It was at the heart of the Creps (‘Sports Expertise and Performance Resource Centre’) in Vichy, France, that the French Society of Plastics Engineers, SFIP, chose this year to hold its event dedicated to polymer innovation for sport, Spin (Sports – Polymers – Innovation). On 4 and 5 June, performance, innovative processes and the circular economy provided the backdrop for two days packed with exchanges and practical demonstrations.
Right from the start of the congress, the presentations in the performance session demonstrated the ability of polymer and composite materials to optimise the relationship between the structure of a piece of equipment and the practice of sport.
Adapting mechanical properties to sports use
Clara Ducasse, Laboratory Manager at Metravib Material Testing, gave a detailed presentation on DMA analysis applied to padel rackets to establish the link between player feedback and racket wear. “The principle of DMA (Dynamic Mechanical Analysis) is to deform a sample and measure its response. This gives us access to quantities such as Young’s modulus, as well as information on the viscosity or elasticity of composites or fibres,” she explains.
The study focused on rackets with a fibreglass and EVA foam sandwich structure. “We cut samples from three areas of the racket to compare a new model with a worn model. For the composite part of the racket, we carried out a frequency scan. The results enable us to study fatigue and predict how the material will be damaged in the long term. They show that the rebound and energy absorption properties remain stable, which is a good indicator of durability,” notes Clara Ducasse, emphasising the predictive value of the analysis. “We could go even further by analysing other areas for a complete map,” she concludes.
Between each conference session, participants could discover various exhibitors present at a mini-show. CompPair, for example, presented Healtech, its self-repairing resin composite for sports.
Bernard Voss, Business Development Manager at Isomatex, came to find out about the latest innovations developed for sport, a market in which his company is active, as well as to present his product, Tenron, to the audience. “Our material is a complex of ten mineral fibres, designed to compete with carbon. It is the result of an optimised blend of minerals, advanced extrusion processes and specific sizing formulations“, he explained.
From complex geometries to advanced processes
The second session of the conference highlighted technological advances in the use of polymers to produce high-performance, lightweight technical parts.
It was introduced by Quentin Bonnetain, double world champion kayaker and certified nature guide in the Ardèche gorges. He gave a practical insight into his sport, which uses polymer materials in a variety of forms. “There are several types of boat: wooden boats are rare and fragile, fibreglass boats are the most common but they itch, plastic boats are solid, carbon Kevlar boats are fragile with rocks but easily repairable with carbon. In Kevlar, they’re more resistant, they deform but they don’t get punctured, unlike carbon, which is very fragile,” he explains. Quentin Bonnetain is banking on lightness. So he demands “practically no gelcoat’” for lighter, stiffer yet more fragile boats. Each kayak is tailored to its individual paddler, which is why a close relationship with the manufacturers is essential, whether in terms of design or manufacturing process.
The Cercle des Plasturgistes is working on precisely these aspects. The design office for parts created in 2021 by two former Renault employees presented a process based on a bicycle application. To manufacture a one-piece bicycle frame, Guillaume Gazonnet and Olivier Glaumot used a solution based on a single mould for four sizes, using interchangeable blocks. “We produced frames in polypropylene (PP) reinforced with fibreglass (GF) by gas injection, validated to ISO standards. The weight varies from 2.3 kg to 2.98 kg depending on the size, which is equivalent to aluminium on entry-level models, with a production rate of 2 minutes per frame“, explains Guillaume Gazonnet. After designing the frame, applying for a patent, finding a manufacturer willing to assemble it and then making a tooling for a proof of concept (POC), he succeeded in getting his bikes assembled and marketed by Imagine Bike.
Another manufacturing process that can also be applied to bicycles is that of start-up Ollow, based near Bordeaux. Managing Director Pierre Bou described the company’s strategy of industrial innovation in wound composite tubes for sports, manufactured in France. The company’s aim is to offer complex geometries that will enable it to make a foray into the mass market, thereby encouraging the relocation of production that is mainly based in China and Taiwan.
“The first two years at Ollow consisted of modelling the tooling. We use tapes with a thermoplastic matrix and long fibres, wound at several metres per minute using a continuous process. The tubular composite parts are cold preformed, then cured and assembled. We installed a pre-industrial machine in 2024 producing at 0.3 m/min with 6 layers. In the last quarter of 2025, we plan to install 1 to 4 production machines capable of reaching more than 1 m/min with between 15 and 30 layers“, he adds.
The company, which will be setting up two factories on a single 3,000 m2 site to the north of Bordeaux at the end of the year, relies on Roctool’s induction heating technology. “We are able to create complex shapes with inlays using our preforms. We use a metal interface that serves as an induction welding zone. The materials used are all thermoplastics, but we work a lot with Arkema’s polyamide 11 (PA11), which is bio-based. We use 50% long fibres in our products and 30% short fibres in the injected thermoplastics,” explains Pierre Bou.
Ollow also uses over-injection on 500-tonne presses with a cycle time of 10 to 20 seconds. “For flat reinforcements, we work with Nobrak, which manufactures reinforcements using TFP (Tailored fibre placement). With Protoform, which offers overmoulding, we form a consortium of three companies. Our technologies (reinforcements, tubes, overmoulding) hybridise to offer products with various combinations. We can then decorate the products with conventional paint,” explains M. Bou.
The end-of-life of developed products is a major concern for Ollow, which incorporates this issue into its manufacturing processes. “We don’t have the necessary hindsight on post-consumer recycling at the moment, because we’re only in the pre-production phase. The most difficult thing will undoubtedly be to bring back sports equipment broken by people, such as bicycles or hockey sticks, which have a very short lifespan,”notes Pierre Bou, although the company is already developing PA11 paint “which will enable a bicycle frame to be completely recycled without the paint being a hindrance. Our parts can also be reground to provide short-fibre pellets that can be reinjected or used in compression patches,” concludes Mr Bou.
Thinking about materials right through to their end-of-life
Ollow’s talk set the scene for the next session, which focused on the circular economy, end-of-life management of materials, their recyclability and the sustainability of sports equipment. Madeline Laire-Levrier, a doctoral student at the French higher education establishment Arts & Métiers, opened the session by presenting her thesis on the circularity of sports and leisure goods, funded by the French Agency for Ecological Transition (Ademe). “Plastic accounts for a third of the materials found in sports equipment waste. We have already identified 10% glass fibre-reinforced polymers and 1% carbon fibre-reinforced polymers. To avoid false ideas, we need to take into account the entire life cycle of products, including their possible reconversion at the end of their life“, she points out.
Cnep, the French national centre for the evaluation of photoprotection, together with Gerflor, a manufacturer of floor coverings, particularly for sports, highlighted a study on the ageing of certain coverings after the incorporation of recycled plastic. A limited company in which the University of Clermont-Ferrand holds a 95% stake, Cnep carries out around 400 studies each year, generating sales of around one million euros.
“We are interested in the ageing of polymer materials. For example, we can reproduce 10 years of exposure in 4 months in our devices. This then enables us to propose strategies to reduce this ageing“, explains Aurélien Tournebize, head of research at Cnep. Gerflor called on the centre’s expertise for various ageing analyses of parts made of virgin PP versus parts incorporating recycled PP. It was found that the addition of recycled PP (rPP) was less stable and that an antioxidant did not improve the situation.
Staying with materials, Claire Guerrero, Head of Business Development and Key Accounts for the EMEA region within the Specialty Polymers Division at Syensqo, presented the Echo family of products. This includes products with bio-based resins or recycled carbon or glass fillers, to offer a more eco-responsible equivalent for the same product. Short-fibre-reinforced polymer materials will be used, for example, in bicycles to replace metal. ‘The aim is to offer materials that are resistant to corrosion, thermoplastics that can theoretically be recycled and reduce the carbon footprint,’ explains Ms Guerrero. “We worked with StajVelo to create a bicycle entirely injected in Xencor PARA LGF, a polymer reinforced with 50% long glass fibres. The bike meets the mechanical constraints while limiting its carbon footprint. The same goes for the Ultima bicycle model, which uses IXEF Para, and can be upcycled into car parts or sports equipment. We’re aiming for 18% circular products by 2030,” notes Ms Guerrero.
The circularity of sports equipment is an aspect emphasised by athlete Quentin Bonneton. “A kayak can last a lifetime. We need to use materials that can be repaired and adapted. But plastic in rivers is a real problem. We need to consider hemp resins or biodegradable polymers for the hulls. This is essential if we want to continue to practise our sport in unspoilt environments,” he concluded.
The final word went to Gérard Liraut, Polymer Leader expert at Renault Group and Chairman of SFIP. “OTT, for over the top, sums up these two days! We ran, sweated, walked in the snow, cycled, fished, talked about rotational moulding, injection moulding, composites, fibres… It was a real decathlon. And that’s what this type of conference is all about, bringing together manufacturers, users and researchers“, he reminded us.
While looking forward to the next event, dedicated to sport, in two years’ time, he has invited all the professionals interested in discussing the future of mobility to Rennes on 2 and 3 July 2025. SFIP, in partnership with the Société des Ingénieurs de l’Automobile (SIA), is organising its 4th NeMMo, a two-day event featuring debates and conferences.
