SmartRink synthetic ice panels are sinter pressed. That means not only will our panels be more durable over the long term but they also deliver superior skating performance!

There is a big debate in snowboarding and skiing circles about sinter pressed bases verses extruded bases for skis and snowboards. The same debate needs to be held for synthetic ice.

Sinter pressed sheet material has several main advantages over extruded material. First and foremost is that a higher molecular weight resin may be used for sinter pressing. The higher molecular weight resin ultimately produces a panel that is not only more abrasion resistant but will also offer superior skating (glide) performance over an extruded sheet.

Extruded sheet is limited in that the extrusion process is not able to use higher molecular weight resin, it just does not work. So when a sheet is extruded it can only use certain grades of resin. This accounts for why an extruded sheet tends to “shed” a lot of pastic residue while being skated on. This not only creates more maintenance work, but it also means the panel is wearing out more quickly.

Simple lab tests by any sheet manufacturer will attest that a higher molecular weight product is far more abrasion resistant than a lower molecular weight product. This test can be then be used to determine what a skate blade over the long term might do to a panel. One common such test is known as the sand slurry test.

Read more about the research we’ve put into our SmartRink synthetic ice rinks.