STRATIS GPX
Stratis GPX laminates can be specified with double films for ultimate performance or a single film and taffeta for slightly better durability with minimal weight gain. GPX uses combinations of high performance Kevlar and/or carbon fibre as the primary load bearing yarns.
These fires, mixed with specialist resins, produce sails with a combination or durability, high performance and weight saving. As well as Carbon fibre and Kevlar, a combination of Twaron, Technora and PEN can also used in the construction of a Stratis GPX laminate sail.
FIBRES USED IN
STRATIS GPX
MEMBRANES
PEN is the big brother of PET. It was invented very shortly after PET but only commercialised in the 1990’s after Amoco started the first plant to produce the NDA needed to make it affordable in commercial quantities.
Kevlar and Twaron are suitable for most mid range racing applications, and while they are not as high performance as carbon they are better performing than any other fibre. Kevlar and Twaron have the advantage of better resistance to flex than carbon.
Technora is also made by Teijin, the manufacturers of Twaron, and is a close relative of PPTA. It is a copolymer, which means it is comprised of two different building blocks instead of just one.
The element Carbon has two allotropes, diamond and graphite. The microstructure of carbon fibers is based on the hexagonal layer structure of graphite, however commercial carbon fibres lack true three-dimensional order between layer planes. This incompletely ordered graphite structure is termed graphene.
