Table of Contents1. Overview
2. Performance Indices
3. Comparison by Performance Indices
……. 3-1. Elasticity Indices
……. 3-2. Vibration Indices
4. Summary

Table tennis blades with inner fiber construction, in which has artificial materials are inserted deeper than just below the top layer, were not the mainstream of fiber blades until about 20 years ago. At that time, the outer fiber construction in which artificial materials are inserted directly under the top layer, or the 3+2 ply construction were common configurations of fiber blades. However, after the ban of speed glue and the introduction of poly ball, inner fiber blades have gradually become one of the mainstream fiber blades, because an increasing number of players have been looking for blades those are faster than pure wood blade and yet feel as natural as possible. The inner fiber construction is less elastic than the outer fiber construction of same thickness because the gap between the artificial materials is relatively narrower in inner fiber construction. However, inner fiber construction gives more natural feeling – differently speaking the feeling closer to pure wood – than outer fiber construction of same thickness because artificial material is placed deeper. That fits the needs of many players who have used pure wood blades for long time. Although various kinds of artificial materials – ZL Carbon, ZL Fiber, Glass Fiber, Texalium, Carbon Fleece and so on – are being used as the fiber of inner fiber blades, the most popular artificial material is ALC (Arylate Carbon) or similar materials. And, Butterfly ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is one of two most famous inner ALC blades. (Another one is DHS ‘Hurricane Long 5’ which is even more popular than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ in many markets.) And, there are three other inner fiber models in Butterfly’s blade range. Although most of Butterfly’s inner ALC models have been already dealt with in many articles of TTGearLab, TTGearLab wants to focus on the comparison among four Butterfly inner ALC blades at this time.

In this article, TTGearLab will analyze four Butterfly Inner ALC blades by Performance Indices, and compare those four with some other inner fiber blades from other brands.

1.  Overview

In Butterfly’s blade range there are four models of inner ALC blades – ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’, ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’, ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ and ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’. (Among those four, ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’ is the bigger head version of current ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’, and it isn’t much different from its original model except for the size of head.) Followings are the basic features of four models.

1-1. Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC

Fig.01 Butterfly ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’

‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ is the thickest and fastest blade among four inner ALC models. It is the blade for Dimitrij Ovtcharov of German Men’s National Team, and has thicker construction and bigger head than the standard inner ALC blade – ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’.

Fig.02 Plywood Construction of ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’

The construction of ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ is based on that of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ but much thicker. The top layer is Limba. The middle layer and the center layer is Ayous. ALC (= Arylate Carbon) is of course inserted between the middle layer and the center layer. Overall thickness is around 6.2mm. The Arylate fiber that is used for Butterfly blades is Vectran that is produced by Kuraray, and it is woven together with Carbon fiber. (Note : By the way, Victas is calling the ALC with Vectran fiber as VC, and the ALC with Zxion fiber as ZC. Those mean Vectran Carbon and Zxion Carbon respectively. Both of those two are ALCs. And, in Victas blades, AC means Aramind Carbon.)

1-2. InnerForce Layer ALC & Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC

Fig.03 Butterfly ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’

‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is the standard model of Butterfly’s Inner ALC blades. Unfortunately, ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ isn’t the representative of all inner ALC blades because there is a very strong rival – DHS ‘Hurricane Long 5’. However, ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is also the most important rival of ‘Hurricane Long 5’, and is being used by many top players. The head size of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is regular 157mm x 150mm.

Fig. 04 Butterfly ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’

‘Harimoto T. (=Tomokazu) InnerForce ALC’ is the based on ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ but has bigger head. Its head size is 158mm x 152mm which is same as that of ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ and ‘Korbel’, while the head size of regular ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is 157mm x 150mm. Its construction isn’t different from that of current ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. But, the relatively bigger head makes its weight, and the head becomes even heavier when rubbers are attached. In case the elasticity is identical, heavier head provides more power if the player can deal with it without the reduction of swing speed.

Fig.05 Plywood Construction of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ and ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’

‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ and ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’ share the construction. The top layer is Limba. The middle layer and the center layer are Ayous. And, ALC (= Arylate Carbon, Vectran Carbon) is inserted between the middle layer and the center layer. Overall thickness of current models is around 5.9mm.

1-3. InnerForce Layer ALC.S

Fig. 06 Butterfly ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’

‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ is the softer variation of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. The meaning of ‘S’ hasn’t been announced, but we can guess that it is the initial of ‘Soft’. According to Butterfly, its new construction which is much thinner than the construction of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’, makes its elasticity lower while making the stability higher. ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ is especially optimized for counter-topspin at close-to-table area. The head size of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ is regular 157mm x 150mm.

Fig.07 Plywood construction of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’

The blade construction of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ looks noticeably different from the other models in ‘InnerForce Layer’ series. Its top layer is unknown. (It looks like just Limba of darker color, but not sure.) The middle layer is Spruce, and the center layer is Ayous. ALC (= Arylate Carbon, Vectran Carbon) is inserted between the middle layer and the center layer. Overall thickness is around 5.5mm.

Then let’s check the characteristics of Butterfly inner ALC blades by Performance Indices and then compare with some existing blades.

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2.  Performance Indices

Performance Indices are measured objective values to represent the characteristics of table tennis gears. Concerning the detail of four performance indices, please refer to following articles in ‘About TTGearLab’ section :

The performance indices of four Butterfly Inner ALC blades are as follows:

NameAvg.Wt (g)EpEcEc/EpVpVlVl/Vp
Butterfly Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC88.02.021.680.831.211.301.07
Butterfly InnerForce Layer ALC91.21.871.670.891.201.201.00
Butterfly Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC91.61.901.690.891.221.210.99
Butterfly InnerForce Layer ALC.S88.01.481.330.901.101.131.03

2-1. Butterfly Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC

Fig.08 Butterfly ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’
NameAvg.Wt (g)EpEcEc/EpVpVlVl/Vp
Butterfly Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC88.02.021.680.831.211.301.07

The primary elasticity index (Ep) of ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ exceeds 2.0. It is a very high value as that for an inner ALC blade, and is the value as high as that for many known outer-fiber blades. And, Ec/Ep is lower than 0.9. It means that ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ hugs the ball very deeply when the player hits the ball very strongly.

Vp (Primary Vibration Index) is 1.21. It is a bit higher than that of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’, but the difference isn’t big. So, although ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ is fast than most of inner ALC blades, its feeling is not stiff. Vl/Vp (= 1.07) is higher than 1.0, but not extremely high. We can expect that the feeling transferred to index finger is noticeably sharper than the primary feeling transferred to palm, but the difference isn’t big.

2-2. Butterfly InnerForce Layer ALC & Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC

Fig.09 Butterfly ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’
NameAvg.Wt (g)EpEcEc/EpVpVlVl/Vp
Butterfly InnerForce Layer ALC91.21.871.670.891.201.201.00
Butterfly Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC91.61.901.690.891.221.210.99

The primary elasticity index (Ep) of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is higher than 1.8. It is quite high value as that of an inner ALC blade. (But, it is noticeably lower than that of ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’.) So, current version of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is faster than current standard inner ALC blades. And, Ec/Ep is lower than 0.9. It means that ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ hugs the ball deeply when the player hits the ball very strongly, but not as deep as ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ and many 5-ply wood blades.

Vp (Primary Vibration Index) is 1.22. It is a bit higher than that of ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’, but the difference isn’t big. Tts feeling of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is not stiff. Vl/Vp is 1.00. It means that the feeling is almost uniform throughout the blade. We can expect that the feeling transferred to index finger isn’t sharper or milder than the primary feeling transferred to palm.

The indices of ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’ is not much different from those of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. That is because its construction is identical to that of current ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’. But, even though its elasticity is same as that of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’, ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’ will make more powerful ball if the player can use it without the reduction of swing speed because more energy will be transferred to the ball from the heavier racket. (Of course, the power of ball will be reduced if the swing speed is reduced due to the heavier weight.)

2-3. Butterfly InnerForce Layer ALC.S

Fig.10 Butterfly ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’
NameAvg.Wt (g)EpEcEc/EpVpVlVl/Vp
Butterfly InnerForce Layer ALC.S88.01.481.330.901.101.131.03

The primary elasticity index (Ep) of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ is around 1.5. It is much lower than the Ep of regular ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’, and is close to the Ep’s of many 5-ply wood blades. And, Ec/Ep is 0.90. It means that ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.s’ hugs the ball very deeply when the player hits the ball very strongly. But, not as deeply as many 5-ply wood blades whose Ec/Ep is under 0.85.

Vp (Primary Vibration Index) is 1.10. It is also noticeably lower than that of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. So, in primary feeling, ‘InnerForce Laye ALC.S’ is as soft as many 5-ply wood blades. However, the Vl/Vp (= 1.03) is much lower than those of many know 5-ply wood blades (except for reference blade).

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3.  Comparison by Performance Indices

Then we can compare Butterfly’s inner ALC blades with some other blades. Following is the list of the blades to be compared :

Inner ALC (or similar fiber) blades with Limba top layer

NameAverage WeightFeature
Yasaka Falck Carbon87.6gInner ALC blade for fast attack at close-to-table area.
Victas ZX-Gear In88.0gInner Z-Carbon(Zxion Carbon) blade.
andro Synteliac VCI OFF88.6gInner ALC blade which is being used by Simon Gauzy.
Nittaku Hina Hayata H289.7gInner PKC blade developed for Hina Hayata.
Tmount KTS Core ALC89.9gInner ALC blade whose handle shape is very classic.
DHS Hurricane Long 588.1gThe representative of inner ALC blades.
Xiom 36.5 ALXi87.1gInner ALC blade of Xiom.
Middle layer is different from those of ordinary inner ALC blades.
Tibhar Stratus Samsonov Carbon88.7gnner Aramid Carbon.
Center layer is softer than those of ordinary inner fiber blades.

Various inner fiber blades with Limba top layer

NameAverage WeightFeature
Xiom An Jaehyun TXMi86.4gInner Trimetrix (Zylon + Arylate + Carbon).
Tibhar Zodia Libra ZAC87.3gInner ZAC (Zylon + Arylate + Carbon).
Yasaka Ma Lin Carbon88.6gInner fleece carbon. Very soft as a fiber blade.
Stiga Centric Carbon84.9gInner TeXtreme (flat woven carbon) blade.

Fiber (inner/outer) blades with Koto top layer

NameAverage WeightFeature
Stiga Inspira CCF87.3gInner woven carbon blade with Koto top layer.
DHS Hurricane 301T90.7gInner fiber with Koto top layer. 3 kinds of fibers are mixed.
Butterfly Viscaria87.1gThe only one outer fiber blade in this comparison.

5-ply wood blades (including reference blade)

NameAverage WeightFeature
Butterfy Korbel88.7gThe representative of 5-ply wood offensive blade.
Stiga Allround Classic
(Reference)		84.3gThe representative of 5-ply wood allround blade.

3-1. Elasticity Indices

Fig.11 Comparison by Elasticity Indices

Fig.11 shows the comparison graph of Elasticity Indices.

Ep (Primary Elasticity Index) is directly concerned with the rebound speed of blade. Ec (Central Elasticity Index) is concerned with additional ‘kick’ when player hits ball very strongly.

We can see that the Ep of ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ is one step higher than those of ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’ and ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’, but there isn’t much difference in Ec. For that reason, although ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ is the fastest inner ALC blade in Butterfly’s blade range, there may be some players who don’t feel that it is especially faster than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’ is a bit more elastic than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’, but the difference is very small. ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ is noticeably less elastic than the other three models of Butterfly inner ALC blades.

Then we can compare other blades with Butterfly inner ALC blades.

[Inner ALC / Limba Top Layer]

The blades in this group can be direct competitors of Butterfly inner ALC blades. However, we can see that each model has its own personality that distinguishes it from Butterfly inner ALC blades and other models.

  • Yasaka ‘Falck Carbon’ is as elastic as ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ in Ep. However, there is significant difference in Ec. Hard hitters may feel that ‘Falck Carbon’ is much more elastic than any of Butterfly inner ALC blades.
  • Victas ‘ZX-Gear In’ shows Ep that is comparable with the Ep of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. However, its Ec is much lower than that of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. For that reason, there will be many players who feel that ‘ZX-Gear In’ is noticeably slower than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’.
  • andro ‘Synteliac VCI OFF’ has a bit lower Ep and much higher Ec when compared with ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. Although its construction looks very similar to that of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’, ‘Synteliac VCI OFF’ is a blade that aims at different playing characteristics.
  • Nittaku ‘Hina Hayata H2’, KTS ‘Core ALC’, DHS ‘Hurricane Long 5’ and Xiom ‘36.5 ALXi’ are less elastic than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ and more elastic than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’. And the graph shape of those four models are quite similar to the graph shapes of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. Although one step slower, these four models will be able to be directly compared with ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’.
  • Tibhar ‘Stratus Samsonov Carbon’ is even less elastic than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’. That is because its center layer is softer than those of ordinary inner fiber blades. The reduction of elasticity can be compensated by the increase of overall thickness, but ‘Stratus Samsonov Carbon’ isn’t thicker than ordinary inner fiber blades.

[Various Inner Fiber / Limba Top Layer]

The blades in this group are also inner fiber blades with Limba top layer. But, the artificial material isn’t ALC or similar fiber.

  • Xiom ‘An Jaehyun TMXi’ has three kinds of artificial fibers. As the result, it is like an ALC blade in vertical direction and a ZLC blade in lateral direction. Its Ep isn’t meaningfully different from that of ‘InnerForce ALC’, but its Ec is much higher. Without doubt, the relatively higher Ec is because of the influence of Zylon fiber. (Center deflection is affected by both of vertical fiber and lateral fiber while primary deflection – vertical bending – is affected only by vertical fiber.)
  • Tibhar ‘Zodiac Libra ZAC’ also has three kinds of artificial fibers, and it shows similar graph shape (= relatively high Ec) as ‘An Jaehyun TMXi’ although there are differences in elasticity level. (‘Zodiac Libra ZAC’ is less elastic than ‘An Jaehyun TMXi’.)
  • Yasaka ‘Ma Lin Carbon’ is as elastic as ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ although there are small differences in graph shape. So, it is expected that ‘Ma Lin Carbon’ can be the direct competitor of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’.
  • Stiga ‘Centric Carbon’ is the least elastic inner fiber blade in this comparison. Although its fiber is woven carbon fiber, the elasticity of woven carbon fiber is significantly diluted by its very thin inner fiber construction.

[Other Inner or Outer Fiber / Koto Top Layer]

This is the group that includes the blades with Koto top layer. In general, makers use Koto top layer for the blades those are positioned as a quite fast blade. So three blades in this group show very high level of elasticity. (Of course we can make much slower blades with Koto top layer. It is possible. However, there isn’t much reason for table tennis companies to develop and sell that kind of blades.) All three blades in this group are more elastic than any other blade in this comparison. ‘Viscaria’ which is an outer ALC blade is also in this group.

  • Stiga ‘Inspira CCF’ which is a thick inner carbon blade is more elastic than most of blades in this comparison. Its Ep is the highest in this comparison, and is higher than that of ‘Viscaria’ which is an outer ALC blade. And its Ec (= 1.90) is just a bit lower than the highest value (= 1.93 of ‘Falck Carbon) in this comparison. The high elasticity of ‘Inspira CCF’ is because of its thick construction and highly elastic woven carbon fiber.
  • DHS ‘Hurricane 301T’ is also as elastic as ‘Viscaria’ which is an outer fiber blade. Its Ep and Ec are a bit higher and a bit lower respectively when compared with the indices of ‘Viscaria’.
  • The Ep of ‘Viscaria’ is same as that of ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’. But, there is big difference in Ec. ‘Viscaria’ provides higher center support than ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’.

[5-ply wood incl. Reference Blade]

5-ply wood blades can be compared with fiber blades just as reference.

  • The elasticity level of ‘Korbel’ is comparable with those of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ and ‘Ma Lin Carbon’. But, in fact fiber blades provides higher level of energy efficiency, and that makes the difference when the strength of impact is high.
  • ‘Allround Classic’ is much less elastic than all the blades in this comparison. However, there are some blades whose graph shapes look similar to that of ‘Allround Classic’. (= Ec is not much different from Ep.) For example, ‘Synteliac VCI OFF’. That kind of blade will be good replacement of ‘Allround Classic’ if the player wants to increase the power of ball.

Examining Ec/Ep is also a easier way to understand the characteristics of blade concerned with elasticity. Fig.12 shows the relationship between Ec/Ep and Ep.

Fig.12 Ec/Ep vs Ep

Ec/Ep expresses the ‘tendency’ of the elasticity of blade. By examining Ec/Ep and Ep at the same time, we can easily understand the behavior of blades.

On the graph, all blades except for reference blade are located in ‘Hold’ range (Ec/Ep < 1.0). However, within that range, blades are widely distributed up, down, left and right. And, even though we only examine inner fiber blades, the distribution is also very wide. The ranges of Ep and Ec/Ep of inner fiber blades are 1.3 ~ 2.2, and 0.75~1.00 respectively. Therefore, we can’t say in one word what the elasticity characteristics of inner fiber blades are. Here, we can roughly categorize the inner fiber blades into three groups for the convenience of comparison. Three groups are as follows:

  • ‘High Speed’ group
  • ‘Standard’ (of inner fiber) group
  • ‘High Stability’ group

‘High Speed’ group includes three very fast inner fiber blades. The blades in this group are as elastic as known outer fiber blades such as ‘Viscaria’. We can see that the location of ‘Falck Carbon’ is very close to that of ‘Viscaria’. We may also include ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ in this group. But, because ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ hugs the ball much deeper than the blades of this group when the player hits the ball very strongly, players will feel that ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ is somewhat slower. (Some players may think that ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ isn’t especially faster than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’.)

The blades in ‘Standard’ group can be considered as current standard inner ALC blades. ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’ and current version of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ are located between this group and ‘High Speed’ group. It means that ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’ and current version of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ are faster than standard inner ALC blades. But, if we extend the range of this group to right side a bit, we may be able to also deal with ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’ and current version of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ as ‘Standard’ inner ALC blades. ‘An Jaehyun TMXi’ is located close to ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ although it has different lateral fiber. ‘Synteliac VCI’ gives more kick than standard inner ALC blades, and ‘ZX-Gear In’ hugs the ball more deeply than standard inner ALC blades, when the impact strength is very high.

The range of ‘High Stability’ group is widely overlapped with the range of 5-ply wood blades, although just two models are shown in this comparison for avoiding complexity. The Ep’s of the blades in this group is even lower than that of ‘Korbel’. But, the Ec/Ep’s are higher than that of ‘Korbel’, and fiber blades provide higher energy efficiency during the period of impact. So the fiber blades provides higher power than 5-ply wood blades if the impact strength is high.  

And, we can consider another criterion of selection. Some important blades – ‘InnnerForce Layer ALC.S’, ‘Hurricane Long 5’, ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’, ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’ and ‘Hurricane 301T’ – are located near the border line between ‘Mild Hold’ range and ‘Deep Hold’ range (Ec/Ep = 0.90). And, ‘Ma Lin Carbon’, ‘An Jaehyun TMXi’ and ‘Core ALC’ are also quite close to that line. Those blades can be considered as the optimum ones in case the player doesn’t have other criteria of selection. The blades in upper range or lower range can be selected in case the playing style of the player is more biased. The blades located over that line can be the blades for the players who want higher power for power play or better precision for modern all-round play. And, the blades located under that line can be the blades for the players who want to mainly use continuous topspin and play more aggressively.

Then next, let’s compare Vibration Indices.

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3-2. Vibration Indices

Fig.13 Comparison by Vibration Indices

Fig.13 shows the comparison graph of Vibration Indices. Vibration Indices are concerned with feeling. Vp indicates primary feeling which is transferred to player’s palm. And, Vl is the feeling at the edge of the wing – the lower side of blade head. It is felt by player’s index finger or middle finger.

We can see that the Vp of ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ is not meaningfully different from the Vp of ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’ or ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ while its Vl is significantly higher than the Vl’s of those two Butterfly brothers. The high Vl is the factor that distinguishes ‘Ovtcharove InnerForce ALC’ from the other inner ALC blades in Butterfly’s blade range. And, Both of the Vp and the Vl of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ are significantly lower than those of the other Butterfly inner ALC blades. Differently speaking ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ gives very soft feeling as the character ‘S’ in its name expresses.

Then we can compare other blades with Butterfly inner ALC blades.

[Inner ALC / Limba Top Layer]

The blades in this group can be direct competitors of Butterfly inner ALC blades. However, we can see that each model has its own personality that distinguishes it from Butterfly inner ALC blades and other models.

  • Both of the Vp and the Vl of Yasaka ‘Falck Carbon’ are much higher than those of Butterfly blades. The only one model in this comparison whose Vibration Indices are higher than the values of ‘Falck Carbon’ is Stiga ‘Inspira CCF’ which is a thicker blade with woven carbon fiber and harder top layer. As an inner ALC blade, ‘Falck Carbon’ is a very hard blade
  • The Vp of Victas ‘ZX-Gear In’ is much lower than those of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ and ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’. On the contrary, the Vl of ‘ZX-Gear In’ is very high. It is even higher than the Vl of ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’. The gap between its Vp and its Vl is significantly big. We can see similar relationships between Vp and Vl from ‘Stratus Samsonov Carbon’, ‘Centric Carbon’ and ‘Korbel’. ‘ZX-Gear In’ is a very soft blade in primary feeling, but it gives quite sharp feeling to index finger.
  • andro ‘Synteliac VCI OFF’ is harder and sharper than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’.
  • Nittaku ‘Hina Hayata H2’ and ‘Hurricane Long 5’ are sofer in primary feeling and sharper in lateral feeling when compared ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. ‘Core ALC’ is also softer than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ in primary feeling, but its Vl isn’t meaningfully higher than the Vl of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’.
  • The Vibration Indices of Xiom ‘36.5 ALXi’ are close to those of ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’.
  • Tibhar ‘Stratus Samsonov Carbon’ is very soft in primary feeling. But, its Vl is higher than that of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. That will make some players feel that ‘Stratus Samsonov Carbon’ isn’t softer than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’.

[Various Inner Fiber / Limba Top Layer]

The blades in this group are also inner fiber blades with Limba top layer. But, the artificial material isn’t ALC or similar fiber.

  • The Vibration Indices of Xiom ‘An Jaehyun TMXi’ are higher than those of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. BTW, we can observe similarity between the Vibration Indices of ‘An Jaehyun TMXi’ and those of ‘Synteliac VCI OFF’.
  • The Vibration Indices of Tibhar ‘Zodiac Libra ZAC’ are close to those of ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’. Vp is just a bit higher, and Vl is just a bit lower. (But, nobody will feel that ‘Zodiac Libra ZAC’ is similar to ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ because of significant differences in Elasticity Indices.)
  • Yasaka ‘Ma Lin Carbon’ is as soft as ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ in primary feeling. But, in lateral feeling, it is somewhat sharper.
  • Stiga ‘Centric Carbon’ is a very soft blade in primary feeling. Its Vp is very close to the value of reference blade. But, its Vl is as high as those of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ and ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’. That will make some players feel that ‘Centric Carbon’ isn’t softer than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’.

[Other Inner or Outer Fiber / Koto Top Layer]

This is the group that includes the blades with Koto top layer. In general, makers use Koto top layer for the blades those are positioned as a quite fast blade. So three blades in this group show very high level of elasticity. (Of course we can make much slower blades with Koto top layer. It is possible. However, there isn’t much reason for table tennis companies to develop and sell that kind of blades.) All three blades in this group are more elastic than any other blade in this comparison. ‘Viscaria’ which is an outer ALC blade is also in this group.

  • Stiga ‘Inspira CCF’ is a very hard and very sharp blade. Both of its Vp and its Vl are the highest in this comparison. Its Vp is just a bit higher than that of ‘Viscaria’ which is an outer fiber blade. But, its Vl is much higher than that of ‘Viscaria’. Because its Vl is much higher than its Vp, its graph shape look similar to that of ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ although there is significant difference in the level of indices.
  • DHS ‘Hurricane 301T’ gives unique feeling because its Vl is lower than its Vp. We can see similar relationship from ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’, but the gap is smaller.
  • The Vibration Indices of ‘Viscaria’ which is an outer ALC blade are higher than those of Butterfly inner ALC blades. But, those are lower than the values of ‘Falck Carbon’ and ‘Inspira CCF’ those are also inner fiber blades.

[5-ply wood incl. Reference Blade]

5-ply wood blades can be compared with fiber blades just as reference.

  • The graph shape of ‘Korbel’ looks similar to those of ‘Stratus Samsonov Carbon’ and ‘Centric Carbon’ those can be compared with 5-ply wood blades also in Elasticity Indices. And, although its Vp is very low, its Vl can be directly compared with those of most inner fiber blades in this comparison.
  • ‘Allround Classic’ is a very soft all-round blade, and is a reference blade whose values are set to 1.0. Its graph shape is similar to the graph shape of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ although there is differences in the level of indices. And, we can think that the graph shapes of ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’, ‘Synteliac VCI OFF’ and ‘An Jaehyun TMXi’ are also similar to that of ‘Allround Classic’. We can expect that ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’, ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’ and ‘An Jaehyun TMXi’ will be good replacement of ‘Allround Classic’ in case the player wants to increase power but at the same time wants to keep the relationship between Vl and Vp.

Examining Vl/Vp is easier way for the comparison of the tendency of feeling. Fig.14 shows the relationship between Vl/Vp and Vp for easier comparison.

Fig.14 Vl/Vp vs. Vp

On the graph, most of blades in this comparison (except for four blades) are placed in upper part of the graph – ‘Relatively sharper at finger’ range (Vl/Vp > 1.0). However, within that range, blades are widely distributed up, down, left and right. We can understand that there isn’t any typical characteristics of the feeling of inner fiber blades. But, at least we can set a ‘Standard Feeling’ range that satisfies our expectation on the feeling of inner ALC blades. And, for comparison we can set the ranges of blades those give hard feeling or soft feeling. Then the three groups are as follows:

  • ‘Hard Feeling’ group
  • ‘Standard Feeling’ group
  • ‘Soft Feeling’ group

‘Hard Feeling’ group includes three blades whose Vp’s are higher than 1.3. In general this is the range of ordinary outer fiber blades. However, two inner fiber blades – ‘Inspira CCF’ and ‘Falck Carbon’ are in this group. This group doesn’t include any Butterfly inner ALC blade.

‘Standard Feeling’ group consists of the blades whose Vp’s are in the range of 1.15~1.2 and Vl/Vp’s are higher than 1.0. This group includes current version of ‘Hurricane Long 5’ and ‘Hina Hayata H2’. Three Butterfly inner ALC blades – ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’, ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’ and ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ are located to right or lower right of this group. It means that those Butterfly inner ALC blades are harder in primary feeling than the inner ALC blades of standard feeling. And, especially ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ and ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’ are somewhat more comfortable at player’s index finger when compared with ‘Standard Feeling’ group.

But, if we expand the range of ‘Standard Feeling’ group to right side, it will be able to also include three Butterfly inner ALC blades.

‘Soft Feelng’ group includes the blades whose Vp’s are around 1.1 or lower. The blades in this group can be directly compared with 5-ply wood blades whose range is widely overlapped with this group. In this group, Vl/Vp’s are widely distributed up and down. ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ is located at the bottom of this group because its Vl/Vp is close to 1.0. It means that ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ gives more comfortable feeling at index finger when compared with other inner fiber blades in this group and 5-ply wood blade such as ‘Korbel’. On the contrary, ‘ZX-Gear In’, ‘Stratud Samsonov Carbon’ and ‘Centric Carbon’ provide the feeling quite similar to the feeling of ‘Korbel’ because of similar Vl/Vp (= around 1.15) although there are noticeable differences in Vp.

Here we can observe that Butterfly inner ALC blades except for ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ are located near the ‘Uniform’ line which is the border line between ‘Relatively sharper at finger’ range and ‘Relatively more comfortable at finger’ range. Most of blades in this comparison are located higher, and give sharper feeling at index finger when compared with those Butterfly inner fiber blades. ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’, ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ and ‘Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC’ give more comfortable feeling to index finger when compared with most of other inner fiber blades. We will be able to consider it as the personality of the Butterfly inner ALC blades.

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4.  Summary

We have compared four models of Butterfly inner ALC blades through Performance Indices. The characteristics of each model can be summarized as follows:

4-1. Butterfly Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC

Fig.15 Butterfly ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’
  • The vibration characteristics of ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ is the closest to those of standard inner ALC blades, although the Vp of ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ is a bit higher than the Vp’s of standard inner ALC blades. And, ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ is much softer than the blades with similar speed level.
  • ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ is as elastic as outer ALC blade in primary elasticity (shown as Ep). But, its Ec/Ep is much lower than 0.90. Its high elasticity and ‘Deep Hold (= Deep Hug)’ characteristics make ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ suitable for continuous but powerful topspin strategy.
  • In case the player who have used 5-ply wood blade such as ‘Korbel’ want to replace the blade with faster fiber blade, ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ can be the best choice among four Butterfly inner ALC blades.

4-2. Butterfly InnerForce Layer ALC & Harimoto T. InnerForce ALC

Fig.16 Butterfly ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’
  • ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ (current version) is more elastic in primary elasticity (shown as Ep) than current standard inner ALC blades such as ‘Hurricane Long 5’. But, its Ec/Ep is at the same level as the Ec/Ep’s of standard inner ALC blades. If we expand the range of ‘standard inner ALC’ a bit to the side of higher Ep, ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ will be able to sufficiently considered as one of the current standard inner ALC blades.
  • Because the Ec/Ep of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is noticeably higher than that of ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’, the players will feel more kick from ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ than ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’. It means that ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ will be able to used more various playing styles when compared with ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ which is specialized for continuous topspin. The Ec/Ep around 0.9 may be considered as the criterion of blade selection when the player wants to select a neutral or almighty blade that can be applied for various offensive styles. And, ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is one of that kind of blades.
  • The primary feeling of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is not noticeably softer than that of ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’. However, the relative feeling that it transmits to index finger is not as sharp as what ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ does. The mild feeling at index finger is one of the important characteristics of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’.
  • When compared with other inner ALC blades, ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is expected to be more suitable for all-round play. And, it is also expected that ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ will be good replacement of classic 5-ply wood all-round blades such as ‘Allround Classic’ when the players who have used those all-round blades want to change to faster fiber blade. In that case, ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ will be much better choice than the other inner ALC blades.

Fig.17 Butterfly ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’

  • The performance indices of ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’ aren’t much different from those of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. When compared with ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’, ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’ is a bit more elastic in primary elasticity and hugs the ball a bit deeper, and is a bit harder in primary feeling and a bit more comfortable at index finger. But, differences are not noticeable.
  • The most important difference between ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’ and ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is that the head of ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’ is bigger. It makes the overall head weight of ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’ heavier, and as the result is that ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’ makes more powerful ball by transmitting more energy to the ball in case the swing speed is same.
  • If the player doesn’t have sufficient muscle power, ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’ isn’t recommendable because the power of ball will be reduced by the reduction of swing speed. For more players including ordinary players, ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ will be safer choice than ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’.

4-3. Butterfly InnerForce Layer ALC.S

Fig.17 Butterfly ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’
  • ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ is much less elastic in primary elasticity (shown as Ep) than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. Its Ep is not much different from those of typical 5-ply wood blades. But, its Ec/Ep is at the same level as the Ec/Ep’s of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. So, ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ can be the slower replacement of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ without problem. And, because Ec/Ep of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ is much higher than those of 5-ply wood blades such as ‘Korbel’, ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ will give more kick to the ball when the player hits the ball very strongly. ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ can be recommended for the players who want to keep the basic elasticity level of 5-ply wood offensive blade but hope that the new blade can give stronger kick at stronger impact.
  • The primary feeling of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is very soft. The Vp of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ isn’t much different from those of typical 5-ply wood offensive blades. And, because its Vl/Vp is close to 1.0, ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ gives even more comfortable feeling to index finger.
  • ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ which is the slowest and the softest Butterfly inner ALC blade will be the good choice if a player who has used a 5-ply wood blade wants to change to a fiber blade but doesn’t want the feeling become harder.
  • ‘InnerForce Layer ALC.S’ can be recommended for very aggressive player who play mainly with very aggressive but continuous topspin at close-to-table area. However, the relative feeling transmitted to index finger is not as sharp as those of 5-ply wood offensive blades or soft/slow inner fiber blades such as ‘Ma Lin Carbon’ and ‘Stratus Samsonov Carbon’.

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