CARBON FIBER REINFORCED

PLASTICS
UNDER GUIDANCE OF: DR. D.R. PESHWE
DEPARTMENT OF METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS ENGINEERING
Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, Maharashtra

SUBMITTED BY:
SUMEET SHARMA
E-Mail:sumeetsharma005@gmail.com
 WHAT ARE CFRP?
• Fibre-reinforced polymer(FRP), also Fibre-reinforced plastic, is
a composite material made of a polymer matrix reinforced
with fibres.
FIBER
GLASS WOOD
CARBON ARAMID ASBESTOS

• FRP with carbon fibers are called CARBON FIBER REINFORCED

PLASTICS OR CARBON FIBER REINFORCED POLYMERS(CFRP)
MATRIX

EPOXY POLYESTER PHENOL

THERMOSETTING FORMLDEHYDE
PLASTICS
 Introduction to CFRP
• Technical grade carbon fibres were developed in the
mid 1960s.
• Composite’s properties are mainly influenced by the
choice of fibers.
• Carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP or CRP) is a
light-weight, high strength, composite material.
• CFRP composites use thermosetting resins such as
epoxy, polyester, or vinyl ester.
• When thermoplastic resins are used in CFRP
Composites, called "Carbon Fiber Reinforced
Thermoplastic Composites(CFRTP).
 MANUFACTURE OF CFRP
• Fibre preforms are how the fibres are manufactured before being bonded to the matrix.

Continous fibres for sheets

spray applications
Carbon fibre preforms Continous mats

Textile processing techniques for PREFORMS

WEAVING
STITCHING
KNITTING

Fibres in z-direction
BRAIDING
 High quality textile
Pre-impregnated fibre fabrics
(Prepregs)
+
Curabe resin
Economical
Strength
Fbre type
Modulus
Other properties

• High strength, rigidity and pronounced anisotropy are achieved by a

unidirectional (UD) arrangement of the fibres or the prepregs themselves.
• Prepregs made from woven fabrics are employed for components that
have to be isotropic in one plane (orthotropic).In general, the fibre
content of such elements will be about 50 percent by volume.
• Resin influence the essential properties of the resulting products, and also
determines their processibility, manufacturing time and cost.
 MANUFACTURING OF CFRP…
AUTOCLAVE MOLDING
• Individual sheets of prepreg material are laid-up and placed in open mold.
• Material is covered with release film, bleeder/breather material and
vacuum bag.
• A vacuum is pulled on part and the entire mould is placed into an
autoclave (heated pressure vessel). The part is cured with a continuous
vacuum to extract entrapped gasses from laminate.
• This process, however, make the fabrication costs expensive due to costly
autoclave system and cold storage of prepreg .
MANUFACTURING OF CFRP…
VACUUM ASSISTED RESIN TRANSFER MOLDING
•VaRTM is an alternative method to autoclave moulding available at a
lower cost.
•In VaRTM, dry carbon fibers or cloth are mounted on a mold and sealed
by a flexible vacuum bag.
•Resin is then drawn into the dry preform by a vacuum pump and cured
under atmospheric pressure.
•VaRTM has the potential to reduce fabrication costs, as it requires no
expensive prepregs or autoclave systems .
•Allows precise tolerances and detailed shaping but can sometimes fail
to fully saturate the fabric leading to weak spots in the final shape.
MANUFACTURING OF CFRP…

NEW EMERGING TECHNIQUES SINGLE

LINE INJECTION(SLI) TECHNIQUE:
• Producing high-quality fibre composite components with the best possible
laminate and surface quality in a cost-optimised production process.
Principle of the SLI Method
• Approach is to combine the advantages of the raw material of the liquid resin
technology with the laminate quality of the Prepreg autoclave technology.
• The advantage of this method over LRI method is that the resin is injected under
pressure and that the laminate can be compacted by the autoclave pressure.
• Evacuation of the fibre preform as well as the injection of the resin system is
carried out with same resin transfer line.This resin transfer line can be arranged on
the fibre preform in any arrangement to shorten the flow path and, with that, the
injection time.

Fig:SLI technique
Variation of fibre volume content
• An additional characteristic of the SLI method is the possibility to
directly influence the fibre content by means of the process
parameters.
• If the autoclave pressure is adjusted same as the inner resin
pressure, the fibre preform can relax in the thickness direction and
can support the impregnation due to greater permeability.
• If the fibre preform is completely impregnated, the autoclave
pressing on the fibre material can be increased by reducing the
injection pressure until the desired fibre volume content of typically
60% is reached.

Fig :Pressure distribution

during injection and
adjustment phase in SLI
 Properties of CFRP Composites
• Light Weight -
GFRP CFRP 70%CARBON
70% GLASS FIBRE BY WEIGHT FIBRE BY WEIGHT

DENSITY=0.065 pounds per DENSITY=0.055 pounds per

cu.inch cu.inch

An aluminum structure of equal strength, would likely weigh 1.5

times that of the carbon fiber structure.
• Stronger -
Not only lighter, but CFRP composites are much stronger and stiffer
per unit of weight. Tensile strength=1900-3400 N/mm^2
CFRP
Young’s modulus=245-640 KN/mm^2
For e.g. CFRP stiffness per unit weight= 2/3 of that of aluminum
Stiffness and strength higher than Iron.
•
Disadvantages of CFRP Composites
Cost - There is a reason why carbon fiber is not used in every single
application. CFRP composites are cost prohibitive in many instances.
Current market conditions Demand
COST depends on and supply
Fibre tow size
Type of carbon fibre aerospace
commercial
Raw carbon fiber on a price per pound, can be 5-times to 25-times more
expensive than fiberglass. This disparity is even greater when comparing
steel to CFRP composites.
• Conductivity - This can be both an advantage to carbon fiber composites,
or a disadvantage depending on the application. Carbon fiber is extremely
conductive, while glass fiber is insulative. Thermal conductivity equivalent
to copper.
For example, in the utility industry, many products are required to use
GFRP. It is also one of the reasons why ladders use glass fiber as the ladder
rails. If a fiberglass ladder were to come in contact with a powerline, the
chances of electrocution are much lower. This would not be the case with
a CFRP ladder.
Use of different properties of CFRP for
various apllications

Fig :comparison of properties of CFRP with some

major materials
 APPLICATION OF CFRP IN AIRCRAFTS
• A large-scale structure such as an aircraft wing can be fabricated with
CFRP (integral molding) as a single component ,this may help sometimes
to reduce weight by removing certain additional components sometimes.

Fig:Components of A380 made

of CFRP
Expanded Use of CFRP in the Automotive Industry
• If CFRP is used for 17% of an automobile's parts, its weight can be reduced by
about 30% of a standard automobile.
 Reducing CO2 Emissions over the Product Life Cycle through
Weight Reduction
Fig: cross-section Fig: light weight
of turbine blade CNG cylinder used
in trucks and buses

• CFRP can greatly reduce fuel consumption by making automobiles and

aircraft lighter. As a result, adoption of CFRP reduces CO2 emissions over
the entire life cycle of the product, from the raw material and material
manufacturing stages, right through to product use and disposal.
• About 35 tons of CFRP are used in the super-sized Airbus A380, which
went into service in 2007. The Boeing 787, a mid-size model that is
expected to go into service in 2010, will also use around 35 tons of CFRP
per plane, accounting for about 50% of the structural elements. It is
expected that aircraft weight will be reduced by about 20% as a result.

Fig: The Boeing 787, which uses CFRP

for its structural parts
• By using CFRP for 50% of the weight of an aircraft, the resulting savings in
CO2 emissions from improved fuel efficiency can average 27,000 tons per aircraft
(7% reduction) over a ten-year product life cycle. This is equivalent to about 2,700
tons of CO2 per year. If CFRP were adopted for 15,000 passenger jets worldwide,
the annual reduction of CO2 emissions would be about 40.5 million tons.

Fig: Overall Carbon di oxide emmisions for life of 10 years of conventional vehicle and aircraft
 Carbon Composite (CFRP) Friction Bearings
Friction bearings commonly use
lubricating oil to separate the moving
component from the mated non-
moving bearing surface. Friction bearing
surfaces commonly consist of a material
that is softer than the supported
component

CFRP friction bearings provide excellent

dry running characteristics and can be
used in operation after lubrication
system failure making them an ideal
solution for use in pumps and
construction machinery as well as in
mechanical engineering and
shipbuilding or in offshore and onshore
facilities to reduce maintenance and
increase reliability. It can withstand up
to 260 degree Celsius.
THANK YOU