would look like
 
From what I can find out it is PTex-2000 Sintered

http://www.gurit.com/core/core_picker/download.asp?documenttable=libraryfiles&id=156

UHMWPE is Ultra High Molecular Weight Poly Ethylene. This is an ethylene polymer that has long polymer strands resulting in a molecular weight greater than three million. A characteristic of this material is that it can not be extruded, as it will not flow sufficiently freely under the temperatures and pressures used for extrusion. Sintering is a common method used to produce ski bases from this material.

 
What seems to be the case is there are no pores in Ptex ski bases. This is a myth carried over from about 40 years ago before Ptex when ski bases were just wood. The wood cells could be filled with wax, especially as the wood dried out over time - they also used Pitch ? and tar on bases for other reasons.

Waxing for glide is not a myth. If u look at the waxed pictures the bases are smoother and filled in. I won't say anything about base structure because you cannot see base structure in any of these pics. too micro.

So it seems that the micro ruts get smoothed out/ filled in by wax and it helps repel moisture and slides better. It doesn't soak in deep to any pores cause there ain't none. So wax works at a micro level and protects and I thought this was pretty wild
 
Huge difference in how smooth the base is as headlight points out. Pics reminds me a bit of school though, studying different types of fractures in metals..
 
I would like to see a pic of a ski base that has a nice broken linear or chevron stonegrinded on it. I would assume that it would look a bit smoother.
 
trust me the waxed skis look a lot better. you have no idea how the magnification will distort your perception. the shadows are much deeper on the unwaxed bases.
 
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