By the end of the module the student should be able to:

• Discuss the advantages of substituting Ti components for steel in racing cars and engines
• Explain the tribological properties and the mechanisms of Ti-based materials
• Explain what is meant by surface engineering
• Demonstrate typical applications of surface engineering technologies in motorsports
• Detail the effects of damping, stiffness and vibration of sporting goods on performance;
• Describe the measurement of vibrational properties and relate them to material composition and processing;
• Describe the historical development of sporting goods from a materials/processing viewpoint and indicate future trends in materials for sporting goods;
• Utilise commercial software to predict the performance of sporting equipment and their dependence on materials and processing.
• Describe and illustrate a typical ski cross-section showing each material used in the design and explain why that material selection was made
• Relate the bending stiffness, vibrational characteristics and damping of a ski to the design of the cross-section.
• Describe the measurement of damping in ski.
• Describe the production of high-performance polymer fibres and discuss their use on technical textiles.
• Describe how phase change materials can be incorporated into fabrics to produce ‘intelligent’ textiles.