Butterfly’s ‘OuterForce’ series, released in March 2025, is the blade family for intermediate level players which is recommended as the next step of entry-level blades. Therefore, ‘OuterForce’ series is easier to handle and lower in elasticity when compared to existing outer-type blades in Butterfly range. Of course, ‘OuterForce’ series is faster than that of Butterfly inner-type blades represented by ‘InnerForce Layer’ series, because artificial fiber is located directly under its top layer. ‘OuterForce’ series consists of three models – ‘OuterForce ZLC’, ‘OuterForce ALC’ and ‘OuterForce CAF’. Three models share a basic construction, differeing only in thickness and artificial materials.

‘OuterForce ALC’ is the most balanced blade among three models in ‘OuterForce’ series. Its artificial material is Arylate Carbon, abbreviated as ALC. ALC is a material which has been widely used for table tennis blades since Butterfly adopted it for ‘Viscaria’ in 1993. ‘OuterForce ALC’ is a blade with an outer fiber construction that uses ALC. However, it is characterized by improved stability and balance by suppressing elasticity compared to existing blades of outer-ALC constructions. Butterfly is recommending ‘OuterForce ALC’ for the intermediate players.

‘OuterForce ALC’ is an outer-type blade whose artificial material is ALC (Arylate Carbon) as its name expresses. Butterfly is introducing this blade as the balanced blade among three models of ‘OuterForce’ series.

The construction of ‘OuterForce ALC’ is 5+2 ply outer-type construction. But it is different from ordinary outer-type construction that can be seen from most of existing outer-type blades. The top layer is Ayous, and ALC is placed directly under the top layer. The middle layer is Ayous, and the center layer is Kiri. Overall thickness is around 6.2mm. It is very unusual that the top layer isn’t Koto or Limba but Ayous. Its purpose seems to provide a soft hitting feeling and high controllability.

The size of head is around 157mm x 150mm. Not different from the head size of ‘Timo Boll’ series or ‘InnerForce Layer’ series

The FL (flared) handle is the standard FL handle of Butterfly, and basically identical to those of the other models in ‘Timo Boll’ series or ‘InnerForce Layer’ series. The width of FL (flared) handle is around 26.5mm (at head side) ~ 27.5mm (at bulge) ~ 26mm (at narrowest point) ~ 34mm (at the end). And, the thickness of FL handle is around 23mm (at thumb) ~ 24mm (at the end).

The size of ST (straight) handle (not shown in pictures) is also the standard ST handle of Butterfly, and basically identical to those of the other models in ‘InnerForce Layer’ series. Its size is around 28mm (width) x 23mm (thickness).

At lower area of the foreside of head, ‘OuterForce series’ which isn’t the name of each model but the name of family is printed. This printing is common to all three models of course, with only different colors. For that reason, we can’t find the name or the information of artificial material from this printing.

Butterfly logo is printed at the top of the foreside of head.

Shield-shaped 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.

‘OuterForce’ series consists of three models – ‘OuterForce ZLC’ (left), ‘OuterForce ALC’ (middle) and ‘OuterForce CAF’ (right). Three models share a basic construction – 5+2 ply outer-type construction with Ayous top layer. It is very unusual that the name of each model isn’t printed on the head. Instead, only the series name is shown in the printing on the head.

Differently from head printing, we can find the name of each model from the shield-shaped Aluminum panel at the foreside of handle.

All three models share the basic construction – 5+2 ply outer-type with Ayous top layer. However, the differences are in the kind of artificial fiber and the thickness. ‘OuterForce ZLC’ (left) is an outer ZLC blade of 5.8mm thickness (= around 5.9mm in actual measurement), ‘OuterForce ALC’ (middle) is an outer ALC blade of 6.2mm thickness (= around 6.1mm in actual measurement), and ‘OuterForce CAF’ (right) is an outer CAF blade of 6.3mm thickness.

‘OuterForce ALC’ is a blade with 5+2 ply outer-ALC construction, which is one of the mainstream constructions of table tennis blades. But, it has different characteristics from existing outer-ALC blades by adjusting the material of top layer and overall thickness. While most of existing outer-ALC blades provide high power or high speed (when compared with inner-type blades or pure-wood blades), ‘OuterForce ALC’ intentionally suppressed elasticity to increase stability, and therefore is characterized by being easy to handle even for players who are not highly skilled. Therefore, it may be the optimal blade for players who prefer outer-type construction but at the same time want the stability of inner-type construction. However, for players looking for the blade with certain characteristics, it may be perceived as an ambiguous blade. (But, the Performance Indices indicates that the elasticity of this blade is as high as what we can expect from outer-ALC blade. It may be because the increased thickness compensates for the reduction of elasticity due to the adoption of soft material for top layer.) For players who like the feeling that the ball sticks to Ayous top layer during performing topspin but want higher speed, ‘OuterForce ALC’ is highly recommended.

Following are the performance indices of Butterfly OuterForce ALC (avg.weight = 85.2) :

– Ep = 1.90

– Ec = 1.75 (Ec/Ep = 0.92)

– Vp = 1.28

– Vl = 1.38 (Vl/Vp = 1.08)

Please note that above are average values and can be updated by further measurement.

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