How to Make Carbon Fibre Sheet - 3 Alternative Methods
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ม.ค. 2016
- Detailed tutorial covering some basic theory and practical advice on how to make a carbon fibre(fiber) sheet using different manufacturing processes of hand layup, resin infusion and out-of-autoclave (dry) carbon fibre.
Full product list and further information for this tutorial is available here: www.easycomposites.co.uk/lear...
The oven we use to cure the prepreg carbon fibre is available here: www.easycomposites.co.uk/ov30... - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
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Building a heated glass table for resin infusion from an old ikea glass desk is the best thing I have done in my composite adventure :)
Nice informative video Matt
Thanks everyone. Glad to be getting some videos out there again. More to come very soon hopefully.
+Easy Composites Ltd Hey do you guys sell the little leak check valve?
Yes we do; we call it a 'Leak Flow Indicator'; you'll find it in our Vacuum Equipment category.
Easy Composites Ltd can you make karbon 0.8 mm???
Dear Sir ,
It was really pretty informative,We would like to venture in to manufacturing of carbon fibre. Would it be ok if we get in touch with you directly to enlighten us with you advice and suggestions.
Regards
Amiya Tripathy
tripathy.amiya@gmail.com
Could you please demonstrate the strength of a single layer of ~100, ~160 and ~250 g/m^2 twill weave?
As composites become more and more relevant as a construction material, I think your viewership will drastically increase. It's good that you've started making videos again. Easily the best demonstration videos I've found so far.
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@William Jeremias instablaster =)
@Van Anthony Thanks so much for your reply. I found the site through google and im waiting for the hacking stuff now.
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@William Jeremias glad I could help xD
This is exactly what I was hoping to learn when I subscribed to your channel. More 3D printer related videos please! Also the budget shortcuts are welcome since most of us are amateur. I love that you informed that you can slightly expand your budget or little time on it to get a significant improvement in quality!
Fantastic explanation and demonstration! This video answered many questions I had regarding the CF manufacturing process!
Worked for a company several years back building Jet Engine fan blades from carbon fiber. The process was done by hand mostly, hand laying, resin infusing and then the blades would go into these massive autoclaves under heat and packaged inside, vacuumed sealed with silicone matts. This reminds me a lot of that manufacturing process.
That 4mm sheet looks bomb proof! Thanks for this, looking forward to seeing more.
I love this content. Easy composites is the most profecinal carbon fiber maker i ever seen
Thanks a lot... U r giving a strong knowledge to graduates who r all passionate on Composites..
A tip for you my friend (with the sincerest intent). Nobody needs a university or even high school education to make composites, but what will definitely erase any positive illusion of such "paper" education is using SMS shorthand, which stopped making sense when smart phones were invented.
You guys are the Gold Standard for composite tutorial videos. Please keep it up and make more videos. BTW I buy from you often.
+Andy McKee Thanks for the feedback Andy and thanks for your custom. We have some more videos coming very soon, within a few weeks!
Here are some good video too:
th-cam.com/channels/XmPnjpQUpoPm7b_6oSdQ1g.html
Super helpful really like the comparisons especially using the different methods and comparing the results
I love to learn about everything and I'm pissed it took me 5 years to find this. Great job. A natural teacher.
Thanks Sean, be sure to check out our other composites tutorials too then, lots more to learn about :)
Welcome back! Hope to see more.
great video once again! keep up the good work!
carbon fibre just looks... so nice, and exotic
Great video. Very well demonstrated and explained. Cheers, Rob.
Thanks Rob, appreciate your feedback 👍
Great video, good to see more tutorials 👍👍
I am was thinking about making my own custom drone frame with carbon fiber but I was unsure where to begin. Thanks to your videos I am now confident I can make a decent frame without spending a fortune. Thank you so much!
+WhirlybirdFlyer You're very welcome; we love making these videos and inspiring people to get involved - "March of the Makers" and all that. UAV/drones is a very interesting area for advanced composites so it's likely we'll be producing some videos on this subject in the not-too-distant future.
you guys are awesome. thanks so much for your videos. helped me a lot!!
Very interesting. Thanks for the upload.
awesome vid! keep em coming!
Good informative. Thank you so much.
Great video! Keep the good work
Best vid ive seen on this topic..
awesome video. thank you!
Really awesome. And very interesting
Thanks for posting
Love the carbon fiber squigee
Perfect video!
Very nice video, I love your work
Thank you very much!
really the great work ..thanks Dr
Great demo thank you 👍
Glad you enjoyed!
great vid. wondering if it possible to infuse with glass on both on top and bottom to get the perfect finish on both sides.
How do the various carbon fibre products stand up to temperature? Awesome video!
best videos on composite on yt. thank you.
is the strength between the 3 process radically different? is the oven necessary because it s prepreg or does affect the final strength?what s the strongest method?
i see some video where in a hand lay up they wet the sheets before laying it up in the mold( like fresh prepreg) do you see a problem with that? it looks like a good idea to me. you can set up you sheets on a glass table and have regular wetting and then lay it up.
Wet lay tends to be the weakest due to the high resin content and inconsistency in layups. I've seen resin infusion and prepreg used high performance applications such as race car monocoques, but prepreg is the most consistent you can get with carbon and you'll get highest fiber to resin ratio and that'll result in the highest strength/ stiffness to weight ratio. That's why prepreg is used in fighter jets, formula 1 cars, etc
is it possible to make a 4-5 mm thick sheet just doing a wet lay? Or does it at some point become an issue structurally?
Marvelous!
Great video tutorial.
One question, what would be best way to make a sheet with both sides similar perfect mirror finish ?
You can do this with prepreg in one cure by sandwiching the prepreg between two sheets of glass, providing you use a suitable OOA (out of autoclave) prepreg, like our EasyPreg. An alternative method would be to make two single sided sheets, finished with peel-ply, and then bond them back to back.
Fantastic guides here! 2 questions I've been having a tough time getting answers for: 1. If glass is not an option, would something like MDF make an economical alternative to glass in this scenario? Is there any other cheap alternatives you can recommend? 2. Is it possible to use a piece of glass with some scratches / imperfections? Is there any filler / tips we can use to help prevent those blemishes from showing up on our final piece? Thanks!!
Answering your queries in reverse, a scratched surface is not ideal as any imperfections will end up on the finished part; additionally, its much hard to release coat a mould surface with such issues so there is a risk that the piece will bond to the tool. MDF isn't a great option as surface porosity makes release agent application a problem but a sealed surface such as Melamine faced chipboard (as used for kitchen carcasses) or hard plastics should be fine with an appropriate release agent.
simply wow & thanks!! ;-)
Thank you!
thanks for share this videos
Thank you very much for this. Any advice on how I can get hold of the large glass sheet as shown in your video when demonstrating infusion.
Most Glass manufacturers and distributors should be able to supply you sheet glass in various sizes. You can use standard float glass as long as you are careful with it to avoid breakage.
super helpful!!!thanks!
Glad you enjoyed the video :)
Nice work.Can you show us how to build fuselage from fiberglass?
Hello, I Am absolutely thrilled see this video. After watching I tried to do it as well. Everything work well but composite has been glued on glass so hard It has been very hard unstick it from the glass. And cleaning glass has been challange too. I used LG 285 and HG 285. What do you recommend for cleaning the glass and what to use on the glass for better unstick after work. Thanks
You will need to ensure you have a good application of release agent to ensure the resin does not stick to the glass. We recommend a Chemical Release Agent such as our EasyLease Chemical Release Agent. We do not recommend waxs as they tend to wipe off too easily.
Great video show.
Glad you enjoyed :)
Hi there, thanks for the great video!
I'm trying to come up with a way to form a multi-layer carbon sheet into a mold. Problem is - I don't have the means to heat up the whole molding process. Because the part I'm trying to build is basically a tube, and I would have to layer it before putting it into the mold, I was wondering if you could do a resin infusion and then move the carbon fibre out of the vacuum while it's still flexible? Because i really like the idea of the uniformity that infusion provides over hand lay-up. Hope you can help me out.
Best regards
Demoulding while only part cured will almost certainly ruin the surface of the part and depending how far cured, it may well flex and fold.
I am trying to make a tail boom riser fin/bracket for my 250 gram IOT helicopter . I have been using 2.5mm acrylic sheet, but the flexing causes the computer controlled tail to oscillator if I want a rigid flight response. Looks like your pre-preg 2mm at is very stiff at 19:45 . I ordered a sheet on amazon and now waiting for delivery.
Could you do a video of composite fastening methods?
Thank you!!!!
Hey, hello i want to create modified bumper for my carolla Ke30 would you please help me out making it real for my car?
Very nice
Exemplary informative. Thank you very much. Would you say that a 4-6mm unidirectional infused sheet could serve as a very flat and structural stable print bed for a 3D printer with applied heat from underneath directly or from a distance with temperatures between 40-120 C? Of course the thickness of the carbon plate related to the size of the print bed especially for larger ones like 60x60cm. Any hint is very helpful.
The sheet would need the temperature tolerance to work properly. It should be stiff enough.
Where can I find mechanical strength numbers (ultimate, yield, tensile, shear, etc) for different loadings (axial, torsional, transversal) of the sheets that you made using various fiber orientations & different numbers of fiber layers?
Thanks in advance! Great video content!
Our stock sheets have some mechanical data on the product listing.
Excellent tutorials guys, Thanks. Can you advise if I wet out a sheet of carbon and sandwich it between 2 layers of polyethylene sheet does that slow down the curing time by eliminating almost all air exposure to the resin? I ask as I want to make a carbon/foam/carbon sandwich panel and wetting out all the panels, laying up and putting together before vacuum bagging may take longer than 20 minutes which is I believe the curing time approximately. I will be using polyester lamimating resin.
Hi Andrew, no, lack of air exposure would not slow down the cure. Once the resin and hardener are mixed they will cure, no matter what. Many processes we cover, including the resin infusion shown in the video, are 'closed mould' which means there's no face open to the air. For what you're planning, polyester resin will tend to be a bit faster than you'd want. Use a low reactivity catalyst or at least a low percentage of catalyst. Other than that, you should be fine.
@@easycompositestv Hi Guys, thanks for the reply. I did think about this after reading your reply and it makes sense now. I've been prototyping with your foam and made a small panel sandwich of 3mm foam in between 2 single twill plys using polyester resin and wow it's stiff. This has given me the confidence to continue my project using less carbon than originally planned.
Thank you
You're welcome Ricky.
In conclusion then, my new hobby.
Thanks a lot for such a professional video ...can you please comment about a question? What will be the effect on thickness and strength if we have two options:
04 layers of 0.5 mm sheets for making a CF sheets versus 02 layers of 1 mm sheets
Which sheet among these two will be lighter and which one will be stronger. We can use any of the one method you mentioned
There would be negligible differences between the two options; weight-wise, they should be much the same; the only difference in strength is likely to be as a result of the orientation of fibres but if all fibres were oriented at 0 & 90degrees, then the strength would be much the same as well.
@@easycompositestv grateful for your reply... you guys are amazing 👏
nice job.
Thank you
What temperature of oven and how long?
Thanks for this vid. Im trying to get nice flat sheet using the wet layup but,im sandwiching it between glass... i cannot get a good surface nomatter what I do? Ill try your method next with just one side glass.
+Glenn Laney Hi Glenn, using wet-lay it can be very difficult, if not impossible, to get a perfect finish using wet-lay. This is something that we've tried to be honest about in this video. With the right resin and a good laminating technique you can get pretty close but even making a single sided sheet, without vacuum, you are likely to struggle to achieve perfection.
One side glass is available, maybe you don't have a good control of resin content or temperature.
How long do you leave it in a oven? N what heat range should it be set at? Also if we don't use a glass bottom, will it still have the shiney finish? I been wanting to get into this for a long time. I love using fiberglass making stuff but this is way way much more interested, would love to make Motorcycle plastic's n stuff n cars also. Awesome video for sure well said. Love God Bless!!
So I assume you're asking about the cure of the 'prepreg' sheet. The temperature and the length of time will depend on the prepreg you're using. The prepreg we used in this video has been updated since we made the tutorial, it would now be our XPREG XC110 prepreg which has a final cure temperature of 120°C. You can find out lots more about the cure cycle for XPREG XC110 on the datasheet for the prepreg, here: www.easycomposites.co.uk/#!/prepreg/component-prepregs/xpreg-xc110-prepreg-carbon-fibre-22-twill-210g.html
@Easy Composites Ltd
Great video, very interesting especially on the durability. If I wanted to create a cylinder with a rigid surface so it does not flex. How would you best cure the material?
You could mould and make a cylinder by pretty much all 3 processes in the video once you have a mould. Rigidity is down to number of layers and orientation of the fibres.
@@easycompositestvthanks. I just started amateur rocketry, so I am considering carbon fibre for the large body and substructure
thanks, nice video help me a lot. Can i request for a tutorial video for sheet metal to metal bonding with adhessive.
We're more specialists in composites. We do have adhesives suitable for metal to metal bonding (both methacrylates and epoxies can be used) but I don't think this would be high on our priority list for tutorials. If you look on our website, you will see that the technical datasheets for the Permabond adhesives and the VuduGlu VM100 both include information (and peel/lap shear strength) for the adhesives used on different substrates (including different metals) so you should be able to find the information you're after there.
Hi, thanks a lot for the video. Just ordered Supplies from your store and going to reproduce the vacuum infusion version.
One question I would like to ask. How many layers of Easy Lease would you recommend on a new and unused glas plate?
Hi C S, We recommend 6-7 coats on a clean, uncoated surface.
I would like to cover plywood (50*60cm plywood plank) with one layer of carbon fiber reinforcement (210gr 2x2 twill) but i want a perfect finish. I really like your technique of hand layup with a glass sheet but do you think I can put my plywood directly on the carbon fiber (as in place of the peel ply) if I want it to stick well ? And many thanks for your interesting detailed videos !
Hi Tonyo, yes, this should work just fine. Hand layup is rarely a *perfect* surface finish, as we tried to show in this video, but it can be very good if done correctly. Alternatively, you could buy a sheet of our ready made carbon fibre veneer, which is perfect, and then bond it to your plywood.
Hello, thanks for the great videos. I'm looking at making a part, essentially a flat sheet of CF with a bend in it, (approx 30 degrees). Was looking at making an aluminium sheet mock up of the part and then doing hand layup over it. Is this a sensible option and will I have any issues getting the part to release from aluminium. Would the laminating starter kit be the best option here?
Hi Luke, yes, this is a fine plan. Uses folded metal as moulds works great. Laminating starter kit would be the perfect set of materials. The only thing I’d suggest would be to get a small bottle of EasyLease CR1 as your release agent. Although the laminating kit includes PVA release agent, this really won’t apply well onto aluminium and so would probably cause release problems. EasyLease would work perfectly on aluminium.
You can even use two folded sheets and use them to sandwich your laminate in the middle, clamp the sheets together and you can get a smooth finish on both sides.
really wan to know if this is posisble,.. is there a way to get both sides having a surface glossy finish just like in the video? hopefully you can help??
You can use the technique in the video for smaller sheets to achieve the same finish we did.
So damn cooool ugh I need a bigger garage
hi, could you do a video on making an "S" shaped tube with braided cf sleeves. how the mold can be made, lost wax? foam core? negative silicon mold?
It is certainly an idea we shall bear in mind when we consider subjects for future videos.
Could the wet lay up method be clamped between 2 pieces of glass to simulate vacuum bagging and give a smooth gloss finish on both sides?? Thanks.
Yes, but it will never be possible to have a perfect pinhole free cosmetic finish. Only resin infusion will give a perfect finish, but only on one side.
Nice video and tutorial!
In the first method can you put a glass on the other side to put and get some weight on it and get the same surface on both sides and maybe compress it a little to get bubbles out or something?
In practice it is hard to get the air out and get a good finish that way.
@@easycompositestv Ah ok thanks for reply! 👍
What I'm wondering is how much of a weigh difference there is, provided that they all have the same reinforcement layup? How much heavier is the hand layup vs resin infusion vs prepreg?
There's really not great deal in it. Resin infusion and prepreg will result in a fibre:resin ratio of 60:40, wet lay can be as good as 50:50 but is often more like 40:60. So, a 20% higher resin ratio (or lower fibre ratio) in the wet-lay sheet.
Please can you do a video to show the strength difference between the techniques with a sandwich panel, and mass?
Hi Chris, yes, we're planning to do an explainer video on composites sandwich panels and cored construction in the not-too-distant future so stay tuned.
thank you for the video sir. It was very nice video. sir please show us a video of kevlar fiber reinforced composite making
A kevlar composite panel would be laid up in exactly the same way. The only difference is you need Kevlar Shears to cut the fabric.
How do u avoide print-threw with the resin infusion?
I cant see any texture in the reflection at 20:20. Even with a gelcoat i get print-threw...
+Leo Curious The trick to eliminating print through is to make sure your laminate is 100% cured before you release it and also to run your infusions a little resin rich (so slightly more than the optimum 60/40 fibre/resin ratio. Also, if you do use heat to cure, always make sure you release the sheet when it's cold.
hi! i'm back with a simple question:
where do we place the simple wet lay vacuum bagging, what thickness to expect? is it the same with resin infusion vacuum bagging?
thank you very much!
best regards,
Mircea
Ultimately it depends on the level of vacuum used (wet lay vacuum bagging is only at partial vacuum), however the difference will only be slight.
Thank you very much! Great video and products you have, plus a very good way of explaining what's going on with those materials. Best regards!
Is it possible to use vacuum bagging and get both faces finished? Or what method should we use to get both faces finished?
Some people have had success this way although it is easy to get air trapped. Presses can also be used to achieve a similar effect, especially with pre-preg carbon fibres.
Can you do a hand-layup pressing the laminate between two glass panels to have both surfaces with a perfect finish?
Given enough pressure you could probably get a perfect finish in this way, yes but you really do need a lot of pressure.
Say you want to make a 4mm thick carbon fibre sheet, can u use the hand lay technique instead of the resin infusion?
Both techniques can be used for thicker sheets. With hand/wet lay, you will just need to take extra care not to put too much resin on each layer of fabric so that your sheet is not too resin rich.
I wonder if you can get more resin out with a thin layer of porous hard silicone rubber so it would dip in between the weaves?
Potentially yes, subject to a bit of experimentation. However if the silicone dips into the weave pattern, the finished sheet would not be perfectly smooth.
Just a question, why not pour the resin on the layer and spread from the center out during the hand laying? But super helpful video!
Would be very wasteful in most cases.
@@easycompositestv If you do it properly, you waste alittle but not too much. And if you get a clean piece of plastic, you can lay it on top of the last layer of Carbon and squeegee the resin out to make a super smooth finish. Did it with fiberglass a few days ago.
How about wet layup with pressure during curing. For example, glass on both sides clamped together?
You Could in theory vacuum bag a wet laid up sheet or clamp two sheets together. However care needs to be taken to ensure the force is even across the sheet and with vacuum bagging you need to ensure the right level of vacuum is used.
I use glass for some things, thicker metal for others... I took the steel to a friend at the machine shop and had it lvld x2 those sandwich together well and i like how it holds and releases heat slowly for ramp downs
Mobile nambar kya he
I want to make composite leaf spring from carbon fiber.Which method i have to use?which type of carbon fiber is best choice for it?
A leaf spring, if it could be made , would likely use mostly Uni-directional fibres for most of its construction. Resin infusion might be a nice neat method to make multiple leaves at once as you could lay up a larger sheet then cut and slice it to suit.
What is your process to get both sides of the surface the same (smooth with Gloss or matt)? Run two panels of glass in a vac?
We use a heated platten press with glass both sides Marc.
@@easycompositestv Many thanks!
please make more videos
I'm very confused on when hand applying resin before vacuum bagging is necessary, and also when the oven is necessary. I've watched videos of people not hand applying resin and also not using the oven. However, I can't seem to find an article that clearly explains when all of these things are necessary and people even do it differently.
Oven curing is only necessary when the resin cure profile requires it. Many resins are designed to cure at room temperature.
I'd like to make 2mm thick panels using 0.3mm carbon fiber cloth and wet lay process. How many layers would you estimate I would need? Also, would squeezing the layers between two pieces of glass work in a similar way to vacuum pressing?
If your layers are 0.3mm thick then you need 7 layers to get over 2mm in thickness. Depending on how well consolidated your layers are, you may find that 6 layers achieves the desired thickness, albeit the sheet will be more resin rich. two pieces of glass will help but you are unlikely to achieve as good a finish as doing it under vacuum.
Alright, thanks a lot for the info, I will give it a shot
Is the prepreg sample as strong as the vacuum infused sample if the mesh layers are the same ?
Yes, the mechanical properties of prepreg and resin infused sheet are virtually the same, if the reinforcement is the same. They will both have about a 60/40 fibre fraction and similar (low) void content.
Thank you
How strong is that sheet can that stand 3kg
Could you use a gelcoat as the first layer, let it dry and then continue as you showed in the video?
You wouldn't use a gelcoat for a prepreg but you could certainly use one for the hand layup and infusion processes.
Are there some forms of opaque matt or silk resins? Or must this achieved using clear coat laquers? And will those bond to that mirror like surface?
Resins naturally cure with a gloss finish hence using a satin lacquer is the most common way to achieve that finish.
@@easycompositestv Tank you very much
Can you please tell when to prefer which lay up technique
The choice mainly comes down to what equipment you have, the size of the thing that you're making and the surface finish quality that you want to achieve. The idea of this video is to show the different methods and what results they will achieve and also how practical (time consuming) each of them is. We hoped this would then equip you with the information you need to determine the best method for your project.
I have a question about the infusion lay up. I realized you used a vacuum pump with a some kind of vacuum canister. how necessary is this? because when u did the pre preg lay up you didn't use the canister again.
The 'vacuum canister' is a Resin Infusion Catch-Pot. These are used for resin infusion but not needed for prepreg because the purpose of the catch pot is to prevent excess liquid resin from being accidentally drawn into the vacuum pump (which would ruin it). With resin infusion, this is a risk because you have a supply of liquid resin feeding resin into the project which can find its way to the vacuum line and into the pump. With prepreg, there is a fixed, measured amount of resin in the laminate already and no surplus resin to accidentally get drawn into the pump.
Oh. Ok thanks. I get it now
What type of resin is good for flex? Something like scuba fins.
Many use a pretty typical epoxy with relatively thin laminates to maintain flexibility.
When doing this infusion with unidirectional carbons of 2-3 layers on each other, the bottom layer stays partially dry, even after 10-15% of extra resin infused through the whole complex. Do you have any recommendations for this?
The issue is likely to be your UD; when stacked up, the filaments of carbon interlock and don't allow resin to flow through; you would normally ned to use UD in single plies between layers of woven or Biax materials so as to allow the resin to flow through and around the fibres.
Hi there i would like to asked is it ok not to put hardener on rasin? Is it gonna cure? But in longer time right?
No, epoxy resins need the hardener and resin to be at the correct ratio in order for the curing process to take place.
How easy would it be to do this at home(in the garage of course)? I have some ideas and stuff I want to make where I could use some stiff 4mm CF but retain lightweight materials instead of using 6061 aluminum...
Hi Caleb, as long as you have the equipment it should be fine. The room curing methods will ideally want a working temperature of 18-20C for resin curing
Hi! Two questions, if glass isn't a option could I use acrylic? And the other question, what is the thickness of the glass that you are using?
Thanks a lot!!
Acrylic is not really an option because it’s difficult to get a reliable release. The glass we’re using in this video is 10mm but it doesn’t need to be, 4mm would be fine.