Mechanical Response of Ping-Pong Racket to Different Hyperelastic Surface Materials

Abstract

Synthetic rubber serving as the surface material of the ping-pong racket has good elasticity and anti-friction. Material parameters such as the hyperelastic constitutive model of the synthetic rubber are some of the critical parameters related to the competition achievement of Ping-Pong. Especially, the certain surface material of the ping-pong racket may be beneficial to the certain way of the racketting technique. The material parameters’ change may change the elasticity, plasticity, and anti-friction of the surface which would affect the playing level of the athletes. In order to access the relation between the hyperelastic ability and the racketting strength, it is necessary to predict the mechanical response of the ping-pong racket to the different hyperelastic surface materials. A two-dimensional finite element model is developed to predict the mechanical response between the hyperelastic ability and the racketting strength due to the material parameters’ change of the synthetic rubber. The Mooney-Rivlin model is considered as the hyperelastic material model using ANSYS soft in order to simulate the ping-pong racket’s surface material precisely. The different surface material parameters must affect the surface stress or strain of the racket which may change the athletes’ achievement. The special batting technique may acquire the special hyperelastic materials parameters. The rule will be obtained between the hyperelastic material parameters and the stress distribution of the racket surface materials. The ability accurately predicting the mechanical response of the ping-pong racket surface will greatly help the ping-pong racket designers in determining the suitable racket to the particular technology’s athletes.