Design and materials in archery

A bow is a mechanical device where energy is stored in parts of the limbs that is transferred as kinetic energy to the arrow supported at the middle of the string attached to both limb ends. The energy storage capacity of the material of the limbs is crucial to get a high efficiency of this energy transmission. Also the strength of the string is important to make it as light as possible, as well as the quality and reliability the arrow. In this chapter an overview of the materials used in archery equipment is given. Also quality performance criteria for use in shooting at archery tournaments such as Olympic Games, are reviewed and obtained by mathematical modeling of the mechanical function of the bow and arrow. These quality coefficients for the modern bow are only slightly better than those of the historical bows. Materials used in modern working-recurve bows can store more deformation energy per unit of mass than materials used in the past. Moreover the mechanical properties of these materials are more durable and much less sensitive to changing weather conditions. This contributes most to the improvement of the modern bow.