[Sharkskin Swimsuit Principle]What is a Sharkskin Swimsuit How a Sharkskin Swimsuit Works
What is a Sharkskin Swimsuit
The Shark Skin Swimsuit is a high-tech swimsuit
made by Speedo that mimics the skin of a shark. In October 1999, FINA officially allowed athletes to wear sharkskin swimsuits. In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Ian Thorpe won three gold medals in a sharkskin swimsuit, making the sharkskin swimsuit famous in the swimming world. In the 2009 World Championships, Phelps, who was wearing a sharkskin swimsuit, lost to Biddleman, who was wearing Arena products. Sharkskin swimsuits were overtaken in the field of high-tech swimwear. In July 2009, FINA decided to ban high-tech swimwear globally before May 2010. From 2000 to when high-tech swimsuits were banned, sharkskin swimsuits played a huge role in breaking world records during the period, and also experienced a process from being a dominant player in the high-tech swimsuit industry to being overtaken by other companies.
Sharkskin How Swimsuits Work
Sharkskin swimsuits are nicknamed for their shape, but they actually have a better name: Quickskin, whose core technology is to mimic the skin of a shark. Biologists have found that the rough V-shaped folds on the surface of the shark’s skin can greatly reduce the friction of the water flow, allowing the water to flow around the body more efficiently, allowing the shark to swim quickly. The ultra-stretch fiber surface of the fast skin is completely imitated by the surface of shark skin. In addition, this swimsuit fully incorporates the principles of bionics: mimicking human tendons at the seams to power the athlete when they stroke backwards; mimicking human skin on the fabric, which is elastic. Experiments have shown that fast skin fibers can reduce the resistance of water by 3 percent, which is of great significance in a swimming competition where the winner can be determined by 1 percent of a second. The root cause: ‘Sharkskin’ uses polyurethane fibers that increase buoyancy. In October 1999, FINA officially allowed athletes to wear fast skins.
Ultrasonic stitching technology is the most advanced garment stitching technology today. The ‘shark skin’ swimsuit produced by the famous Speedo company is stitched with this technology, and this technology reduces the resistance generated by the swimsuit to the lowest point of.
The working principle of this technology is to use high-frequency oscillation to transmit sound waves to the welding surface of the workpiece by the welding head, instantly make the molecules of the workpiece rub, and reach the melting point of the plastic, so as to complete the rapid dissolution of the solid material and complete the welding. . The joint strength is close to that of a single piece of continuous material, and as long as the joint surfaces of the product are designed to match, there is absolutely no problem with being completely sealed and free of stitches.
There are already many domestic companies that can produce internationally advanced ultrasonic suture machines, and it is believed that this technology will be more widely used in the near future.
History of Sharkskin Swimsuit
First Generation Sharkskin Swimsuit
FASTSKIN 2000
Fiber is used to imitate the structure of shark skin, which can guide the surrounding water flow, reduce water resistance and increase swimming speed by 3 percent to 7.5 percent. As a representative of sharkskin, this swimsuit swept the world at the Sydney Olympics, and 83 percent of the competitors chose to wear sharkskin to participate in the competition.
2nd Generation Sharkskin Swimsuit
2004 FASTAKIN 2
On the basis of the 1st generation, on the surface of the fabric With the addition of granular dots, the purpose is to reduce water resistance by 30 percent, and the overall function is 7.5 percent higher than that of the first generation. At the Athens Olympics in 2004, 47 of the athletes who won medals wore this swimsuit on the podium.
3rd Generation Sharkskin Swimsuit
2007 FASTAKIN FS_PRO
Consists of oxygen-resistant elastic yarn and extra-fine nylon yarn. Its elasticity is 15 percent higher than similar products, which can reduce muscle vibration and energy loss. In 2007, he helped athletes from all over the world to break world records 21 times.
4th Generation Sharkskin Swimsuit
2008 FASTSKIN LZR RACER
The 4th Generation consists of extremely light, low resistance, waterproof Composed of quick-drying LZR Pulse fabric, it is the world’s first wrinkle-free competition swimwear produced by high-tech welding. Of the 16 new world records set in the past month, 14 were created by athletes wearing this swimsuit.