CTS, the manufacturer of Epic's blanks, has been making noise over the last several months about their new and improved glass for their Quartz line of rods. They're calling it CrystalGlass, and I assume that it's the same thing that Epic is using in their blanks.
They are scant on the details,
saying that it is "extremely high grade uni-directional S-Glass with amazing clarity." Likely it is a slight increase in the modulus of the fiberglass used in the rods. Keep in mind, the difference between E-Glass and S-Glass isn't that high. According to
Epic's own website:
Quote:
The modulus, or resistance to bending of E-Glass is around 75GPa, with S-Glass exhibiting greater stiffness at around 95GPa, High modulus Carbon Fibre 350 - 450Gpa.
E-glass - roughly 75GPa
S-Glass - roughly 95GPa
High modulus Carbon Fibre around 350 - 450Gpa
In saying all this, Modulus alone is a little meaningless. It must be further described such as elastic modulus, flexural modulus, ductile modulus and several others.
In other words, a slight improvement with a whole lot of marketing.
Also, Epic has a long history of using new improvements in their rods and advertising later. I received a four-piece blank a full 2-3 weeks before they were mentioned on their website and just as the first reports were materializing here, and several of their color options underwent a slight shift last year. CTS started advertising CrystalGlass in 2017, so who knows how long Epic has been using it.