Materials Technology : Carbon Fiber

English for Engineering Papers

Prepared by:

William Simangunsong (170403112)

Brian (170403113)
Jamichael Damanik (170403115)

Department of Industrial Engineering

Faculty of Engineering
University of Sumatera Utara
Medan
2017

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 PREFACE

Thank to Almighty God who has given His bless to the writers for finishing this English
for Enginneering papers . The writers also wish to express his deep and sincere gratitude for those
who have guided in completing this paper, especially to Ir. Mangara M. Tambunan, M.Sc. as the
English for Engineering lecturer that always teaches us and give much knowledge about how to
be a professional engineer.
This English for Engineering papers contains some explanation about materials technology,
especially carbon fiber . I realized this papers is not perfect, but I hope it can be useful for us.
Critics and suggestion is needed here to make this papers be better.

Medan, September 30th, 2017

Writers

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 TABLE OF CONTENS

PREFACE................................................2

TABLE OF CONTENS......................................................... 3

CHAPTER I DESCRIBING SPECIFIC MATERIALS.........4

CHAPTER II CATEGORISING MATERIALS...............5

CHAPTER III SPECIFYING AND DESCRIBING PROPERTIES...8

CHAPTER IV DISCUSSING QUALITY ISSUES......................................9

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................ 10

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 CHAPTER I

Describing Specific Materials

Carbon fiber is defined as a fiber containing at least 92 wt % carbon, while the fiber
containing at least 99 wt % carbon is usually called a graphite fiber . Carbon fibers generally have
excellent tensile properties, low densities, high thermal and chemical stabilities in the absence of
oxidizing agents, good thermal and electrical conductivities, and excellent creep resistance. They
have been extensively used in composites in the form of woven textiles, prepregs, continuous
fibers/rovings, and chopped fibers. The composite parts can be produced through filament winding,
tape winding,pultrusion, compression molding, vacuum bagging, liquid molding, and injection
molding.

In recent years, the carbon fiber industry has been growing steadily to meet the demand
from different industries such as aerospace (aircraft and space systems), military, turbine blades,
construction (non-structural and structural systems), light weight cylinders and pressure vessels,
off- shore tethers and drilling risers, medical, automobile, sporting goods, etc. For the automotive
industry, fiber reinforced polymeric composites offer reduced weight and superior styling. Carbon
fibers can find applications in body parts (doors, hoods, deck lids, front end, bumpers, etc.), chassis
and suspension systems (e.g., leaf springs), drive shafts and so on.

The current carbon fiber market is dominated by polyacrylonitrile (PAN) carbon fibers,
while the rest is pitch carbon fibers and a very small amount of rayon carbon fiber textiles.
Different precursors produce carbon fibers with different properties. Although producing carbon
fibers from different precursors requires different processing conditions, the essential features are
very similar.

Generally, carbon fibers are manufactured by a controlled pyrolysis of stabilized precursor

fibers. Precursor fibers are first stabilized at about 200400 C in air by an oxidization process.
The infusible, stabilized fibers are then subjected to a high temperature treatment at around 1,000
C in an inert atmosphere to remove hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and other non-carbon elements.

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This step is often called carbonization. Carbonized fibers can be further graphitized at an even
higher temperature up to around 3,000 C to achieve higher carbon content and higher Youngs
modulus in the fiber direction. The properties of the resultant carbon/graphite fibers are affected
by many factors such as crystallinity, crystalline distribution, molecular orientation, carbon content,
and the amount of defects. Before packaging, the relatively inert surfaces of the carbon/graphite
fibers are post treated to improve their adhesion to composite matrices.

In terms of final mechanical properties, carbon fibers can be roughly classified into ultra
high modulus (>500 GPa), high modulus (>300 GPa), intermediate modulus (>200 GPa), low
modulus (100 GPa), and high strength (>4 GPa) carbon fibers. Carbon fibers can also be classified,
based on final heat treatment temperatures, into type I (2,000 C heat treatment), type II (1,500 C
heat treatment), and type III (1,000 C heat treatment). Type II PAN carbon fibers are usually high
bstrength carbon fibers, while most of the high modulus carbon fibers belong to type I.

Chapter II
Categorising Materials

Carbon fibers are classified by the tensile modulus of the fiber. Tensile modulus is a
measure of how much pulling force a certain diameter fiber can exert without breaking. The
English unit of measurement is pounds of force per square inch of cross-sectional area, or psi.
Carbon fibers classified as "low modulus" have a tensile modulus below 34.8 million psi (240
million kPa). Other classifications, in ascending order of tensile modulus, include "standard
modulus," "intermediate modulus," "high modulus," and "ultrahigh modulus." Ultrahigh modulus
carbon fibers have a tensile modulus of 72.5-145.0 million psi (500 million-1.0 billion kPa). As a
comparison, steel has a tensile modulus of about 29 million psi (200 million kPa). Thus, the
strongest carbon fiber is about five times stronger than steel.

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 The term graphite fiber refers to certain ultrahigh modulus fibers made from petroleum
pitch. These fibers have an internal structure that closely approximates the three-dimensional
crystal alignment that is characteristic of a pure form of carbon known as graphite.

The raw material used to make carbon fiber is called the precursor. About 90% of the
carbon fibers produced are made from polyacrylonitrile. The remaining 10% are made from rayon
or petroleum pitch. All of these materials are organic polymers, characterized by long strings of
molecules bound together by carbon atoms. The exact composition of each precursor varies from
one company to another and is generally considered a trade secret.

During the manufacturing process, a variety of gases and liquids are used. Some of these
materials are designed to react with the fiber to achieve a specific effect. Other materials are
designed not to react or to prevent certain reactions with the fiber. As with the precursors, the exact
compositions of many of these process materials are considered trade secrets.

Every day, a new application is found for carbon fiber. What started out forty years ago as
a highly exotic material is now a part of our everyday lives. These thin filaments, a tenth of the
thickness of a human hair, are now available in a wide range of useful forms. The fibers are bundled,
woven and shaped into tubes and sheets (up to thick) for construction purposes, supplied as
cloth for molding, or just regular thread for filament winding.

Carbon Fiber In Flight

Carbon fiber has gone to the moon on spacecraft, but it is also used widely in aircraft
components and structures, where its superior strength to weight ratio far exceeds that of any metal.
30% of all carbon fiber is used in the aerospace industry. From helicopters to gliders, fighter jets
to microlights, carbon fiber is playing its part, increasing range and simplifying maintenance.

Sporting Goods
Its application in sports goods ranges from the stiffening of running shoes to ice hockey
stick, tennis racquets, and golf clubs. Shells (hulls for rowing) are built from it, and many lives
have been saved on motor racing circuits by its strength and damage tolerance in body structures.
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It is used in crash helmets too, for rock climbers, horse riders, and motorcyclists in fact in any
sport where there is a danger of head injury.

Military
The applications in the military are very wide ranging from planes and missiles to
protective helmets, providing strengthening and weight reduction across all military equipment. It
takes energy to move weight whether it is a soldiers personal gear or a field hospital, and weight
saved means more weight moved per gallon of gas. A new military application is announced almost
every day.

Medical Applications

Carbon fiber offers several advantages over other materials in the medical field, including
the fact that it is radiolucent transparent to X-rays and shows as black on X-ray images. It is
used widely in imaging equipment structures to support limbs being X-rayed or treated with
radiation.

Automobile Industry
As costs come down, carbon fiber is being more widely adopted in automobiles. Supercar
bodies are built now, but its wider use is likely to be on internal components such as instrument
housings and seat frames. Predictably, high-end performance cars use large quantities of
composites in their structures to reduce weight and reach the performance goals of higher top
speeds, faster acceleration or increased battery life (in electric cars).

Environmental Applications
As a chemical purifier, carbon is a powerful absorbent. When it comes to absorption of
noxious or unpleasant chemicals, then surface area is important. For a given weight of carbon, thin
filaments have far more surface area than granules. Although we see activated carbon granules
used as pet litter and for water purification, the potential for wider environmental use is clear.

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 Chapter III
Specifying And Describing Properties

The atomic structure of a carbon fiber is similar to that of graphite, consisting of carbon
atom layers (graphene sheets) arranged in a regular hexagonal pattern. Depending upon the
precursors and manufacturing processes, layer planes in carbon fibers may be either turbostratic,
graphitic, or a hybrid structure. In graphitic crystalline regions, the layer planes are stacked parallel
to one another in a regular fashion.

The atoms in a plane are covalently bonded through sp2 bonding while the interaction
between the sheets is relatively weak Van der Waals forces. In a single graphitic crystal, d-spacing
between two graphene layers (d002) is about 0.335 nm. Elastic constants of these single crystals
have been calculated. C11 and C33 are 1,060 GPa and 36.5 GPa, respectively, but C44 for shearing
is as low as 4.5 GPa. However, the basic structural unit of many carbon fibers consists of a stack
of turbostratic layers. In a turbostratic structure, the parallel graphene sheets are stacked irregularly
or haphazardly folded, tilted, or split. It has been reported that the irregular stacking and the
presence of sp3 bonding can increase d-spacing to 0.344 nm. Johnson and Watt investigated the
crystallite structure of a PAN carbon fiber treated to 2,500 C and reported that the turbostratic
crystallites had Lc (crystallite height) of at least 12 layer planes and La (crystallite width) of 612
nm. Both Lc and La tend to increase with the heat treatment temperature.

Carbon fibres are non isotropic and displays greatest strength lengthwise through the fibres.
This means that when producing a sheet of carbon fibre, it is important to have all fibres aligned
parallel to each other. Consequently, when using such sheet to produce a car part, the fibres must
be aligned with the forces that will act upon that element to make sure it can handle the forces
going through the item when in use.

Lengthwise through the fibres, carbon is an extremely strong material compared to its
weight. The below table also shows that carbon fibres are both stronger and lighter than steel.

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 Material Tensile strength (MPa) Density (g/cm) Tensile modulus (MPa)
Carbon fiber (Toray 4900 1.80 230
T700G)
Carbon fiber composite 2550 135
(with Toray T700G)

Aramid (Kevlar 29) 3757 1.44 70.5

Steel (ASTM A36) 450 7.90 200
Pure copper 220 8.92 120

Chapter IV
Discussing Quality Issues

Carbon Fiber composites exhibit high specific strength, high specific stiffness and good
fatigue tolerance, which have led to numerous advanced applications ranging from military and
civil aircraft structures to recreational consumer products. Furthermore, the fabrication of
components and structures from composites allows for the integration of design principles and
manufacturing processes, resulting in optimally tailored mechanical and physical characteristics.
Despite these inherent advantages, there are concerns regarding the overall long-term durability of
these materials, especially as related to their capacity for sustained performance under harsh and
changing environmental conditions. As a result, several investigations have focused on
theperformance of fiber-reinforced composites when exposed to moisture, temperature, ultraviolet
(UV) radiation, thermal cycling and mechanical fatigue.

Both UV radiation and moisture have adverse effects on the mechanical properties of the
polymeric epoxy matrix, while the carbon fibers are not affected significantly by either
environment. The polymer matrix in a fiber-reinforced composite serves to transfer applied loads
to the reinforcing fibers and provide interlaminar shear strength, whereas the fiber matrix interface
governs the load transfer characteristics and damage tolerance. Thus, both these components
represent weak links in fiber-reinforced composites and upon degradation, lead to reduced damage
tolerance, and thus, lack of long-term durability.

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 Carbon fiber is a very nice material to work with and has several advantages but like any
other product is also has some disadvantages. The first disadvantage of using carbon fiber is that
you need a mold if you want to make a decent product, making a mold is not always easy and you
often need the help of some specialist. Another disadvantage is the price of carbon fiber, it is very
expensive. The material is very light and strong but you have to pay a big amount of money to be
able to use it in your products. Once a carbon structure is dint or cracked you cannot fix it like you
can fix a steel structure. Once the structure is damaged the fibres are broken and the structure is
probably not strong enough anymore. In most of the cases the structure had to be removed and
thrown away and be replaced by an new one.Carbon fiber is not easy recyclable yet, like you can
recycle steel and other materials. So when you have to replace a piece of carbon fiber you have a
lot of waste. There is already done a lot of research into this topic but until now there is no easy
way of recycling carbon fiber.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anonymus.2016.CarbonFiber.(http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Carbon
Fiber.html) .Accessed 29th September 2017.
De Groote,Steven.2002. Carbon fibre.(https://www.f1technical.net/articles/3).
Accessed 29th September 2017.
Johnson,Todd.2017. Carbon Fiber.(https://www.thoughtco.com/applications-of-carbon-
fiber-820384). Accessed 29th September 2017.
aurelie08 .2014.Disadvantages of carbon fiber .
(https://solarcarmonocoque.wordpress.com/2014/03/23/disadvantages-of-carbon-fiber/).
Accessed 29th September 2017.
Anonymus.2017. Recycling for carbon fiber
composites .(https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170502095129.htm) .
Accessed 29th September 2017.
matthieutje65.2013. Repair of a Broken Carbonfiber
Bikeframe .(http://www.instructables.com/id/Repair-of-a-broken-Carbonfiber-Bikeframe/).
Accessed 29th September 2017.
Huang.Xiaosong 2009.Fabrication and Properties of Carbon Fibers.Warren:Materials.
ISSN 1996-1944

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