Page 30 - Evan Luby

29 CARBON FIBRE SWATCH

CARBON FIBRE

DESCRIPTION SWATCH MODEL EXAMPLE

Carbon bers or carbon bres
(alternatively CF, graphite ber
or graphite bre) are bers

about 5 to 10 micrometers
(0.00020–0.00039 in) in diame-
ter and composed mostly of

carbon atoms. Carbon bers
have several advantages includ-
ing high sti ness, high tensile

strength, low weight, high SWATCH
chemical resistance, high tem- PROCESS
perature tolerance and low ther-

mal expansion. These properties
have made carbon ber very 1 - Spray a matte black spray paint onto the
popular in aerospace, civil engi- swatch as a base layer

neering, military, and motor-
sports, along with other compe- 2 - Then cover the swatch with a piece of mesh
tition sports. However, they are that has squares in it

relatively expensive when com- 3- Spray a second and last layer of spray, this
pared with similar bers, such as
glass bers or plastic bre. time being silver