Butterfly’s ‘Revoldia CNF’, released in April 2020, is the first table tennis blade which adopted the new material CNF (= Cellulose Nano Fiber). The most widely used artificial material for table tennis blades is Carbon Fiber, but many other materials have also been used alone or in combination with Carbon Fiber. Butterfly is a brand which has been actively adopting artificial materials other than Carbon Fiber, such as Arylate and Zylon, and the newly added material is CNF. CNF is a fiber made by crushing cellulose, the main component of plant fiber, and processing it into nanometers (1/1,000,000 m). Its main advantages are that it is highly biodegradable and recyclable. When used in table tennis blades, it is difficult to expect high elasticity at the level of Carbon Fiber or Arylate Carbon (= the composite fiber of Arylate fiber and Carbon fiber), but since it is a fiber derived from wood, we can expect a natural hitting feeling from CNF. The testers who have actually tested ‘Revoldia CNF’ have said that although it is not exactly the same as pure wood blade, the feeling is quite natural and gives excellent control. ‘Revoldia CNF’ is based on ‘Timo Boll ALC’, and from the construction of ‘Timo Boll ALC’ only the artificial fiber is replaced by CNF. And, the overall characteristics of ‘Revoldia CNF’ is somewhere between ‘Timo Boll ALC’ and ‘Timo Boll ZLF’. We can think of these characteristics as being close to those of inner-type blades such as ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. And, it will be also interesting to compare ‘Revoldia CNF’ with the blades whose artificial material is Glass Fiber which has been widely used for same purposes as CNF so far.
‘Revoldia CNF’ os the first blade whose artificial material is CNF (Cellulose Nano Fiber). This is a new trial for realizing natural feeling close to pure wood blade. We can think that the purpose of using new CNF for table tennis blade is same as the purpose of using Glass Fiber, Basalt Fiber and so on.
The construction of ‘Revoldia CNF’ is based on that of ‘Timo Boll ALC’ or ‘Viscaria’. From the construction of ‘Timo Boll ALC’, ALC is replaced by CNF. The top layer is Koto, and CNF is placed directly under the top layer. The middle layer is Ayous, and the center layer is Kiri. ‘Koto(or Limba)/Fiber/Ayous/Kiri’ is a basic formula of the outer-type blades of Butterfly. Overall thickness is around 5.7mm.
The size of head is around 157mm x 150mm. Not different from the head size of ‘Timo Boll’ series.
The FL (flared) handle is the standard FL handle of Butterfly, and basically identical to those of ‘Timo Boll’ series. The width of FL (flared) handle is around 26mm (at head side) ~ 27 mm (at bulge) ~ 26mm (at narrowest point) ~ 34mm (at the end). And, the thickness of FL handle is around 23.5mm (at thumb) ~ 24.5mm (at the end).
The other type of handle isn’t available for ‘Revoldia CNF’.
The logos of ‘Revoldia’ and ‘CNF’ are printed at lower side of the foreside of head in the color close to gold. Butterfly logo is printed at the top of the foreside of head.
Small Aluminum plate at the foreside of handle includes the name of blade and the logo of Butterfly. Small rounded plastic lens is applied at the backside of handle.
Squared aluminum plate with Butterfly logo is applied at the end of handle.
Nothing is printed on the backside of head.
‘Revoldia CNF’ is a fiber blade whose artificial material doesn’t include Carbon fiber. Looking at the entire Butterfly blade range, it can be considered as the blade that provides improved power while taking advantage of existing ‘Timo Boll ZLF’. Accordingly, ‘Fan Zhendong’ series includes ‘Fan Zhendong CNF’ which is based on ‘Revoldia CNF’ instead of ‘Fan Zhendong ZLF’. Pure wood blade enthusiasts who want to switch to fiber blades but are hesitant because of the feeling of blade can seriously consider ‘Revoldia CNF’.
Following are the performance indices of Butterfly Revoldia CNF (avg.weight = 87.4) :
– Ep = 1.84
– Ec = 1.61 (Ec/Ep = 0.87)
– Vp = 1.21
– Vl = 1.25 (Vl/Vp = 1.03)
Please note that above are average values and can be updated by further measurement.
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this website’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to TTGearLab with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
TTGearLab 
Good article. I always wondered what the numbers would be on one of these, but, ultimately, it’s a shame, because it’s so expensive and out of reach for many. This would probably be a great choice for most regular amateurs.
LikeLike
Thank you for comment! I also think that this blade could be very good choice for amateurs. But, this blade is too expensive. There are many other blades of this kind (although those blades have different fiber from CNF) those are much cheaper than this one.
LikeLike
Not very different from inner force alc. I did not see any reason to choose this except good looking
LikeLike
Oh wow, very interesting indexes. I’ve been looking at what to use instead of my Xiom Hugo HAL since it seems to be discontinued, and this blade looks pretty similar (even a bit faster). However, I agree that the pricing is on the high end 🙂
Again, thank you for doing these fantastic reviews. It helps a lot!
LikeLike
Thank you for comment. This one is seriously considerable if you have used Hugo HAL. And, Butterfly Timo Boll ZLF and KTS Foundation GF.K are also considerable. However, all those models have narrow FL handles. If your handle shape is FL and you like the handle shape of Hugo HAL, you’d better consider Fan Zhendong CNF instead of Revoldia CNF. It is almost identical to Revoldia CNF, but has wider/thinner FL handle like Hugo HAL.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think it might be insightful for your reviews if you also provided some information on the weight balance of a blade, eg is the centre of mass higher up and so the blade feels more head-heavy, or is it lower down and lets you have more wrist control. I guess this would just be some number corresponding to how head-heavy the blade would feel.
LikeLike
I also think that it will be a good information.
The problem is that there are many TT makers (including Butterfly) who control the total weight by adjusting the hollow in handle. Some pieces have hollow and the other pieces don’t even though those are same blades.
LikeLike
Hello TTGearLab, do you have any details about the W. Schlager Carbon OFF+ blade, in particular the dimensions of the handle or at least a photo of it? How can I contact you other than the main website?
LikeLike
I have the Performance Indices of Schlager OFF+. But, unfortunately I don’t have the data of dimension now, because I lost it long time ago without taking pictures.
However I remember some data. First its thickness is 7.3~7.5mm. And, its head size is 157mm x 150mm. Its FL handle is based on Butterfly regular FL = the handle of InnerForce series and Timo Boll series. Of course the feeling of grip will be somewhat different from that of InnerForce because that handle is somewhat adjusted to fit for the blade thickness.
LikeLike
Hello, this review is very interesting, congratulations! Do you believe that this wood is similar to the Stiga Dynasty Carbon?
LikeLike
Thank you for comment. You will be able to use Revoldia CNF and Dynasty Carbon in similar way. However, those two are quite different from each other. Most of all, Dynasty Carbon transfers more exciting feeling on our finger. On the contrary the feeling of Revoldia CNF is not that exciting. And, If we hit the ball hard both of those two will hug the ball very deeply, but there is the difference in hug level. Revoldia CNF hugs the ball sufficiently, but not as deeply as Dynasty Carbon does.
LikeLiked by 1 person