What are the main weaknesses of waxes? Part no. II – wax softness

Waxes are normally soft, much softer than the material of the ski base. Even if ski wax manufacturers try to mix hard waxes for abrasive and aggressive snow conditions, waxes are normally softer than the ski base itself.

 

If softer waxes are mixed with the ski base material in the top surface of the ski base creating the mixture called gliding surface, the result is always softer surface of the ski base or softening of the ski base surface by adding the wax.

 

The hardest waxes offered currently on the ski wax market like Toko X-Cold Powder / Blue X-Cold, Holmenkol Ultra Base Cold, Swix CHX4 / HSX4 / PS4 (cold powder blue/green series), Maplus Race Base Cold – reach the hardness 40 to 50 shore D which is still below the hardness of the ski base which is normally 65 shore D.

 

If we consider that the wax absorbing capacity in cavities inside molecular structure of a ski base is ca. 5 to 30 % of the thin top layer of the ski base, we can say that on the surface amounting to max. 255 cm2 and min. 38 cm2 of the total 765 cm2 the hardness is reduced by ca. 23 to 38 per cent.

 

If we consider that especially the hardness is the most important factor influencing the gliding qualities or friction especially in cold, hard and abrasive snow conditions, then it could mean that wax application under these conditions is contra-effective.

 

Fortunately for ski wax manufacturers, the question is not as straightforward as it might seem at first glance. It is true that the application of soft waxes reduces the entire hardness at least in the extent where wax molecules are accommodated inside the ski base material. On the other side ski base is protected and intermolecular bonds between ski base surface and snow surface can be blocked thanks to wax application.

 

We need to apply waxes also under cold, hard and abrasive snow conditions to protect the ski base and block intermolecular bonds. At the same time wax application will always decrease the ski base hardness. Especially the hardness is the most important factor influencing the gliding in cold and hard snow conditions.

What are the main weaknesses of waxes? Part no. I - wax bonding to ski base

Ski waxes are for sure the most popular and most common agents to optimize gliding features for particular snow and weather conditions.

For each snow condition and for any temperature range there will be many different waxing options to be used.

What are - however - the main weaknesses of waxes especially in competition ski service?

The main weakness of ski waxes is the way how they connect with ski base.

Even if this statement sounds very theoretically, the consequences are practical and enormous.

Ski base consists of PE molecular chains enriched with different additives in NANO level. PE molecular chains create on the ski base surface a fiber-like structure with many small cavities and free spaces. If we consider that the normal length of NANO-fibers on the ski base surface is amounting to ca. 150 to 350 nanometers, the size of cavities can be estimated in the range of a few tens of nanometers. This is enough free space to accommodate wax molecules, especially if they are highly-mobile due to liquid state by ironing.

Fiber-like structure on the ski base surface and wax molecules accommodated in the free cavities inside the fiber-like structure create a new gliding surface on the top of the ski base which is a mixture of the fiber-like structure and wax molecules.

Already this new gliding surface is more a mosaic consisting of different PE-stones, wax-stones and additive-stones. Imagine what will happen if a second / third / forth etc. wax layer is ironed on the mosaic-like gliding surface... The diversity and variability of the gliding mosaic will be increased dramatically.

After wax application - especially if more wax layers are applied - a unique and original surface is created on the top of ski base. This gliding mosaic-like surface is so unique that it cannot be repeated twice. Most probably on each ski of one ski pair a different mosaic-like gliding surface is created. This is very probably the reason why competition ski service is more magic and spells than science! Results can be hardly repeated!