The tournament hockey of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics is in its final stages. Finland-Canada and United States-Slovakia are the two highly anticipated semi-finals scheduled for today, February 20: who will be able to put the most pucks in the net? Just the hockey puck (also known as paleo or puck in English) is the central element of the sport. It is a small disc with weight between ii 154 hey 168 gapproximately tall 2.5cm and wide 7.6 cmwhose speed during matches can easily reach even i 150 km/h! Initially produced in wood, in the past it was also made in cork, before finally switching to vulcanized rubber. This is the material still used today all over the world: from national championships to NHL (National Hockey League), the famous North American league that hosts the strongest players on the planet, where technologically advanced versions are used.
The origin of the hockey puck
The first hockey pucks were made in wood but their handling was minimal, prompting athletes to opt for a puck in cork. In this case the material was lighter and easier to control but, at the same time, it tended to absorb water and this made it less predictable during the game.
For this reason, in the end, we moved on to vulcanized rubberthe first certified use of which dates back to the 1870s within the Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal. This material is also used for basketballs and tires.
How vulcanization works
For vulcanize it is necessary to start from one rubber compound (whether synthetic or natural) and add ingredients to modify its properties. Among the various ones, the main one for vulcanization purposes is lo sulfur – and we will soon see why.
This mix is passed through dei rollers or inserted inside molds, then ending up inside a oven. Here it is subjected to high temperaturesat least 130°Cand so on high pressures. And this is where lo comes in sulfur: these conditions allow a chemical reaction to take place and these atoms form bridges with the molecules present in the rubber. This makes the structure of the elastomers even more intertwined, making the material more elastic and resistant.
The production of the puck
The hockey puck manufacturing process begins cutting rubber into small pieces and placing it inside one heated mold. This has grooves and grooves on the edges: the objective is to imprint them on the final product, so as to improve the grip between the disc and the stick.
This mold is subjected to extreme pressure: this allows not only compress the rubber giving it the desired shape but also to make the process happen vulcanization. Once the disc cools, it is removed from the mold and sent for quality control to ensure there are no imperfections or defects. If necessary, the team logo is applied on both sides via silk-screen printing. At this point this disc, whose weight usually fluctuates between 154 hey 168 gcan be packaged and shipped worldwide.
Warning: there are also puck versions technologically advanced inside which there are small batteries, infrared indicators, ceramic oscillators and accelerometers. All of this aims to improve puck tracking during high-level games, such as those in the NHL.
