: A friend and I were talking about the application of carbon fiber in musical
: instrument design. I mentioned that I had planned to use it in my Cirrus
: (as Vaclav recommends) and he questioned the reasoning behind using it.
: According to this friend the only advantge to using CF is if you can have
: it under extremely high pressure as it sets. He said there was really no
: structural advantage to using CF over glass unless you had the means to
: apply such pressure.

: Any thoughts?

: Thanks, Dave

Dave,

Curing under pressure is the most common way of getting the best stiffness and strength from carbon fiber composites. Pressure straightens the fibers and compacts the lay-up. Using a combination of pressure, control of fiber orientation, control of resin volume fraction, and selection of resin is the only way to get the really good mechanical properties that people associate with carbon fiber. But control of those variables will also lead to an improvement in any fiber composite. All other variables being equal, an increase in specific strength and stiffness of the fibers will lead to an increase in the specific strength and stiffness of the composite.

Sam