What is carbon fiber (carbon) and how can it save us from the oil crisis? Carbon fiber is the material of the future in construction. Where to get carbon fiber in a zombie farm.

The article provides information about carbon fiber, its features, properties and characteristics. We will tell you about the history of its creation, as well as voice educational facts. You will learn how to use carbon fiber in everyday life and construction, as well as how to repair plastic yourself.

Products made from fabrics, fibers, cords and tapes made from modern hydrocarbons successfully compete in all performance indicators with our usual products made from steel and concrete. At the same time, they have tens and sometimes hundreds of times less thickness and weight. How can one explain to a person with established views the fact that canvas impregnated with hardened resin with a thickness of only 3 mm is stronger in all respects than 15 mm technical plywood? Only through experience and demonstration.

Carbon fiber is a material of the future, from the past

The material was discovered by Thomas Edison in 1880 as part of his research on incandescent lamp filaments. In the last 10 years, at the instigation of foreign colleagues in the form of supplies of expensive carbon fiber products, domestic developers and manufacturers have begun resuscitating hydrocarbon projects begun during the Soviet period in all areas.

Everyone knows that carbon is needed in every form, in every industry. This is the production of literally everything that is not made of metal, glass, wood or concrete. But its main advantage is that it can not only complement traditional materials, but also replace them with benefits for humans and nature.

Video report on Russian carbon fiber production

Carbon fiber in construction

This modern material is beginning to be in demand among repairmen and builders. The reasons for this lie in the properties of its components:

1. High strength of the threads from which the fabric is made.
2. Exceptional adhesion of polymer binder (epoxy glue).

The combination of these properties gives high efficiency in the installation of external reinforcement of reinforced concrete, brick and wooden structures. An element reinforced in this way receives an additional 65% flexural strength and up to 120% compressive strength. This sounds unlikely, but tests carried out in accordance with GOST, TU and SNiP confirm this.

Testing of carbon fiber reinforced beams on video

Carbon fiber reinforced reinforced concrete elements - video tests

Anyone who is going to build a stone house or a swimming pool should do major renovation, or restoration, it’s worth thinking about carbon reinforcement. A significant increase in strength allows the volume of base material to be reduced. That is, the canvas can withstand enormous loads; the main thing is to have something to stick it on.

Thus, composite reinforcement almost doubles the compressive strength from 280 kN to 520 kN (see test video). This means that the volume support element- load-bearing walls, columns, pillars - can be safely reduced by 60-80%. This is of particular importance for remote areas where delivery of heavy building materials is difficult.

The second main area of ​​application of carbon fiber in construction is the restoration of load-bearing stone elements. The supports and beams of concrete bridges are restored using adhesive reinforcement. These are the most responsible government facilities and their reliability is trusted to carbon fiber. In private construction, the loads are tens of times lower, which means that the reinforcement of the foundation or wall corners will have a huge margin of safety. This is an excellent alternative to traditional methods - pouring concrete into the foundation or installing similar walls.

Another useful property of the composite material is its non-toxicity and harmlessness after polymerization. IN finished form it has a glossy surface and does not react with water. This will be interesting for anyone who has decided to build a swimming pool, pond, caisson, silo, septic tank or stone septic tank. To do this, it will be enough to build half-brick walls with masonry mesh and cover both sides with carbon fiber. The hardened material will serve as waterproofing. Its installation is similar to the installation of reinforcing mesh for insulation.

The cost of such work will be:

1. Carbon fiber canvas - from 20 to 30 USD. e. per 1 m 2.
2. Polymer binder with hardener - from 3 to 5 cu. i.e. according to consumption per 1 m 2.
3. Services for strengthening stone structures on a turnkey basis in Russia cost 125 USD on average. e. per 1 m 2. The price includes calculation, delivery, materials and labor.

The use of carbon fiber for repairs

The properties of canvas, which are initially flexible and elastic, and after impregnation with resin, are extremely durable, can (and should!) be used in everyday life. This mainly concerns the repair or replacement of broken plastic parts. Using this material, you can glue almost anything, and what cannot be glued for some reason can be recreated using the damaged part as a matrix.

Repair of fiberglass rod

Consider the possibility of repairing a hammer or ax handle using a carbon fiber sleeve. Most semi-professional impact tools have handles made from fiberglass, the same material used to make high-quality hockey sticks.

For repairs you will need:

1. Tools - a vice, a rotary sander with sandpaper, a guide clamp, a hair dryer, brushes.
2. Material: carbon fiber or canvas sleeve, high-strength two-component adhesive, polymer resin and hardener. In total, the adhesive mixture will require about 50 ml.
3. Protective equipment - glasses, respirator, rubber gloves.

Operating procedure:

1. Clean the edges of the fracture with a grinder, maintaining the contact area.
2. Clamp one part in a vice and place the second on a clamp, trying it on flat.
3. Apply glue to the contact surfaces (fracture) and connect the two parts with a clamp. Apply glue to the broken area. Carefully check the alignment of both parts. Exposure time - 6-8 hours (according to instructions).
4. Remove the clamp and clean the joint, deepening it into the body of the rod by 1-2 mm.
5. Make markings. Since pasting with a sleeve will be done in two stages, the top layer will overlap the bottom. From the axis of the connection, set aside 3.5 cm for the first layer, 6 cm in each direction for the second. Cut two pieces of sleeve to size.
6. Make a polymer solution from resin and hardener in proportions according to the instructions and apply it liberally to the joint along the smaller markings.
7. Bring a piece of sleeve to the gluing site and carefully place it on the glue and crimp it with your hands.
8. Then apply another layer of glue and insert a second (larger) section of the sleeve. Press it in the same way. Saturate the entire area with glue.
9. Create a temporary clamp - attach strips of elastic material on both sides, wrap with tape and squeeze with clamps (not very tightly). Exposure time - 6-8 hours.
10. 1Clean the joint with a grinder and finish it by hand.
11. The product is technically ready and can be used with normal load after 12 hours. The repaired product can be painted.

Repair of a fiberglass handle on video

The repair technology is offered by SRS (which means we are talking about professional sports - it’s not hard to imagine what loads the product can withstand after repair).

Using carbon fiber in this way, you can also repair things that were previously customary to be replaced:

1. Furniture legs.
2. Handles of a vacuum cleaner, umbrella or knife.
3. Housings for household and office equipment and tools.
4. Glasses frames (you will need carbon thread or tape).
5. Any non-metallic part of a car, motorcycle, bicycle - from the bumper to the door handle.
6. Plastic window or window sill and much more.

Of course, the entire range of advantages and capabilities of advanced multifunctional material cannot be displayed in one article. It is enough for a home craftsman to know one thing about it - for those who have canvas and carbon fiber tape and epoxy components in their arsenal, the problem of broken plastic does not exist.

Carbon and carbon fiber are offered for sale at competitive prices. From us you can buy carbon fabric (carbon fabric) with a fiber thickness from 3K to 24K. We sell carbon fiber with delivery throughout Moscow and St. Petersburg (delivery on the day of order is possible). Orders are also sent to other cities in Russia and neighboring countries, for example, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Almaty and others.

Carbon (carbon fabric or carbon fabric) is a material created from carbon fiber and used as a reinforcing filler for the production of composite materials. Carbon fabrics are characterized by high heat resistance and belong to the group of low-flammability materials. Carbon fiber material consists primarily of carbon atoms that remain after heat treatment of organic or chemical fibers.

Carbon fiber materials are used in aircraft and rocketry. In addition, carbon is also used.

Carbon fiber has high heat resistance, strength, good thermal insulation properties and corrosion resistance to gas and liquid media. It is used in various industries and as a basis for the manufacture of carbon fabrics.

Where to buy carbon?

In the CarboCarbo online store you can buy carbon fiber both wholesale and retail. Delivery in St. Petersburg and Moscow is possible within 24 hours from the date of order. Call right now and order the required amount of carbon fabric.

Today they are becoming more expensive, and if a car is moving further away from comparison with luxury, then its everyday use as a means of transportation is what becomes real luxury. In general, it used to be that only a few countries had enough wealth to make car ownership widespread, while other countries could not afford such a luxury. Today, especially as India and China experience a significant increase in motorization, causing more demand and higher prices for gasoline and diesel fuel and, accordingly, oil, we are slowly but surely, and what is worse, at an increasing pace, moving towards oil crisis. But much more important than the high cost of oil is the fact that it is a finite resource: one day we will exhaust all the oil resources in the bowels of the Earth, and if you have read the article about how oil refining works, then you know that oil is formed again long and long centuries.

2005: Volkswagen presented its new EcoRacer concept car. The car body is made of carbon fiber.

What is carbon fiber?

Before you can understand how carbon fiber can help solve the oil crisis, you need to understand what it is. Carbon fiber or “carbon fiber” or simply “carbon” (more precisely, carbon fiber) is a super-strong material and at the same time a very light material. Engineers and designers love it because it is five times stronger than steel and twice as stiff, but weighs about two-thirds less. Carbon fiber is basically very fine strands of carbon - so fine that they are thinner than even a human hair. In this case, carbon fiber strands can be twisted together like yarn, like fabric. All that remains is to give the carbon fiber a permanent shape, and this is done using plastic or hard resin (kind of like how you would make something out of papier-mâché, giving it shape).

Most automotive components are made of steel. Replacing steel body parts with carbon fiber would reduce the weight of most cars by a maximum of 60 percent. And a 60% drop in weight would, in turn, reduce cars by as much as 30% and, accordingly, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other emissions by 10-20% (according to Oak Ridge National Laboratory). In fact, on a global scale, this would be a huge fuel saving, even though the car's engine would remain an iron/steel/aluminum engine. Reduced vehicle weight coupled with improved fuel efficiency in line with developments various types engines - this is how modern carbon fiber can solve the oil crisis.

But wait! If carbon fiber really is so useful, then why isn't it more widely used in cars today?

How safe is carbon fiber?

Safety is a major concern for car buyers. A car that gets 30% less fuel mileage is certainly very, very good, but it won't do you much good if it doesn't help save your life in an accident. The good news is that carbon fiber is just as safe as steel. Crash test simulations and real crash tests show that carbon fiber vehicles survive crashes just as well as steel vehicles. In fact, almost all Formula One racing cars are made of carbon fiber, which confirms the safety of this material.

Cons of carbon fiber

If you go back from the future to the present, you may notice that today it is a very rare car that is actually built from carbon fiber. In truth, only a few dozen car models using carbon fiber are available for sale. Among them are the BMW M6, where small carbon fiber panels are used to protect the body, the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 and the Ford GT. The Audi R8 also includes some carbon fiber parts.

What do these cars have in common? That's right, they cost a lot of money - about several million rubles. It's rare to see a carbon fiber car these days because it's expensive! 15 years ago, carbon fiber cost about $300 per kilogram. Now the price is about $20 per kilo. Steel, on the other hand, costs less than 20 rubles per kilogram (we are not talking about scrap ferrous metal, of course, but about high-quality steel for car manufacturing). Many analysts say that for carbon fiber to become widely used in the automotive industry, its price will need to drop to at least about $1 per kilogram. Cost is a major hurdle that carbon fiber still needs to overcome before it can provide a viable energy solution for automotive applications.

The second obstacle is waste disposal. What happens when a typical car ages and thus deteriorates - rusts? That's right, his steel can be melted down and used to make another car (or building or whatever). Carbon fiber, in turn, cannot be melted, and so far no one has figured out where to use secondary raw materials from it. After recycling, recycled carbon fiber is not as strong as it was before recycling. So more cars using carbon will save a lot of oil, but it can also generate a lot of waste.

Given these shortcomings of carbon fiber, car manufacturers are looking at other materials to make cars lighter. And one of these materials is aluminum. Although aluminum is not as strong as steel, it is still much lighter. Which makes it a good material for some car components, including engine parts and some car chassis components. Since aluminum is not very strong, it cannot be used in all the places where steel is used today, but its low cost and light weight allow it to become quite common in modern cars. But aluminum also has its own significant drawback- he gets tired; this means that microcracks appear in aluminum (as in any other metal), which grow over time under load and simply lead to the part breaking (read about the disadvantages of aluminum bicycle frames - you will find more detailed information about this property of aluminum).