Can you imagine playing tennis with a heavy wooden racquet? Well, back in the 14th century, when the first tennis racquets were used, this is exactly what players had to use. With a limited “sweet spot” and a heavier weight overall, these racquets were cumbersome to use.

Luckily, through the years, tennis racquets have become lighter and have a larger area for contact. This revolution has been greatly influenced by the composite industry, in particular carbon fiber. Carbon fiber tows play a large role in manufacturing the lighter and easier to use tennis racquets today.

A carbon fiber tow is a bundle of thousands of small fibers and can be difficult to test. Carbon fiber tows are weaved together to create larger sheets of carbon fiber, which eventually can be molded into various components.

Watch a video of carbon fiber tow testing using one of our tensile frames with an Advanced Video Extensometer (AVE).