RockBats Technology - Tech Notes

Mechanical Properties of Various Hardwoods Suitable for Baseball Bats

When considering a wood species for manufacturing solid-wood baseball bats, there are several mechanical properties that can be compared for an initial evaluation of the species. Specific gravity, Modulus of Elasticity, Modulus of Rupture, and Hardness are commonly published mechanical properties that are good indicators of potential baseball bat performance.
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Detection of the Baseball Bat Sweet Spot Through Vibration Testing

When a solid-wood bat collides with a baseball, this induces flexural vibrations along the whole length of the bat, analogous to the vibrations seen in a diving board after the diver has jumped. The largest flex (and stress) occurs in the handle and smaller tapered regions of the bat.
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Failure Stresses & Failure Modes of Solid-Wood Bats

Why do solid-wood bats fail? If you slowly bend a piece of clear, straight-grained, high-strength hardwood, it will fail at approximately 15,000 psi (on average). If you shape that same clear, straight-grained, high-strength piece of hardwood into a baseball bat, and make contact with a baseball, the dynamic stresses in the handle can reach over 30,000 psi.
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Domestic Wood Species Having High Impact Bending Strength

One of the properties published in this report is Impact Bending strength, which involves dropping a 50-lb hammer onto a simply supported wood beam specimen. The height that causes complete failure of the wood specimen is recorded. This test measures the ability of wood to absorb shock that causes stresses beyond the proportional limit.
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Effect of Slope-of-Grain on Strength of Solid-Wood Baseball Bats

The effect of slope-of-grain on mechanical properties of wood is characterized by what is called a Hankinson-type formula. As the angle between fiber direction and longitudinal axis increases, the strength properties of wood decrease.
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Method for Visually Measuring Slope-of-Grain on Baseball Bat Billets

Wood baseball bat billets usually come in round or square form. It is important to understand that there are two planes involved when measuring slope of grain: radial plane and tangential plane. In round members, both the radial and tangential planes are visible in the billet.
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Specifications for Converting Hard Maple Logs Into Baseball Bat Quality Billets

When processing square 3x3 billets from logs, RockBats needs 3x3x40 billets that are clear (no knots), and have straight-grain throughout the whole length. End sealing the green billets helps reduce checking.
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Impact Bending Strength of Hard Maple

An in-house study was conducted to compare the effects of the following physical and mechanical characteristics on Impact Bending Strength.
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