What's Carbon Fiber?
Carbon fiber is an advanced material that has revolutionized a wide variety of industries, from automotive and aerospace to sports and biomedical engineering.
Why is it so special and widely used compared to other composites?
We'll describe its fabrication process and characteristics.
Carbon Fiber Characteristics
Carbon fiber is well known for its impressive mechanical characteristics:
-
High strength and low density: Carbon fiber is between 3 to 7 times stronger than steel despite being lighter, making it ideal for applications where a low weight–high strength ratio is required.
-
Elevated heat and corrosion resistance: Carbon fiber has great resistance to corrosion and is able to withstand elevated temperatures without losing its mechanical properties.
-
Electrical and thermal conductivity: Despite having lower conductivity than steel, carbon fiber has good conductive properties that can be desirable in some applications.
Fabrication Process (How is Carbon Fiber made?)
Carbon fiber is produced through the carbonization of organic materials. The process involves several steps:
-
Polymerization: The process starts with a precursor, normally polyacrylonitrile (PAN) (C₃H₃N)ₙ, which is polymerized to form large molecular chains.
-
Oxidation: The precursor is heated in an oxidizing environment in order to stabilize the molecular structure.
-
Carbonization: The stabilized material is heated in an inert environment to reduce non-carbon elements.
-
Graphitization: In some cases, the material is exposed to even higher temperatures in order to improve its final mechanical properties.
-
Treating and finishing coating: Finally, the fiber is treated and coated with adhesion-enhancing finishes.
Carbon Fiber aplications:
Carbon Fiber versatility makes it usefuel for a wide range of aplications:
- Aeroespacial industry: Used in aircraft and satelite manufacturing due to it's light weight and strength.
- Automotive: Race car. sportscar and high-end EVs manufacturing, weight reduction and improvement in efficiency.
- Sports: Used in sports equipment as bycicles, tenis racket,
- Medicine: Applied in the fabrication of prosthesis and medical equipment due to it's biocompatibility and durability
- Construction: Bridge and building reinforcement.
Conclusion
Carbon fiber is an exceptional material that continues driving innovation in many industries. Its unique properties and adaptability for “surface” or “shell” structures make it a great option for advanced engineering applications.
At Camacho Composites, we are committed to supplying the highest quality carbon fiber to help our clients achieve their goals and take their projects to the next level.
