Speed skating is known as the "speed and passion" on the ice. It is also a popular project of the Chinese team and has attracted much attention.

However, if a high-speed skate with a speed of 14-20 M / s touches an athlete, it will scratch the skin and even pose a serious threat to life. The sharp blade of skates can be described as the coexistence of speed and danger.

Today, laser king will tell you the mystery of skates.

Can ice skates be used to cut vegetables?

In fact, the skate is not a real knife, but a steel knife shaped object installed under the skate. It is the most important part of the skate, which is composed of a knife tube and a blade.

There are four events involving the need to wear skates in the Winter Olympic Games. Among them, speed skating and short track speed skating have the highest requirements for speed. The body of the skate is long, the blade is narrow and flat, the ice riding area is large and the friction resistance is small, which is very different from the skates in figure skating and ice hockey.

Types of skates

The blade tube of the speed skating skate is about 0.8mm, and the average thickness of the blade is 1.4mm. In other words, cutting vegetables with a speed skate is like using the back of a kitchen knife.

Because the welding of knife tube and blade requires high strength, good temperature adaptability and good aesthetics, and involves the welding of different materials, laser welding has become the optimal solution of ice skate welding.

How are skates made?

The material of the knife tube is generally high-strength steel with high yield strength. When athletes speed skate through the bend, the speed is very fast, the centrifugal force is large, and the skate is slightly deformed. After the bend, the high-strength steel can meet the needs of the skate rebound and complete the elastic deformation.

The main material of the blade is also steel. The ice skates with different quality mainly depend on the carbon content. The welding with the knife tube involves the welding of different materials. The edge of the ice skate made of higher grade steel has a longer service life, but the steel with higher hardness directly improves the difficulty of welding.

Carbon steel skate

It is generally used by beginners. Under normal circumstances, the surface hardness of ice skates made of carbon steel after heat treatment is hrc56 ~ 64.

Stainless steel, high-grade carbon steel or high-speed tool steel ice skates

It is generally used by skilled or intermediate enthusiasts. The steel grade of ice skates is high, which has strong corrosion resistance, and can make skaters improve frequent jumping and rotation.

Powder alloy (PM)

It is generally used by international athletes or fever lovers. It is high-end steel for ice skates. Only a few foreign companies can produce it and have relevant correction equipment.

The ice skates used for international competition should generally have the basic necessary characteristics of wear resistance, corrosion resistance, working face suitable for different ice hardness, light weight, less grinding times in the later stage, adapting to frequent jumping, sliding and not easy to be connected and welded with the sole.

Isn't the skate straight?

There are abundant mechanical principles in the side shape and blade design of ice skates. As far as the short track speed skating skate is concerned, the skate is not straight, but has radians. This cycloid design is helpful for athletes to reduce the friction between the ice surface and the skate when they exert force.

At the same time, when speed skaters turn corners, the speed is very high, the centrifugal force is very great, and the skate blade will also be slightly deformed. After straightening, the weld seam needs to maintain strength and no deformation.

In addition to the requirements for welding materials and cracking under low temperature, there are also requirements for the shape of the welding blade.

Snow and ice have "light"

No matter what kind of structure and length, laser welding can meet the use requirements of ice skates, including the non deformation requirements of compression resistance, bending resistance and tensile resistance, and can also ensure that the welding position is closed and non cracked in the low-temperature environment of the ice field (even - 20 ° C).

At present, robot automatic laser welding can be adopted for ice skate welding. The ice skate parts with different specifications and parameters and different combination methods can be welded. A pair of ice skates can be welded within 60s.

The intelligent ice skate welding production line makes the practicability and aesthetics of ice skates realized simultaneously.

Although the industry is small, since 2018, Huagong laser has actively explored a scheme to make ice skate manufacturing more domestic. In addition to meeting the welding demand for high-strength steel materials, it is also further exploring how to reduce the later workload such as orthopedics through auxiliary means and improve the quality and efficiency of the process through automation.

These new research directions are all for the purpose of better serving sports in China's speed skating market. After more perfect service supporting facilities are put into operation, do you feel the happiness of ice and snow sports?