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 Typical Properties High Strength High Modulus
Ultra-High Modulus
Density (g/cm3)
1.8
1.9
Young's Modulus (GPa)
230
370
Tensile Strength (GPa)
2.48
1.79
Tensile Elongation (%)
1.1
0.5
0.2
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
Peel, Dr. Larry., MEEN 4385 / 5303 (Advanced) Fabrication of Composite Structures. Spring 2008.