[mbarret01]

Hello All,

I am seeking some advice on a rather unique custom project I am working on. The application is the sport of bobsled, and the problem I'm trying to solve is generating more speed from the blades by reducing friction through the use of a coating or lubricant. So here are the conditions that the chemical compound must satisfy.

1. Acetone resistant or active: Substance must either resist being wiped off by acetone or it must react with it to generate heat. I think certain calcium compounds generate heat with acetone.

2. Water resistant: It must either be resistant to water, or melt the ice on which the blade slides.

3. Wear resistant: Something thick and or durable enough to withstand the friction between ice and the metal.

4. Invisible: Can't "dirty" the ice so it must be a clear no marking compound.

Ok so that is the list, and I know its a pretty specific set of qualifications haha. Can anyone point me in the right direction of a product or a chemical compound that would satisfy these characteristics?

Thanks for all your help in advance!

[billnotgatez]

cross county ski people use a wax depending on snow conditions

[fledarmus]

This sounds mostly like a materials science - testing program. You need to design a test that will accurately discriminate differences in speed caused directly by the coatings you put on the runners, and then test a lot of materials. Racing ski glide waxes would certainly be a good place to start. I suspect that since you are looking for speed on ice rather than speed on snow, you will end up with a different final mix.

I'm guessing if you are close enough to winter sports to be experimenting with bobsleds, you already have a lot of experience with glide waxes. If not, Wikipedia has a good starting point that will at least get you into the different components:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ski_wax

You might also want to look at some of Gabor Somorjai's recent experiments on the cause of slipperiness in ice - that might help inform your selection of product properties. In short, he ascribes the slipperiness of ice NOT to melting caused by pressure or friction (as in the conventional understanding) but to the presence of premelted molecular layers of water on the surface of the ice caused by the differences in hydrogen bonding between surface molecules and interior molecules.

[jaspevacek]

In short, he ascribes the slipperiness of ice NOT to melting caused by pressure or friction (as in the conventional understanding) but to the presence of premelted molecular layers of water on the surface of the ice caused by the differences in hydrogen bonding between surface molecules and interior molecules.

Since when was this ever conventional understanding? The Clausius-Clapeyron equation falls short in it's prediction, so people have attempted to hand wave over this by talking about hollow ground blades and such. The problem is that speedskaters, the fastest people on ice, have flat ground blades.