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The Vicenza brand produces fiber-reinforced thermoplastic polymers that are used in ski boots, sports shoes and bicycle components of the most important world brands.
Sunday 18 April 2021 10 minutes reading time
From sky to snow, from snow to earth and to two wheels. The mission of Xenia Materials, a Vicenza-based company from Mussolente founded in 1995, is to bring aerospace know-how to the world of sport, where the same results are required: speed and lightness. Thus the core business of the hi-tech brand active in the engineering and production of high-performance thermoplastic matrix composites reinforced with fibers and additives has passed from helicopters to ski boots, trekking shoes, mountaineering, cycling and bicycle components. The goal is "metal replacement": light and resistant materials to replace heavy metals.
The simpler alternative is plastic, but the weight reduction goes hand in hand with that of resistance and for this reason composite materials were born that reinforce it with fibers and additives. In aeronautics it works, why not bring the know-how to the world of outdoor sports? A few examples? The brand new technical mountaineering boot Ortles Salewa Couloir which won the ISPO Gold Award 2021 and uses a toe in composite material made by the Vicenza-based company. Or the Selle Italia Novus Boost Evo saddle where the foam is applied to a light and resistant composite shell. For cross-country skiing lovers there are the Salomon S / Race Carbon Skate Prolink shoes, where Xenia has intervened on the cuff and on the heel reinforcement plate.
There are so many plastics and so many ways to use fibers. "In the boots, thermosetting and thermoplastic materials are used - says Cristian Zanchetta, R&D manager of Xenia Materials - Simplifying the former are those that give rise, for example, to a cuff obtained following an irreversible chemical transformation (it is no longer possible to go back to starting state) using carbon fabrics and epoxy resin cross-linked under the effect of heat and pressure. In the case of thermoplastic composites, those made by Xenia, instead the starting material is made up of plastic granules in which the fiber is embedded. The process takes place by melting the granules in a press that injects the molten material into a cold mold where it solidifies according to the geometry of the mold. In this case, the transformation process is a change of physical state and is reversible ».
Thermoplastic materials, the common plastic that gives shape to the shell and cuff of a ski boot or the mounting insole of a bicycle shoe, are different: polyamides, polyolefins, TPU, PEBA the most common names. Fibers can be added to the starting thermoplastic granules to improve some mechanical characteristics. Xenia Materials, which used carbon-filled thermoplastic materials for the construction of some parts of helicopters and which in 2013, at the request of Atomic, created the cuff of the Redster boot, lighter and six times stiffer than a cuff in simple material thermoplastic.
The thermosetting composites that are often found on the market with a classic rubbery appearance, are expensive and do not allow a standardization of production, which is still linked to manual skills. With the thermoplastic composites developed by Xenia, the production process is the classic one of injection widely used in the thermoplastic polymer industry, which guarantees uniform standards and limited and reusable production waste.
The Mussolente plant produces XECARB®, carbon fiber filled thermoplastic composites, XEGLASS ™, glass fiber filled thermoplastic composites, XEBRID ™, mixed fiber filled thermoplastic composites, XECARB® SL, super light carbon fiber filled thermoplastic composites, XELIGHT ™ , ultralight thermoplastic composites and XECARB® HM, high modulus carbon fiber filled thermoplastic composites. They are acronyms that help catalog dozens of options because Xenia's strength lies in customization. The only constant factor is the polymer matrices and fibers, purchased in Japan. Then the thermoplastic base and the percentage of loading are decided with the customer according to his needs and the entire production phase of the first samples and tests in the internal area are followed.
"Since 2013, from that boot, a world has opened up and sport has become our core business, but there is still a lot to invent because applications in the footwear field are unimaginable," says Fabio Azzolin, president of Xenia Materials. If today the main applications are ski boot cuffs, cycling shoe mounting insoles, mountaineering, trekking, seat post, bicycle bottle holders, gearbox blocks for two wheels, we look with interest at the business of running shoe insoles. and trail running. This is also why Xenia Footwear Materials Lab was born, the laboratory to offer a turnkey service to companies that produce outdoor footwear, from the choice of materials to the co-design of products, up to testing, prototyping, production engineering and simulation behavior of the shoes under certain circumstances. Thermosetting materials are irreversible, they can no longer return to their original state to be reprinted and are difficult to dispose of at the end of their life, while in Xenia they are studying solutions with recycled thermoplastic bases and fibers starting from secondary raw materials and the ecological challenge also passes from '' use of thermoplastic bases with a large percentage of vegetable origin, such as PEBA made from castor oil. But the future could be even more surprising in the sign of wearable technology. Carbon, also in combination with other additives, has electrical and thermal conductivity and the new intelligent materials could register different factors and adapt to the conditions and the user, to make the most of the same product, for example the boot, depending on the type of snow, slope, temperature, skier. It is a journey that has already begun here, in Mussolente, and who knows where it will lead. There are several brands that have already chosen Xenia Materials as an ingredient for their best products, among others, Vittoria, Salomon, Atomic, Alpina, Crispi, Dalbello, Nordica, Tecnica, Salewa, Roxa.
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