The Institute of Biomechanics (IBV) and the Technological Institute of Packaging, Transport and Logistics (Itene) have worked for the last two years on the Nanosport project with the aim of developing and improving the performance of sports products thanks to the use of nanomaterials.

According to Enrique Alcántara, Director of Innovation in Sports at the IBV, “in this project we have sought to use the most advanced material technology to meet the most compromised needs of some sports products such as footwear, artificial grass floors and single-dose containers” .

Throughout 2016, IBV and Itene “detected what problems and needs athletes have in order to adequately define the development specifications of nanomaterials. From that moment on we started the development and optimization of nanomaterials as well as the evaluation methods of the developed products ”.

“The incorporation of such small particles (between 10-9 and 10-7 m) in the design, production and evaluation processes of the products has been a great challenge to which we have dedicated ourselves during 2017” explains Alcántara.

As a result of the Nanosport project, it has been possible to develop “innovations in the footwear sector such as soles for sports shoes that combine two features that have been at odds until now: great resistance to wear and tear and good grip on the ground; as well as insoles that offer a high energy return capacity without diminishing their resistance to compression insoles ”, he adds.

Other applications that have been tested have been in “increasing the elasticity and recovery of the original shape of artificial grass fibers, thus improving their useful life, as well as improving the barrier properties of single-dose containers for athletes, based on monolayer materials. thus allowing their recycling. “

IBV and IItene have had the collaboration of companies from the Valencian Community that are committed to quality and innovation in their products. The Analco and Realturf companies have made it possible to manufacture functional footwear and artificial grass prototypes respectively. These prototypes “will serve to show the functional improvement sought thanks to the application of nanomaterials”.