Since the 1920’s, there have been many material advancements in cross country ski technology. Originally just shanks of wood, skis have evolved to include a lot of materials, all combined to produce the lightest and strongest ski possible. Starting in the 1950’s, unsustainable materials like plastic and fiberglass were introduced to provide superior gliding capabilities and reinforcement respectively. Later wooden ski cores were replaced with lighter polyurethane or acrylic foam and a final additive in the 70’s: carbon fiber. While the material advancements yield impressive performance in cross country skis, they are all man made and unsustainable. All of these materials are derived from plastics or created from fossil fuels. Therefore I have reincorporated as many sustainable materials into the designing and manufacturing of a cross country ski as possible. In initial research, I gathered why the current materials were used and how the were contained in the ski, followed by researching for sustainable materials that could offer similar performance. After a finalized list of materials was created, Computer Aided Design modeling was utilized to design the exact shape of the ski and subsequently a mold in which to make it. Using a balsa wood core to replace the polyurethane cores currently used and a weaved flax-epoxy composite to replace the fiberglass and carbon fiber, a prototype was created. This was done through use of an autoclave, which helps bond together the wood and epoxy through high temperatures and pressure. Initial laboratory tests confirm the hypothesis that the balsa-flax composite ski has comparable performance parameters, relative to current generic cross country ski models. These comparable performance parameters include bending stiffness and weight, the two most important documented properties for cross country skis.
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