Additive Manufacturing, Modeling and Performance Evaluation of 3D Printed Fins for Surfboards
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Additive Manufacturing, Modeling and Performance Evaluation of 3D Printed Fins for Surfboards Reece D. Gately1, Stephen Beirne2, Geoff Latimer3, Matthew Shirlaw3, Buyung Kosasih4, Andrew Warren5, Julie R. Steele6, and Marc in het Panhuis1,2,3,7 1 Soft Materials Group, School of Chemistry, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia 2 Australian National Fabrication Facility Materials Node, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia 3 Jones Beach Boardriders Inc., Kiama Downs, NSW 2533, Australia 4 School of Mechanical, Materials and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia 5 School of Geography and Sustainable Communities, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia 6 Biomechanics Research Laboratory, School of Medicine, University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia 7 ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, AIIM Facility, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia ABSTRACT We demonstrate that Additive Manufacturing (3D printing) is a viable approach to rapidly prototype personalised fins for surfboards. Surfing is an iconic sport that is extremely popular in coastal regions around the world. We use computer aided design and 3D printing of a wide range of composite materials to print fins for surfboards, e.g. ABS, carbon fibre, fibre glass and amorphous thermoplastic poly(etherimide) resins. The mechanical characteristics of our 3D printed fins were found to be comparable to commercial fins. Computational fluid dynamics was employed to calculate longitudinal (drag) and tangential (turning) forces, which are important for surfboard maneuverability, stability and speed. A commercial tracking system was used to evaluate the performance of 3D printed fins under real-world conditions (i.e. surfing waves). These data showed that the surfing performance of surfboards with 3D printed fins is similar to that of surfboards with commercial fins. INTRODUCTION Surfing is an iconic sport that is extremely popular in coastal regions around the world. According to many reports Tom Blake (from USA) is generally given credit for inventing the surfboard fin in the 1930’s [1]. Since then many different fin designs have been trialled, including famous high-aspect ratio fins designed by George Greenough in the 1960’s [2]. These fins were wide at the base and narrower at the top resembling the dorsal fins of marine creatures such as dolphins. Fins glassed directly into the board were standard until the late 1960’s, when removable fin systems became more widespread [1]. Today surfers can choose from a range of removable fin configurations including twin (2 fins), thruster (3 fins) and quad (4 fins) fins. Major manufacturers of removable fin systems include FCS and Futures [3, 4].
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