How is carbon fiber cured?

[supraguy@aol]

Like the thread says, I was wondering how you actually treat carbon fiber, and form it. Is it worked in a similar fashion to fiberglass weave, in that it is used with a epoxy or polyester resin? I was just wondering if it was that easy, as it seems that it would make more sense to work with CF vs fiberglass due to it's strength, and there seems to be plenty of CF cloth available online. Thanks.

 

[Clip]

afaik (and what ive seen on How It's Made) its mostly like fiberglass. a sheet is laid on and resin is brushed on over that, then it goes into an autoclave (sparco used to have some info on theirs) or gets the air vacuumed out of it to let it cure bubble-free. pretty cool process.

 

[adampecush]

Heat and pressure curing (in an autoclave) will yield the optimal strength for a given fiber/resin mixture.

 

[Poodles]

soaking the fabric in the resin and then gettign rid of the excess helps too...

the cloth is starting to pick up in production again, but there are MANY different qualities...

Duane only used the best from the stuff I've seen of his...

 

[speed]

When i've laid carbon, the hardest part was (if it were the cosmetic layer) getting the weave to be uniform. But yes, its a cloth that you soak with a resin. There are different resins for structural layers versus the cosmetic layer. Ideally, you want to cure the carbon in an autoclave, which is a heated vacuum chamber. removes any air from the mold assuring that the carbon is fully impregnated with resin.

 

[Big Wang Bandit]

In my Oven

 

[Clip]

wtf, my pizza tastes like...carbon fiber?

 

[outofstep]

I cure my carbon fiber in an autoclave.