PROPERTIES

ADVANTAGES:

High Strength to Weight Ratio

Carbon fibers are strong and light, so they have a favorable Strength-to-Weight ratio. The value
for Carbon Fiber is 2457kN.m/kg. It also requires low amount of maintenance.

Corrosion Resistant

Although carbon fibers themselves do not deteriorate measurably, their epoxy is sensitive to
sunlight and needs to be protected. Other matrices (whatever the carbon fiber is embedded in)
may also be reactive. Carbon fibers can be affected by strong oxidizing agents

High Rigidity

Carbon fiber reinforced plastic is over 4 times stiffer than Glass reinforced plastic, almost 20
times more than pine, and 2.5 times greater than aluminum. 

Good electrical Conductivity

Carbon fiber does conduct electricity. It is not as good of a conductor as most metals, but if you
build a structure with it, you will find that its electrical conduction can easily contribute to
galvanic corrosion, by electrically connecting dissimilar metals.

Good Fatigue Resistance

Resistance to Fatigue in Carbon Fiber Composites is good. However, when carbon fiber fails it
usually fails catastrophically without significant exterior signs to announce its imminent failure.

Non-Flammable

Carbon fiber is classified as non-combustible and has no listed flash point. If it is exposed to high
heat in the presence of fuel burning, it can eventually oxidize but it is temporary.

Less Thermal Expansion

Low Coefficient of Thermal expansion makes carbon fiber suitable for applications where small
movements can be critical. Telescope and other optical machinery are one such application.

Non-Poisonous, Biologically Inert, X-Ray Permeable

These qualities make Carbon fiber useful in Medical applications. Prosthesis use, implants and
tendon repair, x-ray accessories surgical instruments, are all in development.
DISADVANTAGES:

Irritation:

Although not poisonous, the carbon fibers can be quite irritating and long-term unprotected
exposure needs to be limited. The matrix either epoxy or polyester, can however be toxic and
proper care needs to be exercised.

Relatively Expensive

Although it offers exceptional advantages of Strength, Rigidity and Weight reduction, its cost is
a deterrent. Unless the weight advantage is exceptionally important, such as in aeronautics
applications or racing, it often is not worth the extra cost.

Brittle

The layers in the fibers are formed by strong covalent bonds. The sheet-like aggregations readily
allow the propagation of cracks. When the fibers bend, they fail at very low strain. In other
words, carbon fiber does not bend much before failing.

Ungeared to Amateur techniques.

In order to maximize Carbon Fiber Characteristics, a relatively high level of technical

excellence must be achieved. Imperfections and air bubbles can significantly affect performance.
Typically, autoclaves, or vacuum equipment is required. Molds and mandrels are major expenses
as well.

FAILURE

Brittle materials such as carbon fiber does not always fail at the same stress level because of
internal flaws. They fail at small strains. Testing involves taking a sample with a fixed cross-
section area, and then pulling it gradually increasing the force until the sample changes shape or
breaks. Fibers, such as carbon fibers, being only 2/10,000th of an inch in diameter, are made into
composites of appropriate shapes in order to test.

Types of Carbon Fiber

CFRP:
Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites (CFRP) are lightweight, strong materials used in
the manufacturing of numerous products used in our daily life. It is a term used to describe a
fiber-reinforced composite material that uses carbon fiber as the primary structural component. It
should be noted that the "P" in CFRP can also stand for "plastic" instead of "polymer." In
general, CFRP composites use thermosetting resins such as epoxy, polyester, or vinyl ester.

Standard Modulus Carbon Fibers:

Standard modulus carbon fibers typically exhibit a fiber modulus of 33-34 msi, or slightly
higher. These are the most cost-effective fibers as measured by tensile strength or modulus per
unit cost.
T300 - Baseline carbon fiber used in aerospace applications. 
T400H - Enhanced tensile strength and modulus over T300 and T300J, specifically designed for
aerospace applications.
T700S - The highest strength, standard modulus fiber available, with outstanding processing
characteristics for filament winding, weaving and prepregging. This never-twisted fiber is used
in a variety of industrial and recreational applications, including pressure vessels such as natural
gas vehicle (NGV) storage tanks and SCBA breathing tanks.
T700G - Enhanced tensile modulus and adhesion properties over T700S. Applications of this
never-twisted fiber include aircraft and high performance sporting goods where demanding
conditions require superior composite properties.

Intermediate Modulus:
Intermediate modulus (IM) carbon fibers exhibit a tensile modulus of 42 msi. They were
originally developed for aerospace applications, IM fibers now find use in recreational and
industrial applications as well.
T800H - An intermediate modulus, high tensile strength fiber, with high level and balance
composite properties. Designed and developed to meet the weight saving demands of aircraft
applications. Is used in primary structure of commercial aircraft, including vertical fin and
horizontal stabilizers.
T800S - A very cost-effective, high tensile strength alternative to T800H. This never-twisted
fiber has especially high tensile properties.
T1000G - The world's highest tensile strength carbon fiber. Suitable for lightweight, tensile
strength critical applications such as pressure vessels for aerospace vehicles, and satellites, as
well as hydrogen storage tanks for fuel cell vehicles.
T1100G - Next generation intermediate modulus fiber with excellent processability in traditional
manufacturing methods (weaving, PrePreg, etc.)
T1100S - Next generation intermediate modulus fiber with excellent processability in traditional
manufacturing methods (filament winding). 

High Modulus Carbon Fibers:

Toray's MJ and M-series high modulus carbon fibers represent the highest modulus PAN-based
carbon fibers available. PAN-based high modulus fibers are superior to pitch-based fibers due to
tensile and compressive strengths that are often times more than twice that of a corresponding
pitch-based fiber. The MJ series fibers offer enhanced tensile strength and elongation over M
series fibers. They are typically used in stiffness and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE)-
critical applications such as spacecraft, premium sporting goods and industrial rollers.

Heat Treatment
Activated carbon fibers are prepared from general purpose carbon fibers by a heat treatment in
order to achieve a high level of porosity. It is used in filters, face masks, and for air purification.
Based on final heat treatment temperature, carbon fibers are classified into:
 Type-I, high-heat-treatment carbon fibers (HTT), where final heat treatment temperature
should be above 2000°C and can be associated with high-modulus type fiber.
 Type-II, intermediate-heat-treatment carbon fibers (IHT), where final heat treatment
temperature should be around or above 1500°C and can be associated with high-strength
type fiber.
 Type-III, low-heat-treatment carbon fibers, where final heat treatment temperatures not
greater than 1000°C. These are low modulus and low strength materials.
During the heat treatment of the T300B fiber, which is a high performance carbon fiber
reinforced epoxy matrix composite, specifically during curing process it was observed through
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy that activated carbon atoms can be detected, which are carbon
atoms conjunction with oxygen and nitrogen. Surface chemistry analysis shows that the content
of activated carbon atoms on treated carbon fiber surface, especially those connect with the
hydroxyl decreases with the increasing heat treatment temperature. Inverse gas chromatography
(IGC) analysis reveals that the dispersive surface energy γ Sd increases and the polar surface
energy γ Ssp decreases as the heat treatment temperature increases to 200. Contact angle
between carbon fiber and epoxy E51 resin, which is studied by dynamic contact angle test
(DCAT) increases with the increasing heat treatment temperature, indicating the worse
wettability comparing with the untreated fiber. Moreover, micro-droplet test shows that the
interfacial shear strength (IFSS) of the treated carbon fiber/epoxy is lower than that of the
untreated T300B fiber which is attributed to the decrement of the content of reactive functional
groups including hydrogen group and epoxy group.
In a study conducted by Department of Nanoengineering, JSNN, North Carolina A&T State
University Greensboro, North Carolina, USA the effects of heat treatment on carbon fabric used
for fabricating laminated carbon fiber reinforced composite with epoxy resin was studied.  The
heat treatment of the carbon fabric involved two stages. The first stage is called stabilization
(term usually used for the PAN fiber treatment) which was performed in air at 280oC for 6 hours
and then followed by nitrogen at 1200oC for 1 hour. The ramp rate for the temperature increase
was 5oC/min. For both the set of materials, carbon fabric used was Hexcel AS4twill type. The
resin used was EPON 862 with 26.4 % hardener Epikure W. Twelve layers of carbon plies were
stacked and composite laminates were fabricated using HVARTM method (See Fig.1). The
panels were then cured at 149oC for three hours.
Heat treated carbon fibers appeared much brittle and were less pliable compared to the fibers that
were not subjected to any heat treatment. Stacking the heat treated carbon fabric was more
difficult as significant amount of fibers came out from the towsat the edges. The brittle behavior
of the heat treated fibers indicated possible loss of sizing treatment during the heat treatment.
Once the carbon fabric was heat treated, they were stacked under the same vacuum bag along
with the conventional carbon fibers and two types of laminates were fabricated using HVARTM
technique. Significant thickness variation was observed for the laminates manufactured using
heat treated carbon fabric and the one which was manufactured using thenon-heat treated
counterpart. The ultimate tensile strength was reduced from 819 MPa to 252 MPa for heat treated
fiber composite. The neat resin (Epon 862-W) ultimate tensile strength was reported as 102 MPa
by Theodoreet al. The observed change in mechanical properties of the heat treated carbon fiber
composite possibly indicates the change in fiber properties by the additional heat application
[20]. The fiber topography was characterized by SEM to observe the possible change in surface
degradation shows a representative surface topography of two types of fiber used in the present
investigation. No significant change in fiber dimension was noticed. Topographic examination
indicated some left over flakes of sizing on the surface of the heat treated carbon fabric
indicating possible exposure of surface flaws due to removal of sizing compounds or/and a
possible change in chemical properties of the fiber surface. To understand the cause of reduction
in strength and stiffness of the carbon fibers due to heat treatment, number of FTIR studies were
performed on the carbon fibers. Usually the FTIR results for pure carbon do not show any peaks
of transmittance over the wide range of frequency spectra. To observe the possible changes in
chemical bonding due to heat treatment detailed FTIR investigations were performed for the heat
treated and non-heat treated carbon fibers. The figure clearly indicates two characteristic peaks:
one at approximate 3300 cm-1 region and another at 1630cm- 1region. The possible bonds for the
first region are amines, -NH (range 3100-3500), hydrogen bonded alcohols, -OH (3200-3500)
or carboxylic acid, –COOH (range 2400-3400). The second region indicates a possible amide,
-NR (bend) vibration resonance (range 1550-1640). Two distinct regions on heat treated carbon
fiber FTIR curve are indicative in terms of change in chemical bonds of fibers due to heat
treatment.
 Applications
Aerospace and space were some of the first industries to adopt carbon fiber. The high modulus of
carbon fiber makes it suitable structurally to replace alloys such as aluminum and titanium. The
weight savings carbon fiber provides is the primary reason carbon fiber has been adopted by the
aerospace industry. An example is Boeing 787 Dreamliner whose structure has a majority
composition of carbon fiber reinforced composites.
Tennis rackets, golf clubs, softball bats, hockey sticks, and archery arrows and bows are all
products commonly manufactured with carbon fiber reinforced composites.
Carbon fiber is also used in the manufacture of spare (a stiffening rib that runs the length of the
blade) in wind turbines.
References
https://www.materialsciencejournal.org/vol14no1/carbon-fibres-production-properties-and-
potential-use/
https://www.academia.edu/36508753/EFFECT_OF_HEAT_TREATMENT_ON_MECHANICA
L_PROPERTIES_OF_LAMINATED_CARBON_FIBER_REINFORCED_POLYMERIC_CO
MPOSITES
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S016943321100674X
https://www.thoughtco.com/uses-of-carbon-fiber-820394
Christine DeMerchant
Materialsciencejournal.org
performance-composites.com
clearwatercomposites.com
https://www.thoughtco.com/understanding-cfrp-composites-820393
https://www.toraycma.com/page.php?id=661