Enhancing the Ability of Football Goalkeeper to Catch the Ball

The information provided by this investigation can develop the friction performance of gloves designed for football goalkeepers to enhance catching and holding the ball. The outer layer of the gloves is made of latex, while the outer layer of the football is coated by polyurethane (PU) or polyacrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). The development depends on reinforcing latex by iron particles, carbon fibers (CFs) and carbon nanoparticles. The aim of the present work is to investigate the effect of reinforcing latex by the proposed materialson friction coefficient displayed by sliding of latex (surface of the gloves) on PU and ABS coatings (surface of the football). It was found that, friction coefficient displayed by latex filled by iron particles sliding on ABS slightly increased, while sliding of latex on PU displayed relatively higher friction than that observed for ABS. The effect of iron particles on friction was more pronounced. Besides, combining carbon nanoparticles and CFs to reinforce latex sliding on ABS displayed significant friction increase, where 60 % of the sheets area covered by CFs represented the highest friction values. The friction increase can be explained on the fact that presence of iron particles, CFs and carbon nanoparticles generated magnetic field that increased the adhesion force between the two contact surfaces. In addition to that, the friction increase may be from the increase of ESC generated from triboelectrification, where an electric field is generated across the two contact surfaces. The reinforcing materials are responsible for the generation of the magnetic field.