Carbon fibre

Other Names:

Carbon fibre, graphite fibre, carbon graphite or CF

Description:

Carbon fibre is a material consisting of fibres about 5–10 μm in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms. The carbon atoms are bonded together in crystals that are more or less aligned parallel to the long axis of the fibre. The crystal alignment gives the fibre high strength-to-volume ratio (makes it strong for its size). Several thousand carbon fibres are bundled together to form a tow, which may be used by itself or woven into a fabric.

The properties of carbon fibers are high stiffness, high tensile strength, low weight, high chemical resistance, high temperature tolerance and low thermal expansion.

Carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer contains carbon fibers and the polymer is most often epoxy, but other polymers, such as polyester or vinyl ester are sometimes used.

In 1958, Roger Bacon created high-performance carbon fibres at the Union Carbide. In the early 1960s, a process was developed by Dr. Akio Shindo at Agency of Industrial Science and Technology of Japan, using polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as a raw material. This had produced a carbon fibre that contained about 55% carbon.

In 1963 a process was developed by W. Watt, L. N. Phillips, and W. Johnson at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough and eventually used by rolls royce in the RB-211 jet engine compressor blades. They proved vulnerable to damage from bird impact which became a disaster and lead to RR being nationalised.

During the 1970s, experimental work to find alternative raw materials led to the introduction of carbon fibres made from a petroleum pitch derived from oil processing. These fibres contained about 85% carbon and had excellent flexural strength.

Advantages:

Carbon Fibre is used in RC model building because it is very light for its strength.

Disadvantages:

Handling:

Suppliers:

Marine supplies.