We all know that Carbon Fiber is one of the strongest materials that have been ever created by humans. This is the reason that it’s been widely used for applications ranging from aerospace to automobiles to sports products. Carbon fiber composites have many unique properties that make it ideal for usage. Some of its properties include extreme strength, lightweight, original and prestigious design, etc.
However, this material still has many secrets, which is only known to the people involved in the carbon fiber manufacturing process. Wondering what are those amazing secrets that you are not aware of your machining carbon fiber sheets? Here you are going to get answers to all your queries.
The Structure Of Carbon Fiber Composites
Before we dive deep into knowing about the secrets of carbon fiber composites, it is very important that you understand the structure of the carbon fiber composites. As per the experts, carbon fiber relates to textiles made from woven fibers. But that’s not just any fiber you can find outside. The fiber used in the processing of carbon fiber manufacturing contains from 3 thousand up to 12 thousand filaments.
Types of carbon fiber fabrics
There are different types of weaves in carbon fiber that determine the appearance and strength of the final product. This also makes a huge difference in the manufacturing process of carbon fiber. Some of the types of carbon fiber fabrics include the followings;:
- One-way patterned fabric – This features very good strength while reducing strength crosswise.
- Twill – The fiber comes with the filaments that are woven at a 90-degree angle, resulting in offering uniform strength while adding to its attractive appearance.
- Plain fabric 1/1 – This type of fabric is mostly used for the manufacturing of plain shapes as this features poor stretchability.
Properties Or Features Of Carbon Fiber Composites
We all know there is a reason why many people prefer using this fabric for the manufacturing of different kinds of products. In fact, there are many reasons. Carbon fiber composites have many unique properties that make this amazing material different to other structural materials. Here are the main properties of carbon fiber composites:
Low density and low mass
One of the most-known benefits of carbon fiber panels is that its composites feature low density and low mass. It has a low density of 1.55 g/cm3 (epoxy resin 30%, carbon fiber 70%), which is very low even to its toughest competitor – aluminum which has a density of 2.7g/cm3 and 4.5 g/cm3. So, what does this really mean? It has a direct relation to the weight of the final product that you will get with carbon fiber material.
Here is the estimated weight of a 1×1 sheet:
- 5 kg carbon fiber composite
- 27 kg for aluminum
- 45 kg for titanium
- 79 kg for steel
High stiffness
Carbon fiber is a very strong material, which can be also seen by its rigidity. If we take an example of carbon fiber composites that are made using pre-preg technology with standard fabrics and 0/90 weave offer stiffness of 90.5 GPa. On the other hand, if we take an example of aluminum, the rigidity is 69 GPa. Apart from this, it has been found that carbon fiber is 42% lighter than aluminum, with the same thickness.
When it comes to designing something that needs to be strong but the weight needs to be in a particular limit, then using carbon fiber composites has become a trend as this is 2 times stiffer than aluminum and steel, whiles its weight is almost 4-5 times less.
Almost no thermal expansion
There’s a fact about carbon fiber – it has a very low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). Its linear coefficient of thermal expansion at 20oC is 2 (10−6°C−1). If compared the thermal expansion to the other materials, it is much low, which is as follows:
- Carbon Fiber: 4 times lower than titanium
- Carbon Fiber: 5.5 times lower than steel
- Carbon Fiber: 8.5 times lower than stainless steel
- Carbon Fiber: 11.5 lower than aluminum
Compatibility with X-rays
Carbon fiber has been widely used by the health care industry for the manufacturing of different kinds of machinery such as x-ray machines. The reason here is that it is a radiolucent material that does not block X-rays. The involvement of carbon fibers has opened many gates to the physicians around the world as it ensures a short scan duration and precise results of scanning.
Moderate resistance to temperature
We have seen carbon fiber materials performing great at the F1 racing cars that generate a lot of heat, which can’t be handled by any other material. However, there is another reason why carbon fiber is a great pick for manufacturing – it offers resistance to the temperature of 70-120oC. If you have some specific requirements and need something that can handle the temperature of up to 150-250oC, then there are some specially designed resins that can be used along with carbon fiber composite.
Fiber orientation – no isotropic material
If compared with the other metals or materials, carbon fiber is proven to be a great choice as its composites are anisotropic materials. The properties of carbon composites and Prepreg Composites such as stiffness depend on the fiber orientation of a material. It has been found that the properties of metals are usually the same, which is nearly opposite when it comes to carbon fiber composites and metals.
Disadvantages of carbon fiber composites:
- The manufacturing cost of the product may get affected by carbon fiber as the time and cost involved with carbon fiber manufacturing is higher than any other materials.
- The limitation at the design phase serves as another disadvantage as some details need to be adapted in a specific manner.
- This is fragile in comparison to aluminum material.
- It is mandatory to isolate the carbon fiber elements with resin to provide anti-corrosion protection.