Carbon Fiber in Manufacturing

April 29, 2015 at 3:54pm

Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Polymers in Manufacturing & The Future of Carbon-based C

omposites

Composites & Plastics Manufacturing Processes

Spring 2015

Anthony Armetta

When a person hears the words Carbon Fiber , many things may come to mind. To the l
ayperson, the inclusion of the words Carbon Fiber in some new product or accessory
brings a sense of stiffness and lightness, of strength and resilience. But what
is Carbon Fiber? Carbon Fiber, or Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Polymers (for conveni
ence, these will henceforth be referred to as CFRPs) to be more technically corr
ect, are composites which use either epoxies or thermoplastics as binding polyme
rs, and incorporate carbon fibers to add strength and rigidity (see figure 1, ap
pendix). In some CFRP variations, Kevlar strands, fiberglass, or aluminum fibers
are added to enhance mechanical properties, or more often to decrease cost.
Now, for a more interesting question: What can carbon-fiber do? Carbon Fiber is
twice as stiff as aluminum, and certain varieties have a Young s Modulus of an unb
elievable 700 GPa. Carbon Fiber, unlike steel (which it is strong enough to comp
are to), is not sensitive to moisture, so it can readily be used outdoors withou
t requiring special waterproof coatings. Carbon Fiber is far lighter than steel,
at a mere 1.6 g/cm3, compared to steel s far-heftier 8.05 g/cm3. Further advances
in the technologies surrounding CF will surely reduce its cost. For example, th
ere exists a 3D printer which can produce CF parts.
There are, however, disadvantages to selecting CF. The first and most obvious hu
rdle would be its cost: carbon fiber costs up to $12 per pound. Compared to stee
l (currently on the market for less than a dollar per pound), it s quite pricey, a
nd wouldn t be chosen over it unless lowering weight was an absolute necessity. De
spite the higher material cost, however, steel has a higher processing cost sinc
e the metal is bought in bulk and trimmed to the correct shape and size. Carbon
fiber, on the other hand, can simply be manufactured in the correct shape. This
reduces steel s price advantage over CF from twelvefold to only eightfold.
Another disadvantage is that unlike Steel or Aluminum, Carbon Fiber s strength is
Anisotropic, since it is a fiber-based composite. When a part is made from CF, t
he direction of forces in the part is integrally important to the functionality
of the part. While a modulus of 70 GPa is quite common in an average sample of C
F, the in-plane shear strength may be only 5 GPa. This is not a problem one woul
d come across when using a metal or plastic.
Carbon fiber, until recently, has been in use in airborne and space-faring vehic

les only, since the industries which produce these have more money to throw at s
uperior properties. However, with recent reductions in the cost of carbon fiber
manufacturing, the automotive industry (as only one example) has seen more commo
n use of this material s superior performance and weight. As Brosius says in his a
rticle The Democratization of Carbon Fiber, It is clear that a composite part no
longer has to fly skyward to be called high-performance. [1] In earlier years, the
industry has seen usage of carbon fiber components, but only in higher-end manu
facturers, such as Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari.
As recently as a decade ago, the price of Carbon Fiber was around $35 per pound.
This is nearly triple its current price. A sampling of passersby at an auto ind
ustry trade show suggested that the market adoption price for Carbon Fiber was a
t $6 per pound [4]. This would be cheap enough that its superior properties woul
d outweigh its inferior cost. The use of Carbon Fiber in place of even half of t
he ferrous materials in a car would dramatically reduce weight without sacrifici
ng any safety, and could increase fuel efficiency by a whopping 30% [4], thereby
justifying any increased cost on a produced vehicle. Since most new automobiles
are paid for by credit, and payment is stretched over many months, the end cost
to the user (including fuel) may actually be less than a similar vehicle using
traditional (heavier) build materials.
There is yet another hurdle beyond price, however. While the use of composites i
n the automotive industry is currently increasing at a rate of 6% per year, only
0.6% of these composites are currently Carbon-fiber. The vast majority are Glas
s-fiber composites, at about 92% [4]. If all automakers switched to carbon fiber
for their mainstream production models, the current CF industry would not be ab
le to keep up with demand. It would seem that the materials revolution will have
to wait awhile.
However, appearances can be deceiving. While the giants of the industry may take
a while to beef up their own capacity, garage hobbyists have a new way to produ
ce their own tools and replacement parts. Recently, Markforged unveiled a 3D pri
nter capable of producing carbon fiber parts. The market price of this printer i
s $5500, and pre-orders are already being taken. It is also capable of using Kev
lar or fiberglass in place of the carbon fibers. Due to the cutting-edge nature
of this technology, there is an unfortunate lack of peer-reviewed studies on the
production rates, cost effectiveness, and mechanical properties of the printed
parts.
Brosius makes an interesting point in The Democratization of Carbon Fiber: the m
echanical properties of carbon fiber parts haven t even begun to approach their th
eoretical limits. There really hasn t been much advance in the tensile strength de
partment of this class of materials. The current demand in the industry is for c
arbon fiber parts with better compressive strength and higher stiffness.
It is interesting to note that the development of a material is completely top-d
own. The needed characteristics are laid out clearly, and the research departmen
ts will go to work developing the necessary properties into the material, rather
than the classical approach of discovering a material, analyzing its properties
, and finding applications for it. This stems from the fact that carbon fiber is
a completely manmade material: nothing even remotely like it exists in nature.
Despite this apparent slow speed of improvement in the material, there are studi
es and tests being conducted with the end goal of producing carbon fiber with be
tter properties. [5] A study has been conducted whose date of official publicati
on hasn t even arrived yet with the end goal of improving the properties of Carbon
Fiber through a grafting process. The experiment succeeded in improving the imp
act toughness and interfacial shear strength were improved significantly . However,
it will be a considerable length of time before this discovery is used in the i
ndustry.

It would be difficult if not impossible to thoroughly discuss the future of carb

on fiber without delving into carbon-based nano-materials such as carbon nano-tu
bes and graphene. Due to the continuous nature of these materials constituent mol
ecular compositions, they possess extraordinary strength and excellent electrica
l conductivity. This makes them ideally suited for a myriad of applications such
as energy storage, ultra-light-weight load-bearing components, and frames which
double as circuitry. The development to fruition of these materials would do fo
r the construction industry what the discovery of plastics did for the manufactu
ring industry: it would completely change how structures were designed and put t
ogether. Things which were previously impossible, such as a solar panel that dou
bles as a battery but is still lightweight enough to lift and install with one h
and, would become not only feasible but commonplace.
When articles on sites like Buzzfeed and Huffington Post excitedly put forth noi
sy articles about grapheme or carbon nanotubes (which are almost entirely flash
and little substance), they often leave out exactly what form the nanotubes or g
rapheme would take. In truth, these forms of carbon would only be useful as rein
forcing fibers or sheets. Despite their impressive strength and lightness, they
only manifest in extremely thin sheets or tubes. This, alone, does not make for
a very useful or versatile material.
Only by applying these materials as reinforcing fibers in an epoxy or thermoplas
tic matrix could they be truly useful. [6] Carbon nanotubes and Graphene will on
e day be part of a new form of Carbon Fiber, a form far closer to the theoretica
l maximum strength of carbon fibers. This will be a leap in properties far excee
ding any experimentation with grafting Polyethyleneimine onto the surface of an
existing Carbon Fiber part to bump its properties a single notch upwards. This w
ould radically change what carbon fiber is.
The question of how we will get from the world of today to the world where these
nano-materials are in common use is not an easy or straightforward question to
answer. However, the mere existences of experiments like Carbon nanotube-reinforc
ed Polyurethane Composite Fibers is quite a good start, especially considering th
is initial research into the possibility took place nearly a decade ago. In the
introduction to this paper, it is stated that The inclusion of CNTs in a polymer
holds the potential to improve the host material s mechanical, electrical or therm
al properties by orders of magnitude well above the performance possible with tr
aditional fillers.
Today s carbon fiber (CFRP) is, compared to Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Polymers, s
imply thermoplastic with random bits of carbon tossed in, which an observation q
uite far off from the public opinion that Carbon Fiber is already a space-age ma
terial. However, the experimental results of this very early experiment in the s
ure-to-be-lengthy history of CNTRPs are more than simply promising. Even though
the tubes being used were rife with defects, there was still a remarkable improv
ement in the properties of the material.
The tubes used in this experiment, the experiment having taken place in 2006, we
re very likely produced by a process known as Wet Spinning , which is a process sim
ilar to that of the production process of aramid (Kevlar) fibers. When carbon na
notubes are manufactured by almost any well-known bulk process, they are in a hai
rball-like clump which is relatively useless, consisting of a hodgepodge of types o
f the materials.[9] Wet spinning consisted of dissolving these clumps in an aci
d, and squirting (extruding) them in solution through a sieve-like array of hole
s to form long strands, not unlike a meat grinder. A breakthrough came in the ye
ar 2009, when the first true solvent for carbon nanotubes was developed: chloros
ulfonic acid. This allowed far denser concentrations of the nanotubes, leading t
o a tenfold increase in strength and conductivity. A cross-sectional view of the
fiber via scanning electron microscope is located in the Appendix (figure 2).

To briefly reiterate. The wet-spun fibers used in the 2006 experiment were at le
ast ten times weaker than what is currently possible to produce. They were not
aligned nearly as well as those in the fiber. And they still far exceeded tradit
ional carbon fiber reinforcement. If the thread mentioned in New Nanotech Fiber:
Robust Handling, Shocking Performance were used in place of traditional carbon fi
ber thread or tape, the mechanical improvements in properties would surely revol
utionize the industry. As stated in the Nanotech Fiber article, the conductivity o
f this thread is on par with that of gold or copper. This is good enough to be u
sed to replace the transatlantic data lines (which are in a worsening state of d
isrepair) allowing internet access and communication across the ocean, but this
application would be, purely, the carbon nanotube thread; not at all a composite
.
The true potential (that being cost-effective, light, stiff, conductive, weather
-resistant, resilient, essentially the closest real material to the ideal materi
al) of this nanotech fiber will only be reached when it is used in a composite,
as with carbon fiber before it. Due to the recent invention of this thread, ther
e should be experimentation going on at about the time of writing (May 2015) wit
h the use of this thread (which is potentially a proprietary invention, which wo
uld slow the development of this branch of materials slightly) in a composite. T
he results of these experiments would, likely, be published by 2016, or 2017 at
the latest. It is certainly advised to keep an eye out for these experiments resu
lts, as they will likely be the first shot fired in the coming materials revolut
ion.
Carbon fiber itself has not yet found widespread, consumer-directed use, instead
settling into a temporary niche as the material of choice for publicly funded e
ndeavors with inflated budgets and no bottom lines or overhead. It will likely b
e another five years (at current price trends) before widespread market adoption
of the material begins. The true beginning of the era of carbon composites will
then begin. Though there is evidence that Edison produced carbon fibers in the
1860s for use as a filament, carbon fibers were first intentionally produced in
labs in the 1950s, but for decades they were little more than a curiosity. It wa
s not until the late 2010s that they saw market applications outside of niche ar
eas. Carbon nanotubes were first theorized in 1991. They were first manufactured
in sizable quantities in 2003. Then, to make an educated guess by estimating b
ased on the carbon fiber timeline, carbon nanotube reinforced polymers will like
ly begin to see applications outside of lab experimentation by the year 2035 at
the absolute latest, or 2025 at the earliest. Full market adoption, and thereby
the obsolescence of plain CFRPs, would likely occur by 2050.
To conclude, Carbon Fiber is a wonderful material with great potential in the au
tomotive and construction industries, but it has struggled to find widespread ma
rket applications due to its prohibitively high price and low supply. Its streng
th is comparable to steel, and its stiffness is twice that of aluminum, but at a
sixth of the weight of steel and without the threat of oxidation. In 2006, an e
xperiment showed that the use of nanotubes instead of fibers in polyurethane com
posites would result in much-increased properties. In 2013, a thread consisting
of nanotubes was created, which will pave the way for a new generation of carbon
composites. However, we are not even yet in the carbon fiber age, so the best e
stimate that can be given still has a chance of being proven wrong (as either to
o conservative or too generous). It is unfortunate that such estimates lack the
strength of these carbon composites.

When a person hears the words Carbon Fiber , many things may come to mind. For all
the guessing the world does, we can only hope that one day, one of those things
will be cheap .

References
[1] Brosius, D. (2014, 11). THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF CARBON FIBER. High-Performanc
e Composites, 22, 7.
[2] NEWSLINE. (2006). Composites in Manufacturing, 22(2), 10-14
[3] J. Zhang, D.L. He, H.D. Wagner, E. Wiesel and J.B. Bai (2013) Interfacial st
udies of carbon fiber/epoxy composites using single fiber fragmentation test. Co
mposite Interfaces, Vol. 20, No. 6, 421 429
[4] Bregar, B. (2014, August). Price Keeping Carbon Fiber from Mass Adoption. Pl
astics News
[5] Lichun Ma, Linghui Meng, Guangshun Wu, Yuwei Wang, Min Zhao, Chunhua Zhang,
and Yudong Huang. Improving the Interfacial Properties of Carbon Fiber-Reinforce
d Epoxy Composites by Grafting of Branched Polyethyleneimine on Carbon Fiber Sur
face in Supercritical Methanol. Composites Science and Technology, Vol. 114, 19
June 2015, Pages 64-71
[6] Wei Chen, Xiaoming Tao, Yuyang Liu. Carbon Nanotube-Reinforced Polyurethane
Composite Fibers. Composites Science and Technology, Vol. 66, Issue 15, 1 Decemb
er 2006, Pages 3029-3034.
[7] Morinobu Endo, M. S. Dresselhaus. (2000) Carbon Fibers and Carbon Nanotubes.
Shinshu University, Nagano, Japan.
[8] Sakurai, Shunsuke et al. Influence of Lengths of Millimeter-Scale Single-Wall
ed Carbon Nanotube on Electrical and Mechanical Properties of Buckypaper. Nanosca
le Research Letters 8.1 (2013): 546. PMC. Web. 29 Apr. 2015.
[9] Boyd, Jade. New Nanotech Fiber: Robust Handling, Shocking Performance. Rice Un
iversity Featured Story. Web. 10 Jan. 2013.

Appendix

https://www.cnde.iastate.edu/sites/default/files/resize/ut/langleydelamcollab/la
minate%20plies-700x372.PNG
Fig. 1: Graphic depicting the structure of a carbon anotube Fiber

http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/0110-FIBER-SEM-med-310x285.jpg
Fig. 2: Cross-section of Carbon fiber composite.