Uses of Carbon Fiber

Structure of carbon fiber: Carbon filament thread is a bundle of thousand carbon filaments. A single filament is a thin tube with a diameter of 5-8micrometers. The atomic structure of carbon fiber is similar to that of graphite consisting of sheets of carbon atoms arranged in a regular hexagonal pattern. The sheets are interlocked to each other. Intermolecular forces between the sheets are relatively weak Van der Waals force.

Applications/Uses of Carbon fiber: Carbon fiber usually combined with other materials to form a composite as reinforce materials. Carbon fiber are used in several processing techniques, the direct uses are for peoregging, filament winding, weaving, braiding, carbon filament fabric or cloth etc. They are popular for aerospace, civil engineering, military engineering or other competitive sports.

Applications of Carbon Fiber are given as shortly:

1. Aerospace, road and marine transport, sporting goods.
2. Missiles, aircraft brakes, aerospace antenna and support structure, large telescopes, optical benches, waveguides for stable high-frequency (GHz) precision measurement frames.
3. Audio equipment, loudspeakers for Hi-fi equipment, pickup arms, robot arms.
4. Automobile hoods, novel tooling, casings and bases for electronic equipments, EMI and RF shielding, brushes.
5. Medical applications in prostheses, surgery and x-ray equipment, implants, tendon/ligament repair.
6. Textile machinery, genera engineering.
7. Chemical industry; nuclear field; valves, seals, and pump components in process plants.
8. Large generator retaining rings, radiological equipment.

Carbon fiber is sometimes used in conjunction with fiberglass because of their similar manufacturing processes, an example of this would be the Corvette ZO6 where the front end is carbon fiber and the rear is fiberglass. Carbon fiber is however, far stronger and lighter than fiber glass. Carbon fiber can be found in a wide range of performance vehicles including sports cars, super bikes, pedal bikes (where they are used to make frames), powerboats and it is often used in the tuning and customizing industry where attractive woven panels are left unpainted to 'show off' the material.