About Carbon
Is A Carbon Fiber Cloth Actually Worth It?
Is A Carbon Fiber Cloth Actually Worth It?
In this article we'll take a look at the most common use of carbon fiber, and why it is so commonly used. First, let's define what carbon fiber cloth really is: Carbon fiber is essentially the backbone of most lightweight composites. Understanding what carbon fiber cloth really is needed in this context, understanding both the manufacturing process as well as composite industry jargon. The main strength attribute that carbon fiber is measured upon, is'modulus'.
That's right, the softer you have to make the cloth, the higher the modulus. So, carbon fiber cloth, even though it's a very soft composites, is very stiff as well, but it's nowhere near as stiff as carbon composites such as fiberglass or aluminum. When you compare these two to each other, they're about the same, so comparing carbon fiber cloth to composites is somewhat misleading, because although they are very similar in all aspects, they are not identical.
As a quick aside, did you know that in an effort to cut back on their overall weight, major carpet manufacturers like Hertz, Carpetworld, and Kohler have all started putting heavy discounts on their carbon fiber cloth? Why? Because it's a special sale, they claim, and because of all the problems with our environment, they've finally resorted to it. We won't go into the details here, but you might be interested to find out if you'd be able to save some money by ordering your discount apparel through the same company, as well.
Now, for our discussion. One of the issues with fiberglass and aluminum composites is that they cannot handle very high temperatures. Heat warping is common when making these materials and it quickly gets out of control once it happens. When you get right up into the 90's in temperature, that heat distortion becomes a significant problem, and it can make it almost impossible to get that long-lasting shine that you got from the last fiberglass carpet you bought.
With a fiberglass product, you could potentially go up to twelvek, but that would take care of the issue of heat distortion quite nicely. But twelve k is too much of a stretch for our purposes, and even a tenk weave would be way too dense to support the weight of a car or truck. At best, you could get three to four k fibers woven together to create a one liner, but that still wouldn't be very durable. You could stretch it, but it would break at the points where the stretching goes beyond twelve k. It would be very hard to get this to work properly. The same thing goes for aluminum; it's got its advantages, but the only way to really get a significant amount of strength from that material is through a 12k weave.
You're not going to get the results you want with a carbon fiber fabric cover; if you've got an old RV or other piece of heavy equipment sitting in your garage, you should look into buying some covers made of this material. They're very affordable and they'll last for a long time. If you're not using it already, I'd suggest buying one and finding out exactly how durable it is.
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