Strings Properties Test

The most important information about tennis strings is its elastic properties. How does it stretch? Does it return to its original length? If not, how much does it deform? What is the relationship between tension and length stretched?

Detailed knowledge of all of the above string properties would determines the make-or-break of a racket stringer. With the thousands of types of strings available today, many stringer bypass this and rely solely on their customers' feedbacks. 

Sometimes I feel I have been taken for too many rides as a guinea pig to help test new products with only a miniscule discount. Of the dozens of new strings I've helped to test, I have never liked any. And I still had to pay for them!

With a stringing machine now, I test every batch of strings (once per reel) to understand them before using them. From the scraps I saved earlier (link), together with another fresh piece cut from the reel, I conducted my own strings test.

I was trying to determine two things:

1. the relationship between tension applied and length of stretch, at various tensions,

2. how does this relationship change for used strings versus new strings.

Here's some pics of string test...