User:Vargas1919/Draft1

""Development of Soccer Ball""

History

Soccer balls have gone through a dramatic change over time. During medieval times balls were normally made from an outer shell of leather filled with cork shavings (1). Another method of creating a ball was using animal bladders in the inside of the ball to be able to inflate the ball. However, the way these two different styles of balls were created made it easy for the ball to puncture and was in adequate for kicking. It was not until the 19th century that soccer balls developed into what we believe a soccer ball looks like today in the present. Charles Goodyear introduced the use of rubber and his discoveries of vulcanization, which dramatically improved the soccer ball (2). Vulcanization is the treatment of rubber to give it certain qualities, for example strength, elasticity, and resistance to solvents. Vulcanization of rubber also helps the soccer ball resist moderate heat and cold. The chemical process involves the formation of cross-linkages between the polymer chains of the rubber’s molecules (4). Vulcanization helped create inflatable bladders that pressurize the outer panel arrangement of the soccer ball. Charles Goodyear innovation increased the bounce ability if the ball and easier to kick. Most of these balls had tanned leather with eighteen sections stitched together. Thes were arranged in six panels of three strips each. (3)

Reasons to improve soccer ball

During the 1900’s soccer balls were made out of rubber and leather which was perfect for bouncing and king the ball, however when heading the soccer ball it was usually painful. This problem was most likely because of the water absorption of the leather if it rained during the game, causing head injury. Another problem that the old soccer balls had was that they deteriorated too soon. Because of the leather quality the soccer balls varied in thickness and in quality sometimes worsening during the soccer match. (3)

Ball Constriction

The appearance of the soccer ball has changed tremendously over time starting with soccer balls that in the past were constructed of leather and animal bladders. Today’s soccer balls are a little more complex than past soccer balls. Modern soccer balls consist of twelve regular pentagonal and twenty regular hexagons, positioned in a condensed icosahedrons spherical geometry.(1) The inside of the soccer ball is made up of a latex bladder which enables the soccer ball to be pressurized. The ball’s panel pairs are stitched along the edge; this procedure can either be stitched manually or with a machine (2).

Developments

Elements of the soccer ball that today are being tested is the deformation of the soccer ball when it is kicked or when the ball hits a surface. Two styles of soccer balls have been tested by the Sports Technology Research Group of Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering in Loughborough University; these two models are called the Basic FE model and the Developed FE model of the soccer ball. The basic model considered the ball as being a spherical shell with isotropic material properties. The developed model also utilized isotropic material properties but included an additional stiffer stitching seam region. The result was that the Developed FE model resisted deformation more than the Basic FE model ensuring that the soccer ball will continue to develop even in the present.