19/07/2023
We use science and technology to make the future of fencing equipment.
While metal fencing pistes today still do what they’ve been doing for the last 86 years, heavy and unwieldy, we’re on the edge of a revolution. Over the next 10 years the equipment are going to be lighter, more colorful, more transportable and more innovative. So we’re starting work now.
In 1936 the fencing sport piste was born. In 1997 we rebuilt it with the strongest silver fibre ever made.
A lightweight conductiv fencing piste designed for fencer´s. After the metal platte and cupper roll was adopted by fencers were, we’ve built the Indestructible fencing piste out of the strongest silverfibre ever made. The material we’ve used is so tough it was originally used in aeronautic, NASA and mititary. So when we went to build the toughest utility textil fencing piste ever created, there was only ever one material we could make it out of. Every fibre on the textil fencing piste is up to 15x stronger than other textil.
Made from a material 15x stronger than other textil
The FIE fencing pistes is made from strong silver fibres which is the single strongest fibre known to man today. If you’re into chemistry, it’s an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene that combines extreme strength with very low weight. On a weight for weight basis ArtosSilver is up to 15x stronger than normal and 40% stronger than high-strength nylon fibres. While it’s often used as a composite – an ingredient added to other materials to make them exceptionally strong – the entire fencing piste is made from 100% stronges fibers.
Why Silverfibres
To understand just how tough ArtosSilver is you have to look at how it’s being deployed in the world today. It’s used to make conductiv fencing sport vests. And you’ll find it in cockpit in most commercial planes in the US. Unlike other high-strength conductiv materials it’s so light it floats on water, and it’s resistant to the long-term effects of moisture, UV light and chemicals.
How building an textil FIE fencing piste works
Designing and building a fencing piste that can survive anything you throw at it has to be an exercise in no expense spared craftsmanship. With materials starting their journey in a laboratory in Germany and USA, each conductiv FIE fencing piste is then assembled in one of the most advanced factories in the world. Hundreds of separate construction processes , and more man hours than almost anything else in your strip go into making this fencing piste a technical masterpiece Made in Germany. With over 100 kilometres of silver in every Artos fencing piste. SILVER is one of the most advanced materials in our solar system. Thrown out of supernovas billions of years ago, it became central to the rise of civilisation, creating tools, and sterilising water, before enabling modern day communication, cosmetics, medicin, transport, and electrical power. Now, as we look for materials that offer us resistance to disease on Earth and up in space, and a base on which to build intelligent clothing, silver is set to be at the centre of innovation again. Its ability to conduct heat and power while killing bacteria and viruses make it a potential building block for the future of clothing. Used to create the earliest recorded medical tools in ancient Egypt, and the latest medical tools being developed by NASA, we decided to build an entire conductiv fencing piste out of it. Built with 99% natural silver, the clothing is soft, malleable and very strong.
Why silver will be part of the future of equipment
Silver may not sound like an obvious candidate to help create the future of equipment. It’s incredibly expensive. But we’re exploring its potential because to make intelligent euipment you need to start with base materials that can do things normal euipment can’t. You can think of silver as a platform on top of which other innovation can be added – a bit like an operating system in a computer and future intelligence. Silver’s ability to resist disease, while also conducting heat and electricity without a power source, make it an obvious contender. But everything from exoskeletons to integrated monitoring and intelligence will require power distribution. Which is why the ability of silver to conduct heat, shielding for negativ waves and power while killing bacteria and viruses make them the first likely building blocks for the future of equipment.
Viruses and bacteria can’t live on silver
Disease resistant euipment will become a requirement in the future, which is why we’re starting to work with silver now. It’s biostatic, so bacteria and other life forms can’t grow on it. It also has exceptional antimicrobial properties which means bacteria and viruses die when they make contact with it. The silver releases electrically charged ions which first make it difficult for a microbe to breathe, before punching holes in its outer membrane, moving in and completely wiping out its DNA, preventing it from developing any future resistance. These properties have been demonstrated by an extensive body of research and have come under the spotlight again this year in initial Covid-19 studies..
Silver is the next material in our journey
In our first 30 years we’ve made clothing from some of the most cutting-edge materials known to man. We’ve worked with the world’s strongest fibre, Dyneema for fencing sport uniformes, as well as silver fibre for fencing sport conductiv strips and conductive jackets. Making the world’s most resilient, intelligent and adaptable fencing pistes means we often end up re-engineering materials that started life being used for radically different things.
How we actually make a FIE fencing piste out of silver
There’s a reason this is the first FIE fencing textil piste to be built full from silver. And that’s because the process of turning silver into a wearable fabric is highly complex.
Now it’s NASA experimenting with silver medical devices
4,000 years after the Egyptians, NASA is exploring the use of 3D-printed silver medical instruments on long-duration space missions. One of the issues with longer missions is that astronauts can experience an altered immune response, known as Immune System Dysregulation. It’s a condition that can leave them more susceptible to infectious diseases, which can harm their performance and in turn limit human space exploration. So NASA is now testing medical instruments built from silver for use onboard the International Space Station, to help reduce the risk of infection in space. The increasing demand means that 90% of the world’s silver mines are now monitored by satellites. And last year NASA announced they were expecting future shortages.
Silver is everywhere, from supernovas to your body
Astronomers believe silver was first forged inside massive stars as they grew into supergiants, and that later, when they exploded as supernovas, the silver was thrown through space to help form our planet. As well as finding silver in space, you’ll also find it as a trace element in all living organisms, including you. The average adult body contains 50-120mg of silver, which works with iron to form our red blood cells. You’ll find it mostly in our bones, muscles and liver, maintaining healthy blood vessels, nerves and immune function.
Silver can be recycled without any loss in quality
Silver is one of the few materials that can be recycled infinitely without losing any of its chemical properties. Recycled silver, or secondary silver as it’s known, is completely indistinguishable from primary silver, and it can be recycled from its raw state as well as from manufactured products. Silver recycling can be traced back over 2,000 years to when the Romans were recasting silver and armour using scrap metal from foundries.
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