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Carbon
Fiber Applications
What
Products Use Carbon Fiber Today?
Todd Johnson
Every day, a new application is found for carbon fiber.
What started out forty years ago as a highly exotic material is
now a part of our everyday lives.
These thin filaments, a tenth of the thickness of a human hair,
are now available in a wide range of useful forms.
The fibers are bundled, woven and shaped into tubes and
sheets (up to 1/2-inch thick) for construction purposes, supplied as a cloth for
molding, or just regular thread for filament winding.
Carbon Fiber In Flight
Carbon fiber has gone to the moon on spacecraft, but it is also
used widely in aircraft components and structures, where its superior strength
to weight ratio far exceeds that of any metal.
30 percent of all carbon fiber is used in the aerospace
industry.
From helicopters to
gliders, fighter jets to microlights, carbon fiber is playing its part,
increasing range and simplifying maintenance.
Sporting Goods
Its application in sports goods ranges from the stiffening of
running shoes to ice hockey sticks, tennis racquets, and golf clubs.
‘Shells’ (hulls for rowing) are built from it, and many lives
have been saved on motor racing circuits by its strength and damage tolerance
in body structures.
It is used in crash helmets too, for rock climbers, horse
riders, and motorcyclists – in fact in any sport where there is a danger of
head injury.
Military
The applications in the military are very wide-ranging – from
planes and missiles to protective helmets, providing strengthening and weight
reduction across all military equipment.
It takes energy to move weight – whether it is a soldier’s
personal gear or a field hospital, and weight saved means more weight moved per
gallon of gas.
A new military application is announced almost every day.
Perhaps the latest and most exotic military application is for
small flapping wings on miniaturized flying drones, used for surveillance
missions.
Of course, we don’t know about all military applications –
some carbon fiber
uses will always remain part of ‘black ops’ - in more ways than
one.
Carbon Fiber at Home
The uses of carbon fiber in the home are as broad as your
imagination, whether it is style or practical application.
For those who are style-conscious, it is often tagged as ‘the
new black’.
If you want a shiny black bathtub built from carbon fiber or a
coffee table then you can have just that, off the shelf.
iPhone cases, pens, and even bow ties – the look of carbon fiber
is unique and sexy.
Medical Applications
Carbon fiber offers several advantages over other materials in
the medical field, including the fact that it is ‘radiolucent’ – transparent to X-rays and
shows as black on X-ray images.
It is used widely in imaging equipment structures to support
limbs being X-rayed or treated with radiation.
The use of carbon fiber to strengthen damaged cruciate ligaments
in the knee is being researched, but probably the most well-known medical use
is that of prosthetics –
artificial limbs.
South African athlete Oscar Pistorius brought carbon fiber limbs
to prominence when the International Association of Athletics Federations
failed to ban him from competing in the Beijing Olympics.
His controversial carbon fiber right leg was said to give him an
unfair advantage, and there is still considerable debate about this.
Automobile Industry
As costs come down, carbon fiber is being more widely adopted in
automobiles.
Supercar bodies are built now, but its wider use is likely to be
on internal components such as instrument housings and seat frames.
Environmental Applications
As a chemical purifier, carbon is a powerful absorbent.
When it comes to the absorption of noxious or unpleasant
chemicals, then surface area is important.
For a given weight of carbon, thin filaments have far more
surface area than granules.
Although we see activated carbon granules
used as pet litter and for water purification, the potential for wider
environmental use is clear.
DIY
Despite its hi-tech image, easy to use kits are available
enabling carbon fiber to be employed in a wide range of home and hobby projects
where not only its strength but its visual appeal is a benefit.
Whether in cloth, solid sheet, tube or thread, the space-age
material is now widely available for everyday projects.
Todd
Johnson
Science
Expert
Education
B.S.,
Business Management, University of Colorado Boulder
Introduction
Regional
Sales Manager for Composites One, a distributor of composite materials.
B.S. in
Business Management from University of Colorado Boulder's Leeds School of
Business
Business
Development Manager for Ebert Composites Corporation
Experience
Todd
Johnson is a former writer for ThoughtCo, who wrote about plastics and
composite materials for 2-1/2 years between 2010 and 2013. He is a Regional
Sales Manager at Composites One, a composite materials distributor in San
Diego, CA. Johnson provides support to the Greater San Diego manufacturers of
fiber reinforced and polymer products. He regularly attends composite industry
trade shows including JEC, ACMA, SME, and SAMPE. In 2008 he presented at the
Global Pultrusion Conference in Baltimore, MD. Previously, Todd spent six years
as the Business Development Manager for Ebert Composites Corporation.
Education
B.S.,
Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services - the University
of Colorado-Boulder's Leeds School of Business; attended Griffith University in
Queensland, Australia.
A
Message from Todd Johnson
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