Syed Mustijab Haider Rizvi (MM111117)

Composite Baseball Bats

Manufacturing Process & Comparison with Aluminum Bats
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Shapes
3. Aluminum and Composite Bats
4. Properties of Baseball Bats
5. Manufacturing Process
6. Comparison
7. Conclusions
8. References

Composite Baseball Bats
Introduction
Baseball bats fall within three material classifications
1. Wood 2. Aluminum 3.Composite
Composite Baseball Bats
Shapes
Baseball bats in the early days of baseball came in all
shapes and sizes
(long, short, flat, and heavy)

1859 Maximum diameter 2.5 inches
1869 Maximum length 42 inches
1890 No more flat bats only round with
maximum diameter 2.87inches
Composite Baseball Bats
Aluminum and Composite Bats
1924 A patent for the first metal baseball bat
1970 First metallic bat in the game
1980 First composite bat in the game
Worth Aluminum baseball bat Easton Aluminum baseball bat
Composite Baseball Bats
Properties of a baseball bat
Important features

Durability and strength
Stiffness
Swing weight
Trampoline effect
Vibrations

Composite Baseball Bats
Manufacturing Process
Following steps are involved in composite baseball bat manufacturing
process

1. Starting material
2. Steel bat frame
3. Winding of polypropylene layer
4. Baking
5. Braided carbon and glass layers

6. Hot pressure molding
7. Extracting steel bat form
8. Inspection and flexibility testing
9. Black primer coating
10. Finishing operations

Composite Baseball Bats
1. Starting Material
Resin infused pliable carbon fiber sheets

Sheet layers
Hot rolling melting of resin and diffusion of fibers
Composite Baseball Bats
Sheet layers Hot rolling
2. Steel Bat Form
The fiber sheets are then spiral around the steel bat form at different angles
to make a fine bat form.

Composite Baseball Bats
Steel bat form
Fiber sheet wrapping on steel bat form
3. Winding of polypropylene
A layer of polypropylene is winded to squeeze out any trapped air between
the layers
Composite Baseball Bats
Polypropylene
layer
Fiber sheet
wrapped bat
form
4. Baking
Baking for two hours Resin curing
Composite Baseball Bats
Placing bats in baking oven
5. Braided carbon and glass layers
After the removal of polypropylene, bat form is wrapped with three layers

Braided carbon and glass (1)
A thick layer of carbon (2)
Aramid Fiber layer (3)
Composite Baseball Bats
(1) (2)
(3)
6. Hot Pressure Molding
The bats are placed in the mold and epoxy resin is injected with high
pressure at high temperature
Composite Baseball Bats
Bats in mold
Hole for
epoxy resin
injection
7. Extracting the Steel Bat Form
After the removal from the mold steel bat form is extracted
Composite Baseball Bats
Hollow
Composite
bat
Steel bat
form
8. Inspection and Flexibility Testing
Bat is inspected for any visible defects and tested on flexibility testing
machine to ensure that bat has attained desired flexibility
Composite Baseball Bats
9. Black Primer Coating
After inspection black primer coating is applied and bats are hanged to dry
Composite Baseball Bats
10. Finishing Operations
Spray Paint (1)
Brand
Adjust weight (2)
Adjust balance
In-cap (3)
Grip (4)
Composite Baseball Bats
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
Comparison
Comparison of aluminum and composite baseball bats
Composite Aluminum
Swing weight
Lower swing weight and maximum
effect of swing weight by having both
a lower moment of inertia as well as a
center of mass closer to the handle
Relatively higher swing weight
Trampoline effect
The softer barrel allows the ball to
come off with small losses in energy
while maintaining the stiffness of the
bat in the handle
Due to isotropic properties it is difficult
to make different parts with different
stiffness so stiffness of barrel must be
high
Vibration
Very high damping rate causing no
observable vibrations
High vibrations cause a sting
Comparison
Composite Aluminum
Temperature effect
Cannot be used at lower temperature Can be used at any temperature
Durability
Relatively low life time Can be used for long period of times
Flexibility in properties
Properties can be tailored at will Difficult to obtain anisotropic properties
Performance with time
Performance improves with usage due
to loosing of fibers up till a certain limit
Performance decreases with time
Sweet spot (area of bat which transfer maximum power to ball)
Larger sweet spot Relatively small sweet spot
Cost
High cost Low cost
Conclusion
Composite bats have outperformed aluminum bats by their superior and tailor
able qualities;

The swing weight for these bats is more easily controllable,
Trampoline effect may be tuned,
Bending stiffness may be tuned and
Bending vibrations are more highly damped.

These all properties together made them the first choice of any player
Composite Baseball Bats
Thank You!
References
[1] Mahesh M. Shenoy et al (2001). Performance assessment
of wood, metal and composite baseball bats, Composite
Structures 397-404
[2] Matthew Broe et al (2010). Experimental study of the
evolution of composite baseball bat performance, Procedia
Engineering 2 26532658
[3]http://www.baseball-bats.net/baseball-bats/baseball-bat-
history/index.html 18-05-2012 at 1:45 PM
[4]http://americanarmchaircricketer.blogspot.com/2012/02/goi
ng-batty-or-what-are-those-sticks.html 18-05-2012 at 2:00 PM
[5]http://www.bplowestprices.com/easton-sv12-bsv1-baseball-
bat-high-school-adult-3.html 18-05-2012 at 2:25 PM
[6] http://www.woodbat.org/ 18-05-2012 at 4:00 PM
[7]http://science.discovery.com/search/results.html?focus=site
&query=baseball+bats&search= 18-05-2012 at 5:00 PM