What Is Carbon Fiber?
Vice President recently visited National Aerospace Limited (NAL) facilities and laid the foundation stone of the Centre for Carbon Fiber and Prepregs in Bengaluru.
- Carbon fiber can have higher cost than other materials which has been one of the limiting factors of adoption.
- Carbon fiber, also known as graphite fiber or carbon graphite, is a material consisting of thin, strong crystalline filaments of carbon.
- These fibers are about 5 to 10 micrometers in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms.
- The properties of carbon fibers include:
- High stiffness
- High tensile strength
- High strength-to-weight ratio
- High chemical resistance
- High-temperature tolerance
- Low thermal expansion
- These properties make carbon fiber popular in various fields such as aerospace, civil engineering, military, motorsports, and other competition sports.
- However, they are relatively expensive compared to similar fibers, such as glass fibers, basalt fibers, or plastic fibers.
- Carbon fibers are usually combined with other materials to form a composite.
- For example, when permeated with a plastic resin and baked, it forms carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer which has a very high strength-to-weight ratio and is extremely rigid although somewhat brittle.
- Carbon fibers are also composited with other materials, such as graphite, to form reinforced carbon-carbon composites, which have a very high heat tolerance.
- Carbon fiber-reinforced materials are used to make aircraft and spacecraft parts, racing car bodies, golf club shafts, bicycle frames, fishing rods, automobile springs, sailboat masts, and many other components where light weight and high strength are needed.
