Is Blue Synthetic Ice Better Than White?

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Almost everyone sells a white product. It's less expensive to make for one thing. Some of these companies have been selling a light blue colored synthetic ice panel as well. These colors range from gray-blue to icy-blue. Some products for example have a name for their particular synthetic ice colour. Upon further review these names can actually be meaningful in terms of the actual material that is used to make the panels. It's worth asking the seller pointed questions about this.

But the question we are considering here is whether a buyer should consider white or blue for their synthetic ice rink? I have owned both, my kids have skated on both at home, and I have sold both. All arguments about the material aside for a moment, there is no question that the white panel will show the dirt faster. The blue panels tend to hide the dirt at least a little longer giving the impression of being cleaner. It's like seeing a solver car always looking clean whereas the black car may look dirty. The black car shows dirt immediately whereas the silver car may be just as dirty but still looks clean.

Now let's discuss the actual material. In some cases a white panel can be branded as one type of skating experience whereas the blue material might be the premier product. So the color actually stands for something and it can be explained what that difference means to the skater. Some companies make blue because others are doing it, so it's purely a marketing play. Other companies just find there is a preference to blue panels over white for the reason stated earlier with respect to cleaning. Blue has been tried and then stopped by at least one company. They claimed that the blue they were using actually made the product harder to skate on! That statement is interesting but if true it speaks to the inexperience of the manufacturer mixing the colorant with the base resin. They have to be compatible! There is no way an average consumer should ever have to worry about that problem however!

For color consistency the polyethylene resin is mixed with the colorant before pressing. Sheet material is either extruded or sinter pressed. As far as I am aware no North American manufacturer uses a sinter press technology. They are more common in Europe, so it is something for a buyer to consider. Often makers opt for the faster process of extruding the sheets or even in some cases injection molding is used. Extrusion of sheet material is limited by the molecular weight of the raw material. Just by the very nature of the extruding process the sheet material at the thicknesses required for synthetic ice panels tends to have a lower molecular weight than sinter pressed panels and therefore will not glide as well or be as durable as a sinter pressed material. Also, sinter pressing, although a longer process is widely accepted as a superior method for manufacture of this thickness of material. Ask any snow boarder what they prefer for their base. They will tell you a sinter pressed base.. There will not be any air pockets inside the product either. Every company certainly can't make that claim, but at the end of the day what matters the most is if you can skate on it with little effort.

As always though, we encourage the consumer to do their homework. Blue does not necessarily mean better. It still comes down to the raw materials used in manufacture of the sheet. You still need to understand the molecular weight of the raw material used, combined with how the panel is manufactured - and that is what will make or break the skating experience on synthetic ice.

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