How do you fab carbon fiber, anyone? Options

[Britain Smith]

Can anyone share their knowledge on how to fabricate carbon fiber peices...I would love to make some stuff out of carbon fiber but I don't know how to do it or where to get the materials.

Help????

-Britain (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif)

[TMorr]

Typical CFRP race car construction, for safety, which is now almost all components, uses primarily carbon fiber, with a percentage of high tenacity, low modulus fiber to act as basket to restrain the broken carbon fibers. (Kevlar, Dyneema, Spectra)
In a monocoque design, elements like the nose box are intended to fully obliterate, absorbing a huge amount of energy. Retaining the nose stucture to the mass of the car is critical to achieve this full effect.
By the time the impact is beginning to encroach on the driver cell, the crash is pretty serious and the obliteration of the monocoque could be disasterous, especially in the case of multiple impacts. For this reason, Kevlar, but even more effective, Dyneema, is used with the carbon fiber to act as an anti penetration barrier. The high tenacity fibers allow the carbon fiber to crumble, absorbing a huge amount of energy, but retain the mass of the structure around the driver, offering at least some protection in multiple contacts.
Most people proabably recall the horrific footage of Stan Fox at Indy, where he was effectively a driver strapped to a seat back tumbling down the front straight after an initial impact removed the front of his chassis. Modern construction techniques are specifically intended to reduce the risk of this kind of accident.
An Indy car monocoque is not as light as it could be, with manufacturing process, skin thickness, core thickness and weight and "other fibers" all mandated - For Safety.

For a club level project, assuming you have safe and adequate driver protection in the form of metal structures, the lightest and most cost effective panels, like door panels will be foam sandwich with either fiberglass or carbon skins depending on you budget.

A carbon or glass and foam sandwich door panel for a 914 would weigh about 2 - 2.5 lb without paint. This panel would be stiff enough to sanding block rub without significant deflection. The carbon will be stiffer, as a virtue of it's fiber stiffness, regardless of laminating resin or process.

Without using foam sandwich, the panel will be quite flexible and will require significantly more fiber weight before acceptable stiffness ( but still significantly lower) could be achieved.

Foam sandwich can be done at home using your shop vac and a plastic bag (not to laminate - only to bond the foam) and I am sure there would be many DIY web sites listing this kind of information. Other than bonding the foam, the whole job could be treated as a simple wet layup process and within the reach of most people. I am sure a 3lb door skin is something most people could make at home if they have the door mold at their disposal.

Regards

Hayden PTBT