DuPont Products Help Improve Tennis, Badminton Performance

This is the second in a series on DuPont innovations in materials science that are helping the world’s best athletes compete in Beijing, China, and how they play a critical role in delivering maximum performance.

The quest for lighter, stronger and safer sports equipment has provided added benefits to world-class and recreational athletes - as well as a market opportunity for a number of key DuPont products.

Tennis and badminton racquets constructed with DuPont™ Kevlar® resist cracking and shattering. Racquet strings made with Kevlar® don’t stretch as much as conventional strings to deliver control and power, and break less frequently. Kevlar® also is incorporated to add vibration damping and shatter resistance to carbon fiber, the predominate reinforcement for lightweight ultra-rigid tennis rackets. Some tennis shoes use Kevlar® on the toe section of the upper to help resist abrasion. DuPont™ Delrin® is used for string guides and DuPont™ Zytel® for frame inserts.