Automotive customization has increased more than ever and it also upgraded performances and emerges as a material of choice for various enthusiastic and professionals.
Accessories like McLaren 720S carbon
fiber is renowned for its exceptional strength-to-weight and aesthetic
appeal. Overall, carbon fiber has truly revolutionized the way car parts are
designed and manufactured.
In this blog we will talk about everything
about carbon fiber and the benefits of integrating into your automobile.
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What Is Carbon Fiber?
Carbon fiber is composed of 5 to 10
micron strands that consists of long, tightly interlocked chains of carbon
atoms in a microscopic crystalline structure. Carbon fiber strands are
extremely stiff, strong, and lightweight and used in many process in order to
create high-performance building materials.
Carbon fiber comes in various weaves,
braids and other formats like tow and unit-directionals. These carbon fiber is
combined with various resins to create carbon fiber-reinforced composites in
various shapes and patterns.
How Carbon
Fiber Is Made?
Step One; Precursor
In order to produce carbon fiber, the
first thing that requires is polymer precursor. The raw material is processes
with heat and chemical agent in order to convert it to carbon fiber. The
high-performance carbon-fiber products are made from rayon precursor.
Around 90% of carbon fiber is made from
polyacrylonitrile and others are made from rayon and petroleum pitch.
Step Two;
Manufacturing
The carbon fiber manufacturing process
starts with carbonization. It helps to achieve high-quality carbon fiber – that
contains high percentage of carbon atoms. The majority of non-carbon atoms
needs to be removed in the process.
First of all, the precursor is pulled
into long fibers and the fibers are heated to a very high temperature within an
anaerobic gas mixture. The heat helps to energizes the atomic structure of the
fiber and drives off the non-carbon atoms from the materials.
Step Three; Treatment
After the carbonization, the surface of
the carbon fiber needs to be treated in order to improve bendability with
epoxies and other resins. Careful oxidation on the surface of the carbon fiber
helps to improve chemical bonding properties while roughening the surface that
offers improved mechanical bonding.
The process of oxidation can be
accomplished in different ways, the carbon fiber needs to be exposed to various
gases including carbon dioxide and ozone and liquids like nitic acid.
Final Step; Sizing
Before weaving, the carbon fibers should be sized and coated with polymer in order to protect them during the weaving process. The sizing needs to be done based on compatibility with lamination resin. The fibers are then wound onto the bobbins and processed in various weaves and formats.
Reasons to Use Carbon Fiber in Your Automobile?
While purchasing McLaren 720S Body Kit, you may find
different materials. However, it is always wise to go for carbon fiber, but
why? Here’s the reasons:
Because of Its
Strength
What could be the most important things
you will consider before including anything to your car? The first thing can be
its appearance and next is its strength. The primary reason to consider carbon
fiber is its high stiffness that no metal can compete. Carbon fiber products
are very stiff and relatively light compared to their size.
Ideally, the stiffness of the material
is measured by the modules of elasticity. The modulus carbon fiber is typically
34 MSI and the ultimate tensile strength of carbon fiber is 600-700 KSI.
Compared to Aluminum that comes with
modulus of 10 MSI, steel with 30 MSI. In fact, high and ultra-high modulus carbon
fiber is also available due to the refinements in the materials and processing
of carbon fiber. The composite carbon fiber is a combination of carbon fiber
and resin that is typically epoxy. The strength of carbon fiber is the
combination of strength and stiffness of both resin and fiber.
If you consider the option to customize
carbon fiber panel stiffness through strategic fiber placement and it includes
significant increase in stiffness. Well, it is impossible to replace the
thickness of carbon fiber plate that can replace a steel plate without careful
consideration of all design factors. It is accomplished through careful
engineering analysis and experimental validation.
Low Thermal Expansion
Another important benefit of choosing
carbon fiber is that its dimensional stability with changing temperature. Carbon
fiber has coefficient of thermal expansion of less than one-millionth of an inches
per degree F.
Anisotropic Properties
While designing composite parts you cannot simply compare the properties of carbon fiber and steel, plastic or aluminum. The materials have homogeneous properties and isotropic. In a carbon fiber part, the strength resides along the axis of fiber and therefore, the fiber density and orientation significantly impact the mechanism property.
Successful Engineering with Carbon Fiber
In order to design carbon fiber products,
the engineer needs to understand the specific demand of the clients. As it
offers great design flexibility, product and process development are done simultaneously
on the basis of technical requirements and cost consideration.
In fact, the carbon fiber design
process includes a great deal of interaction between CAD design and analytical
and computational analysis and cost analysis as well. It requires varied carbon
fiber design projects to emphasis in these areas based on client’s requirement
and applications.
With advanced computation tool is used
to analyses the composites. Apart from the internal expertise, it is particular
to analyses the challenging phases to make the most of the prototype.
Wrapping Up
From simple to complex, at Exotic Car
Gear, we use advanced carbon fiber fabrication technique to develop superior
result. To accomplish the result, we integrate three core strength including
innovation, technology and creativity.
Do you need advanced engineering
service to complete your automobile project? Visit our website and request for
a quote.
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