According to Montreal Sports, the ice hockey sticks have 60–70% better impact resistance than those made from traditional composites. They contain carbon nanotubes with a diameter of 5–20 nm in the shaft of the stick, which increases flexibility over that of a carbon fibre composite. The company says that the flexibility of the new stick "allows for softer pass reception and an easier handling of the puck".
The sticks were made with the help of Finnish company NanoLab Systems, which functionalizes the nanotubes so that they bond well with epoxy resin and incorporates them into the resin. Montreal Sports has dubbed the result "Hybtonite nano epoxy material".
Bayer MaterialScience says it has developed a process for manufacturing carbon nanotubes in larger production volumes and with a material purity of more than 99%. The company is set to market the nanotubes under the tradename Baytubes.