"Green Pad" Helps Athlete Win Olympic Gold

When Peter Wilson, world record-holder in men's Double Trap Shooting, won the gold medal in the men's Double Trap Shooting final recently at the 30th Olympiad in London, the stock of the shotgun he used was fitted with a green shock-absorbing pad supplied by ACE Controls customer, Essex-based Recoil Systems.

The green pad as it is called is made from ACE's SL-100 SLAB visco-elastic PUR material, which is specially designed and manufactured to absorb shock loads.

Air Pockets Distribute Energy

When the material is manufactured, vast quantities of tiny air pockets are formed. Due to the molecular structure of the material, these air pockets take the shape of tiny dodecahedrons (having 12 faces). This regular structure gives remarkable distribution of energy on impact.

Any impact causes the cells to compress, forcing the webs of material outward against each other, thus slowing down the impact. After impact, the material returns to its original shape at a steady rate and does not bounce. Bouncing would create a return force to the shoulder, which is the significant problem with other recoil pads.

In addition to the SLAB material, ACE also offers the RD AR15-FS Carbine Recoil Buffer to reduce bolt impact and improve accuracy. The company's product lines include industrial and safety shock absorbers, gas springs, hydraulic dampers, rotary dampers, feed controllers, TUBUS elastomer bumpers and SLAB for shock absorption and vibration damping.