Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic

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Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic
MEEN 3344
By Favio Rodriguez
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What is Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic?

• Carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP or CRP) is
  a light-weight, high strength, composite
  material.
• Depending on the task, carbon fiber reinforced
  plastic is made with different kind of plastics
  and fibers.
• A number of factors depend for the process of
  CFRP, molds are usually made from aluminum or
  fiberglass. For low volume parts, it can be made
  by putting carbon fiber fabric and resin into a
  mold and allowing to harden in a vacuum. To
  create larger volume parts, compression molding
  is used.

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Plastics and Fibers Used

• Epoxy (Most commonly used)
• Polyester
• Such as Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)
• Vynilester
• Nylon
• Kevlar
• Aluminum

MEEN 4385 / 5303 (Advanced) Fabrication of
Composite Structures
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Material Properties
Typical Properties High Strength High Modulus Ultra-High Modulus
Density (g/cm3) 1.8 1.9 2.0 - 2.1
Young's Modulus (GPa) 230 370 520 - 620
Tensile Strength (GPa) 2.48 1.79 1.03 - 1.31
Tensile Elongation () 1.1 0.5 0.2
Table for carbon fibers
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CFRP Applications

• In cars, CFRP is used in doors, hoods, fenders,
  chasis, and support frames for the engine and
  transmission.
• In airplanes, CFRP is used in fuselage sections
  called barrels.
• Other applications, racing bicycles, rackets,
  fishing rods,

Fuselage mold section of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner
Tail of an RC helicopter, made of CFRP
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Advantages

• Reduces weight.
• Improves fuel efficiency.
• Easier to mold and work.
• Reduces drag.
• Reduces pollution.
• Lesser material used.
• Longer lifetime.
• Less maintenance.

A cars pollution
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References

• http//www.aip.org/dbis/stories/2006/15132.html
• http//www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2006/0211-cars_
  of_the_future_plastic_makes_perfect.htm
• http//www.conceptsalesinc.com/carbon-fiber-reinfo
  rced-plastic.htm
• http//www.fhwa.dot.gov/BRIDGE/frp/frp197.cfm
• Peel, Dr. Larry., MEEN 4385 / 5303 (Advanced)
  Fabrication of Composite Structures.
  http//www.engineer.tamuk.edu/departments/ieen/fac
  ulty/DrLPeel/Courses/composites_fab_class.html.
  Spring 2008.