What material is best for your Basketball Backboards' system?
Basketball Backboards Overview:
I have previously posted on this information concerning basketball backboards' materials used on basketball systems. In this post I will try to go beyond what I had previously said and go into brand names and manufacturers.
Basketball backboards in the market currently have just about the exact same materials between manufacturers. These are mainly glass, acrylic, polycarbonate, and plastic. under each of these headings are several patented names, but not much real difference in construction.
Glass Basketball Backboards:
Glass is glass no matter who you go to for your basketball system. The only real things to be aware of when you are shopping for a your basketball hoop are: how thick is the glass, and how thick is the frame.
Thickness of the glass is important for many reasons, which I will not elaborate on too much here, but not for the rebound of the ball. Thicker glass typically only gets better strength in the event something were to collide with the backboard; i.e. a rock. Many salesmen will try to sell you on better rebound with more thickness, but this is not neccessarily the case. The bigger determining factor is actually the thickness of the frame. Typically, if you are getting a glass basketball backboard you ought to be getting one that has at least a 2 inch thick frame. This will assure you the most optimal rebound. Anything less than this will possibly cause a wiggle in the backboard throwing off your shot.
Acrylic Basketball Backboards:
Acrylic is considered to have the next best rebound, though the difference betwen arylic and polycarbonate rebounds is minimal. Acrylic backboards were more prevalent a few years back, but many manufacturers have moved away from their production in hopes of increasing the strength of the backboard using other materials. Just like glass, acrylic is acrylic except for this time there are some brand differences in the market. Whenever you see the word "fusion" in the name of a Lifetime basketball system, this always refers to acrylic. Spalding and Goalsetter each only use acrylic in the names, so there should not be any confusion with what are getting through these 2 suppliers.
Polycarbonate Backboards:
Polycarbonate was designed into basketball systems for its increased strength. Polycarbonate is said to be 30x stronger than comparable acrylic models. Acrylic, over time, has been known to crack when exposed to UV radiation after many years, thus losing its strength. Polycarbonate is supposed to eliminate this, creating a longer last basketball system. Polycarbonate is the same material used in the production of bullet proof glass, though none of the basketball systems, which use this material, would be considered bullet proof. Polycarbonate is mostly used by Lifetime Products and Spalding in some of their lower end systems. Polycarbonate is polycarbonate, but with Lifetime the patented name is Makrolon and Lexan. Spalding just refers to it as polycarbonate.
Plastic Backboards:
Plastic has the most diversity in available types, i.e. plastic is not the same plastic between suppliers. Lifetime Products uses what is called polyethylene plastic, which is a polymer of the alkene, ethylene. Spalding uses what they call eco-composite, which essentially is recycled plastics. Because of the source of the plastic used by Spalding is not really well known, it is hard to determine what is the plastic's chemical makeup. Both manufacturer's use this material to make a quick, cheap basketball backboard for their lowest end models. With this material you get the cheapest of options and a beginner system, but you also get a potentially very long life. As evidence of this, consider Lifetime Products claim of their plastic (HDPE), which they state ,"... will not fade, crack, or peel when exposed to the sunlight." Plastic would have what is considered the worst rebound of the choices already listed.
Hopefully this gets you a good feel of the materials available on basketball backboards. Please leave any comments if you have any questions or any other helpful differences you know of between these options.
Basketball Backboards Related Links:
Baskeball Hoop | Acrylic vs. Glass.
Portable Basketball Hoops.
Goalsetter | Mammoth Basketball Hoops.
98865 Basketball Backboards | Mammoth Style System.
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