It is 2021 and over the last year, there has been a growing amount of interest in synthetic ice. Due to the pandemic and many of the public places being shut down, many serious hockey players have chosen to install synthetic ice flooring in their homes so that they can ice skate and not have to travel away from the house. Does it work? The short answer is yes because it is curiously slick and allows for ice blades to glide across the surface just like real ice. The mystery is how is this plastic, man-made ice so slick? Keep reading and you might learn a couple of things.
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What is Synthetic Ice?
The first time synthetic ice came into public view was back in the 1960s. A group of developers got together and fashioned a flooring that could possibly mimic the way that real ice allowed ice skates to glide effortlessly over the surface. One of the major chemical-producing companies was successful in creating a type of plastic that was lightweight and sturdy. From the first type of plastic evolved the polymer plastics that we are familiar with today. Synthetic ice is basically plastic that has been modified to accommodate ice skates.
Early Synthetic Ice Problems
In the early stages of the evolution of synthetic ice, in order for people to ice skate across the surface, a lubricant had to be constantly added to the flooring. You can imagine an ice rink where greasers had to apply more and more “grease” to the flooring to allow any sort of skating experience. In the beginning, synthetic ice was bulky and not very slick at all.
Synthetic Ice Evolves
Over the next couple of decades since the first synthetic ice, developers continued to work on the quality of flooring. In the 1980s a type of flooring came into the world that had to be lubricated, but only on a monthly basis. The synthetic ice panels at that time still had a lot of room for advancement, but they were making progress. Synthetic ice rinks began to show up here and there around the country. As the demand for this kind of flooring grew, so did the production.
Slick Synthetic Ice Panels
Over the last 10 years or so the quality of the synthetic ice that is available on the market has significantly increased. Although not all manufacturers are equal, some are much better than others, the high-quality makers have developed a type of synthetic ice flooring that never needs any lubricants or additives in order to make it slick. Everything that the ice needs to make it ice-like is built into the panels. All you have to do is skate across it, and you will be able to experience the almost ice-like glide that ice skaters around the globe have learned to love. Not only does polymer technology help to make artificial ice slick, but it also helps to create dryland hockey flooring as well.
Real Ice Slickness
The thing about traditional ice is that when the ice skating blades glide over the top of it, the heat from the friction of the blades causes the ice to melt just enough to provide a nice slick surface to glide across. This kind of natural lubricant is challenging to recreate in plastic. For this reason, there is a slight resistance for synthetic ice skaters when they skate. Although it is a faint resistance, it is enough to feel. However, this type of resistance is great for building strength and stamina. Although someday developers may be able to create a flooring that is exactly like real ice, in the meantime close enough is good when it comes to this kind of skating.
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