Table Tennis: Preliminary Displacement in Pimples-Out Rubber

Abstract

Following the recent trend of applying a more scientific approach to the study of all aspects of racket sports, we have developed a simple tribological method allowing to characterize unequivocally and unbiased by human factor the frictional behavior of table tennis rubber racket covering. This technique suggests examining the performance of rubber coverings at the onset of sliding against the table tennis ball by using three non-dimensional parameters, “friction,” “stickiness,” and “grip.” However, while “friction” and “stickiness” parameters were elaborated well, the “grip” parameter was only outlined due to the lack of actual determination of preliminary displacement on which it is based. To fill this gap, here we focus on studying preliminary displacement in four short and four long pimples-out rubbers. It is also found that a particular attention should be paid for the environmental conditions under which the three parameters are determined.