Once-exotic carbon fiber inches toward the mainstream

摘要

Time has long been carbon fiber's enemy. The time a preim-pregnated sheet of woven carbon fiber can spend at room temperature before it starts to set up; the time it takes to lay up a structure of this "pre-preg" in a mold; the time it then spends in an autoclave at 220-350 degrees F and 100 psi pressure. Sure, the weight savings were impressive (at least 50 percent relative to steel and 30 percent versus aluminum), but the labor cost and cycle time suited exotics only.