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Stiffness is where CF excells
By:Jack Sanderson
Date: 11/4/2003, 10:08 pm
In Response To: Material: Is Carbon Fiber really light (revisited) (Ted Henry)

I am not an engineer or an expert on laminates but I have been building carbon fiber racing kayaks for the last 3 months. My impression is that CF is used in these boats for it's ability to produce a stiffer boat for a given thickness of laminate. Our competition layup has one 5.7oz CF layer around a core infusion core material. If we built the same boat with S glass it might be stronger but it wouldn't have the stiffness required for racing.

Our "Elte" layup which is even lighter and stiffer has a layer of 4oz prepreg s-glass, pre-preg 5.7oz CF, nomex honeycomb core, pre-preg 5.7oz CF. I think the s-glass is used in this laminate because the honeycomb core with only CF is prone to impact damage.

Of course we achieve low weight by vacuum bagging all our laminates and many of them are then cooked in an autoclave under presure. This ensures a high fiber to resin ratio that you can't achieve with a hand lay-up.

Regards

Jack

Messages In This Thread

Material: Is Carbon Fiber really light (revisited)
Ted Henry -- 11/4/2003, 11:39 am
Re: Material: Is Carbon Fiber really light (revisi
Mike and Rikki -- 11/6/2003, 1:06 am
Re: 2x2 weave?
LeeG -- 11/8/2003, 8:29 am
Re: 2x2 weave?
Mike and Rikki -- 11/8/2003, 12:28 pm
Re: Material: Is Carbon Fiber really light (revisi
Ted Henry -- 11/6/2003, 12:01 pm
Re: Material: Is Carbon Fiber really light (revisi
Mike and Rikki -- 11/7/2003, 12:27 am
Stiffness is where CF excells
Jack Sanderson -- 11/4/2003, 10:08 pm
Re: Stiffness is where CF excells
Mike and Rikki -- 11/6/2003, 1:31 am
CF Boom
Jack Sanderson -- 11/8/2003, 12:32 am
Re: CF Boom *NM* *Pic*
Jack Sanderson -- 11/8/2003, 12:35 am
Re: Stiffness is where CF excells *Pic*
Jack Sanderson -- 11/8/2003, 12:25 am
Oceanplanet
Sam McFadden -- 11/8/2003, 1:10 pm
Re: Stiffness is where CF excells
Mike and Rikki -- 11/8/2003, 1:54 am
Re: Stiffness is where CF excells
Paul Probus -- 11/5/2003, 1:14 pm
Re: Material: Is Carbon Fiber really light (revisi
mike loriz -- 11/4/2003, 7:52 pm
Auto Racing Helmets and Cloth Types
Jim Eisenmenger -- 11/4/2003, 6:07 pm
Re: Material: Is Carbon Fiber really light (revisi
Sam McFadden -- 11/4/2003, 4:29 pm
Re: Material: Is Carbon Fiber really light (revisi
Paul Probus -- 11/5/2003, 1:28 pm
Fundamentals
Sam McFadden -- 11/6/2003, 12:06 am
Re: Material: Is Carbon Fiber really light (revisi
srchr/gerald -- 11/4/2003, 3:05 pm
Re: Material: Is Carbon Fiber really light (revisi
Paul Jacob -- 11/4/2003, 11:55 am
Re: Material: Is Carbon Fiber really light (revisi
Ted Henry -- 11/4/2003, 1:09 pm
Re: Material: Is Carbon Fiber really light (revisi
Paul Probus -- 11/4/2003, 11:52 am
Re: Material: Is Carbon Fiber really light (revisi
Ted Henry -- 11/4/2003, 1:05 pm
Re: Material: Is Carbon Fiber really light (revisi
Paul Probus -- 11/4/2003, 2:40 pm
Re: Carbon: Here are the Sail Mag numbers
Ted Henry -- 11/4/2003, 4:07 pm
Thanks for the numbers, Ted, NM *NM*
Paul Probus -- 11/5/2003, 1:12 pm
Re: Carbon: Here are the Sail Mag numbers
LeeG -- 11/4/2003, 4:21 pm
Re: Material: Is Carbon Fiber really light (revisi
Kyle T -- 11/4/2003, 1:02 pm
Re: Material: Is Carbon Fiber really light (revisi
Paul Probus -- 11/4/2003, 2:54 pm
Re: Material: Is Carbon Fiber really light (revisi
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 11/4/2003, 3:54 pm