For the first time, carbon in the auto industry began to be used in the creation of sports cars back in the 60s. Gradually, he began to attract the attention of manufacturers of conventional machines, which was due to the unusual properties of this material.
Carbon and its composition
Carbon (or carbon fiber) is a set of the finest filaments (diameter 0.09 mm) of carbon, the strength of which is comparable to alloy steel with a much lower mass (approximately like that of aluminum). Fiber is woven from these threads; the result is a very durable fabric. Fibers can be randomly arranged, or they can be in the form of weaving.
The starting material for producing carbon fiber is polyacrylonitrile, a white substance that resembles wool in properties. It is heated several times in an inert gas environment. At the first stage, at a temperature of + 260 ° C, the structure of the substance is changed (at the molecular level), then already at + 700 ° C, the carbon atoms "force to dump" hydrogen. Gradually, for several times, the heating is brought to + 3000 ° C - this process is called graphitization. As a result, there is more carbon, and the bond between its atoms is stronger. To put it simply, carbon can be considered carbon fiber heated to carbonization.
Carbon characteristics and applications
One of the main positive qualities of carbon is its high strength, reaching 1500 kg / cu. m. In this case, the tensile strength reaches 1800 mPa. The temperature limit of this material is + 2000 ° C. Carbon fiber filaments work well only in tension, so making a rigid structure is very problematic. Carbon is quite fragile, crumbles upon impact, so it is almost impossible to repair the part. With constant exposure to ultraviolet light, carbon fiber loses its original color. However, the positive properties outweigh the disadvantages; This is confirmed by the manufacture of brake discs, pads for sports cars from it, not to mention space technology.
One of the characteristics of carbon is the specific gravity (or density of the fabric), expressed in g / sq. m. This parameter depends on the thickness of the fiber, which can contain several thousand threads. For example, if the marking contains the designation 2K, then there are 2000 threads in the fiber. The strongest carbon is abbreviated as UHM. In addition to density, an important characteristic is the way the threads are woven (it is absent in the cheapest material).
When tuning vehicles, weaving types such as Twill, Satin, Plain are most often used. The most common number of strands in a fiber is 1 to 24K. The latter type of fabric is widely used in the manufacture of military equipment under enormous stress.
