1. Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic MEEN 3344 By Favio Rodriguez

2. What is Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic? • Carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP or CRP) is a light-weight, high strength, composite material. • Depending on the task, carbon fiber reinforced plastic is made with different kind of plastics and fibers. • A number of factors depend for the process of CFRP, molds are usually made from aluminum or fiberglass. For low volume parts, it can be made by putting carbon fiber fabric and resin into a mold and allowing to harden in a vacuum. To create larger volume parts, compression molding is used.

3. Plastics and Fibers Used • Epoxy (Most commonly used) • Polyester • Such as Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) • Vynilester • Nylon • Kevlar • Aluminum MEEN 4385 / 5303 (Advanced) Fabrication of Composite Structures

4. Material Properties Table for carbon fibers

5. CFRP Applications • In cars, CFRP is used in doors, hoods, fenders, chasis, and support frames for the engine and transmission. • In airplanes, CFRP is used in fuselage sections called barrels. • Other applications, racing bicycles, rackets, fishing rods, Fuselage mold section of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner Tail of an RC helicopter, made of CFRP

6. Advantages • Reduces weight. • Improves fuel efficiency. • Easier to mold and work. • Reduces drag. • Reduces pollution. • Lesser material used. • Longer lifetime. • Less maintenance. A car’s pollution

7. References • http://www.aip.org/dbis/stories/2006/15132.html • http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2006/0211-cars_of_the_future_plastic_makes_perfect.htm • http://www.conceptsalesinc.com/carbon-fiber-reinforced-plastic.htm • http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/BRIDGE/frp/frp197.cfm • Peel, Dr. Larry., MEEN 4385 / 5303 (Advanced) Fabrication of Composite Structures.http://www.engineer.tamuk.edu/departments/ieen/faculty/DrLPeel/Courses/composites_fab_class.html. Spring 2008.