İntroduction
Carbon fiber (alternately called graphite fiber) is a polymer (made from another
polymer, called polyacrylonitrile, by a complicated heating process) which is a
form of graphite material consisting of extremely thin fibers about 0.005-0.010
mm in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms. The carbon atoms are
bonded together in microscopic crystals (hexagonal aromatic rings) that are
more or less aligned parallel to the long axis of the fiber. The crystal alignment
makes the fiber incredibly strong for its size. Several thousand carbon fibers are
twisted together to form a yarn, which may be used by itself or woven into a
fabric. Carbon fiber can be combined with epoxy and wound or molded to form
composite materials such as carbon fiber reinforced plastic (also referenced as
carbon fiber) to provide a high strength to weight ratio material. The density of
carbon fiber is also considerably lower than the density of steel making it ideal
for applications requiring low weight. The properties of carbon fiber such as
high tensile strength, low weight, and low thermal expansion make it very
popular in aerospace, military, and motorsports along with other competition
sports. The unique appearance of carbon fiber also makes it popular for stylistic
purposes.
These fibers are not used by themselves. Instead, they're used to reinforce
materials like epoxy resins and other thermosetting materials. We call these
reinforced materials composites because they have more than one component.
Carbon fiber Specific elastic Modulus Carbon Fatigue resistance
Carbon fiber reinforced composites are very strong for their weight. They're
often stronger than steel, but a whole lot lighter. Because of this, they can be
used to replace metals in many uses, from parts for airplanes and the space
shuttle to tennis rackets and golf clubs.
As technology advancing from year to year, in the last few of them new fibres
and resin systems offering improved mechanical and thermal capabilities,
entered in Formula 1, coveted by Formula One engineers. This advancement is
visible especialy in area of design of the weave for composite fabrics.
Most Formula One components are traditionally manually laminated using
continuous pre-impregnated (pre-preg) carbon fibre reinforcements with either
unidirectional (UD) fibres or woven fabrics, as explained before, often referred
to as cloth.
Ferrari F14T 2014
showing interrior of his
sidepods woven with STF
Conventional cloth weave designs
commonly include plain weaves, 2
x 2 twills and satin weaves. Each of
these have different surface finish
smoothness and strenght. The
combination of different
characteristics in each individual
weave style have some level of
compromise, and this has driven
the research and optimisation of
weave design. Advances in textile
"Light in weight, Strong and Durable!" Carbon Fibers are nothing but a 21st.
century high technology material. The fibers have low specific gravity, exquisite
mechanical properties (high specific tensile strength, high specific elastic
modulus, etc.) and attractive performances (electric conductivity, heat
resistance, low thermal expansion coefficient, chemical stability, self-
lubrication property, high heat conductivity, etc.). Those features have been
stimulating Carbon Fiber users to develop numerous kinds of applications.
Advantages & Disadvantages
The advantages of carbon fiber materials are significant. First of all carbon
fibers are very light fibers resulting in lightweight structures. Furthermore, one
can chose between stiff or strong fibers depending on the composite part being
produced and the type of carbon fiber material required. The exceptional
impact properties make carbon fiber advantageous in various industry
segments. During an impact carbon fibers disintegrates (metal instead would
simply deform) which can make it is a very efficient energy dissipation
mechanism. Although carbon fiber is fairly expensive compared to other more
common fibers like fiberglass, the price is steadily decreasing due to the
progress of production technology. Another major advantage is its thermal
expansion is basically zero – this means that a metal for instance is expanding
when heated, carbon fiber remains in its basic form. For specific projects where
thermal stability is required carbon fiber can be a tremendous benefit.
Moreover, the material can resist very high temperatures (1000 Celsius).
Carbon fiber composite structures do not suffer any fatigue issues if designed
and dimensioned properly. Finally, carbon fiber is permeable to X-ray and does
not corrode, which is a huge issue with metals.
The material also has disadvantages that need to be taken into consideration
when planning a project. For instance, carbon fiber is fairly expensive
compared to other materials. Moreover, carbon fiber is an electric conductor
and as such can reflect radio waves which can be a disadvantage in some cases.
also, when the material brakes, the parts disintegrate which can cause
some unpredictable results. For example in Formula One racing, debris from an
impact can fly in multiple directions which could have safety implications for
the driver. Finally, the manufacturing process for composite components can
be more labor intensive than metallic parts.
Carbon Fiber In Summary
Summarizing, carbon fiber is one of the most used fibers in many businesses
simply because one of the lightest and strongest fiber available:
High stiffness to weight ratio
High strength
Corrosion resistant
Fatigue resistant
Energy Absorption on Impact
Tailored material properties
Glass fiber and its advantages
Glass fibers used for reinforcing composites generally range in diameter from
0.00035" to 0.00090" (9 to 23 microns). Fibers are drawn at high speeds,
approaching 200 miles per hour, through small holes in electrically heated
bushings. These bushings form the individual filaments. The filaments are
gathered into groups or bundles called "strands." The filaments are attenuated
from the bushing, water and air cooled, and then coated with a proprietary
chemical binder or sizing to protect the filaments and enhance the composite
laminate properties. The sizing also determines the processing characteristics
of the glass fiber and the conditions at the fiber-matrix interface in the
composite.
Glass is generally a good impact resistant fiber but weighs more than carbon or
aramid. Glass fibers have excellent characteristics, equal to or better than steel
in certain forms. The lower modulus requires special design treatment where
stiffness is critical. Composites made from this material exhibit very good
electrical and thermal insulation properties. Glass fibers are also transparent to
radio frequency radiation and are used in radar antenna applications.
Glass Fiber is one of the most common fibers in the composites industry. The
main reason for its use is the relatively low costs involved as glass fiber is
significantly cheaper than carbon fiber, for example. This makes glass fiber
attractive for the production of large composite structures like boats, wind
turbines and so on. Additionally, glass fiber is available in various grades. The E
grade is the most common one, but also R and S are available. Both R and S
grades have better mechanical properties but are more expensive compared to
the E grade.
The trends in industry and products for lightweight solutions for products have
pushed the interest of Fibre Reinforced Plastic, FRP, composites in the last
years. The technology in itself is from the early 1900s but because of high costs
it has been used mostly in low volume production of high-tech or sports
products. New demands on energy efficiency and resulting requirement of
lighter products have caused a need for utilizing the weight advantage of FRP.
This also means that there is a need to improve FRP production processes since
they are still far behind other processes regarding both speed and costs. As
stated above FRP can deliver high stiffness and strength at a very low weight if
proper design is used. FRP utilizes strong fibres bonded in a plastic matrix.
Commonly used fibres going from cheap to expensive are, glass, carbon, and
aramid. For lightweight construction carbon fibre, CFRP, are the most
interesting since they have the highest stiffness to weight ratio. The plastic
matrix is commonly a thermosetting plastic, the most common from cheap to
expensive being polyester, vinylester, or epoxy. The thermosets are two
component solutions which are mixed before application. Since thermosets are
in liquid state at the application and then undergoes crosslinking and
solidification they can conform to complex geometries in one forming step, like
for example a complete boat hull. FRP works by distributing the forces on the
composite from the matrix into the reinforcement. This means the composite is
only as strong as the bond between
the reinforcement and the matrix (N.
G. McCrum, 1997). This means a high
surface to volume ratio of the
reinforcement is needed resulting in
two possible shapes for the
reinforcement, fibres and platelet.
Although platelets can be used in
some applications, mostly fibres are
used because of the better
formability.
Area to volume ratio for a cylinder shape (Source: Oxford University Press Inc., Author: McGrum, N.
G.)
In order to fully utilize the strength of the reinforcement the shear bond
between fibre and matrix must be stronger than the fibre itself. If this is not the
case the fibre will just break loosed from the matrix resulting in failure of the
matrix. This is described by the critical length, which is the length where the
fibre will break at the same time as the matrix.
Increasing the fibre length further from the critical length makes the FRP
stronger by distributing the shear load in the matrix over a larger area.
Continuous long fibres are therefore the best case scenario. Longer fibres are
however more process demanding to form so shorter fibres are often used for
convenience. As important for the strength of the FRP is the amount of fibres
added to the matrix. This relation is described using the volume fraction of
fibres in the FRP volume. As seen in Figure (downside) the volume fraction of
fibres, sigmaf, highly influences the strength of the composite.
Volume fraction to tensile strength relationship (Source: Oxford University Press Inc., Author:
McGrum, N. G.)
Mold manufacturing – Concept
Positive molds
Bonded halves
Positive mold
Internal thread
Negative molds
The decision to use a male (or positive) mold or a female (or negative) mold
depends on the shape of the part, where tolerances are important, surface
finish, mechanical requirements of the finished part, and many other factors.
With a male mold, the plastic is stretched over the mold, and then vacuum is
applied to draw the plastic down onto the surface of the mold.
With a female mold, the plastic is drawn down into a cavity by the vacuum.
Thermoforming
Thermoforming is the process of heating a sheet of plastic material, and using
pressure to shape it using a mold. Vacuum forming refers to the use of vacuum
to force the plastic into the shape of the mold. We also do pressure forming,
which, as you might guess, uses pressure, along with vacuum, to force the
plastic into the mold cavity. Drape forming, the simplest form of
thermoforming, primarily uses gravity to form the part over a mold. Each type
of forming has it's own specific advantages.
Large panels, housings, enclosures, and other similar parts are ideal for
thermoforming. Tooling costs for these parts is considerably less than for
injection molding, which due to the large part size may have prohibitive tooling
costs. Parts with features mostly confined to one side of the part are best
suited to thermoforming, but it is often possible to implement or add features
to the uncontrolled side during forming, trimming, fabrication, and
assembly.
The mold defines the shape of the plastic, and tolerances can be controlled on
the side of the plastic that contacts the mold. The opposite side, away from the
mold, is predictable, but not controlled, because the plastic will stretch around
the mold and produce varying thicknesses.
Using Technologies for produce prototype
The prototype race car is to be evaluated for its potential as a production item.
Because the target marketing group for the race car is the non-professional
weekend autocross racer, the car must have excellent handling, braking and
acceleration performance.For example The Student Formula Japan car weighs
150–200 kg with horsepower figures of 30–80 kW and a 0–100 km/h time in
the 4–5 s range, lateral acceleration of up to 2.0 g and a 60 to 0 braking
distance of about 35 m. However, dynamic performance alone is insufficient.
The car must be affordable, easy to maintain, and reliable. In addition,
ergonomics and aesthetics must be considered. Any team can achieve these
requirements using large amounts of money, but the Formula SAE competition
requires that the maximum cost of the car not be more than $25,000.