Costs carbon fibers

A major stimulus for the development of any low-cost carbon fibers is for their potential applications in the automotive industry, which identifies carbon fiber... 

W. P. Hettinger, J. Newman, R. Krock, P. Richard, and D. Boyer. CARBOFLEX and AEROCARB—Ashland s New Low Cost Carbon Fiber and Carbonizing Products for Future Brake Applications, SAE Earthmoving Industry Conference, Peoria, IL, USA, 8th April 1986. 

Leon y Leon CA, O Brien RA, Dasarathy H, McHugh JJ, Schimpf WC, Development of low cost carbon fiber (LCCF) for automotive and non-aerospace apphcations. Part I Review of existing and emerging technologies, Midwest Advanced Materials and Processes Conference, Dearborn, Sep 12-14, 2000. 

Elasticity allows for using lower-modulus and thus lower-cost carbon fibers. 

Low-cost carbon fibers are produced from an isotropic pitch with a low-softening point. The precursor is melt-spun, thermoset at relatively low temperature, and carbonized. The resulting fibers generally have low strength and modulus ( 35 - 70 GPa). They are suitable for insulation and filler applications. Their cost dropped to less than 20/kg in 1992. ... 

Many different thermosetting polymers are used in pultmsion, eg, polyester, vinyl ester, epoxy, and urethane. Reinforcements must be in a continuous form such as rovings, tows, mats, fabrics, and tapes. Glass fibers are the low cost, dominant composition, but aramid and carbon fibers are also used. 

For friction material appHcations, composite materials (qv) comprising glass or metallic fibers with other minerals have been developed. In such appHcations also, aramid and graphite fibers are effective, although the cost of these materials restricts their use to heavy duty or high technology appHcations (see Carbon fibers). 

Today, carbon fibers are still mainly of interest as reinforcement in composite materials [7] where high strength and stiffness, combined with low weight, are required. For example, the world-wide consumption of carbon fibers in 1993 was 7,300 t (compared with a production capacity of 13,000 t) of which 36 % was used in aerospace applications, 43 % in sports materials, with the remaining 21 % being used in other industries. This consumption appears to have increased rapidly (at 15 % per year since the early 1980s), at about the same rate as production, accompanied by a marked decrease in fiber cost (especially for high modulus fibers). 

Vapor grown carbon fiber (VGCF) is the descriptive name of a class of carbon fiber which is distinctively different from other types of carbon fiber in its method of production, its unique physical characteristics, and the prospect of low cost fabrication. Simply stated, this type of carbon fiber is synthesized from the pyrolysis of hydrocarbons or carbon monoxide in the gaseous state, in the presence of a catalyst in contrast to a melt-spinning process common to other types of carbon fiber. 

Composites fabricated with the smaller floating catalyst fiber are most likely to be used for applications where near-isotropic orientation is favored. Such isotropic properties would be acceptable in carbon/carbon composites for pistons, brake pads, and heat sink applications, and the low cost of fiber synthesis could permit these price-sensitive apphcations to be developed economically. A random orientation of fibers will give a balance of thermal properties in all axes, which can be important in brake and electronic heat sink applications. 

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