Page |1

Carbon Fiber Composites

Engineering Materials

Syed Ali Fazeel, 180501001

Teham Tahir, 180501016
Muhammad Aizaz-Ud-Din, 180501017
Abdul Rahman Chaudhry, 180501044

Submitted To: Dr. Abrar Baloch

Department Of Mechanical Engineering
Institute Of Space Technology
 Page |2

Table of Contents:

Introduction: 3
Mechanical Properties of Carbon Fiber Composites: 5
Failure of Carbon Fiber Composite Materials: 8
Types of Carbon Fiber: 9
Heat Treatment: 10
Applications: 12
References: 12
 Page |3

Introduction:
Composites are a relatively new field of materials which look to be quickly gaining
popularity and may be on the way as a replacement to heavy metals such as steels. Carbon
fiber composites constitute of carbon fibers in a matrix. The matrix can be altered to provide
desired properties. Composite materials show superior properties to either of their
constituents and provide unique characteristics, as illustrated by the stress-strain graphs
below.

Figure 1) Stress-Strain curves of fiber, matrix and

composite
 Page |4

Composites can be composed of fibers in the form of woven fabric, chopped up, or in the
form of powder and every configuration provides drastic variances in properties.
Furthermore, the stacking order and orientation also plays a large role in the properties of a
composite material. The scope of this document will cover the aspects of general carbon fiber
composites.

Figure 2) Woven Carbon Fiber Figure 3) Chopped Carbon Fiber

 Page |5

Mechanical Properties of Carbon Fiber Composites:

As with all materials, there come great advantages and disadvantages. For engineering
applications, a material is selected based mainly on the purpose of use and the environment
within which the material is to be used. Hence it is essential to identify the pros and cons of
the behavior of a material under different conditions during the selection process. Carbon
Fiber Composite materials have made their way into daily use as they continue to prove their
unique mechanical properties. Carbon fiber composites are also being looked at as
replacements for high density metals such as steel. Mechanical properties of Carbon Fiber
Composites are discussed below.
Advantages:

1. High Strength to Weight Ratio:

Carbon fiber composites are strong and light, hence they have a very high Strength-to-Weight
ratio. The value for Carbon Fiber is 2457kN.m/kg as compared to steel alloys 254kN.m/kg,
we can see that the specific strength is almost tenfold. Although these values differ across
variations, we can see from the comparison that carbon fiber composites have a quite
significantly lesser weight and it is due to this reason that these composites are used in
applications where weight saving is essential without compromising strength such as aircraft,
supercars, boats, turbine blades, etc.

2. Corrosion Resistant:

Although carbon fibers themselves do not deteriorate measurably, their epoxy is sensitive to
sunlight and needs to be protected. This is usually done by placing a UV resistant coating
over the product. Other matrices (whatever the carbon fiber is embedded in) may also be
reactive. Carbon fibers can also be affected by strong oxidizing agents. Polyester, vinyl ester
and epoxy resin combined with carbon fibers are a popular choice for underwater sea turbines
due to their high corrosion resistance in extreme seawater environments.

3. High Rigidity:

Carbon fiber reinforced plastic is over 4 times stiffer than Glass reinforced plastic, almost 20
times more than pine, and 2.5 times greater than aluminum. 

4. Good Electrical Conductivity:

Carbon fiber does conduct electricity. It is not as good of a conductor as most metals, but if

you build a structure with it, you will find that its electrical conduction can easily contribute
to galvanic corrosion, by electrically connecting dissimilar metals. Carbon Fiber is also used
in stealth technology due to its low coefficient of reflection in the electromagnetic spectrum
and radar absorbance.

5. Good Fatigue Resistance:

The leading cause of aircraft failure nowadays is fatigue. Traditional aluminum and steel used
in aircraft undergoes cyclic loading (fatigue) which causes the structural or moving
 Page |6

components to fail at a stress level far less than the ultimate yield strength (one half to one
fourth the yield strength). Resistance to Fatigue in Carbon Fiber Composites is comparatively
much greater than competitor materials which is the reason recent aircraft are mostly made of
carbon fiber composites such as Airbus and Boeing aircraft. However, when carbon fiber
fails it usually fails catastrophically without significant exterior signs to announce its
imminent failure.

6. Non-Flammable:

Carbon fiber is classified as non-combustible and has no listed flash point. If it is exposed to
high heat in the presence of fuel burning, it can eventually oxidize but it is temporary. This
property of carbon fiber allows it to be used in applications where safety is of absolute
priority, usually where lives are at risk.

7. Less Thermal Expansion:

Low Coefficient of Thermal expansion makes carbon fiber suitable for applications where
small movements can be critical. Telescope and other optical machinery are one of such
applications.

8. Non-Poisonous, Biologically Inert, X-Ray Permeable:

These qualities make Carbon fiber useful in Medical applications. Prosthesis use, implants
and tendon repair, x-ray accessories surgical instruments, are all in development. It also
should be looked into that epoxy used for composites is not harmful through ingestion.

Disadvantages:

1. Irritation:

Although not poisonous, the carbon fibers can be quite irritating and long-term unprotected
exposure needs to be limited. The matrix either epoxy or polyester, can however be toxic and
proper care needs to be exercised.

2. Relatively Expensive:

Although it offers exceptional advantages of Strength, Rigidity and Weight reduction, its cost
is a deterrent. Unless the weight advantage is exceptionally important, such as in aeronautics
applications or racing, it often is not worth the extra cost. However, significant improvement
is being made in bringing the manufacturing costs down by introducing new and different
equipment which is able to efficiently and quickly manufacture products on a large scale such
as automation technology. For mass production, the end product should also be economically
profitable for the company and using carbon fibers may not meet this criteria.

3. Brittle:

The layers in the fibers are formed by strong covalent bonds. The sheet-like aggregations
readily allow the propagation of cracks. When the fibers bend, they fail at very low strain. In
other words, carbon fiber does not bend much before failing.
 Page |7

4. Ungeared to Amateur techniques:

In order to maximize Carbon Fiber Characteristics, a relatively high level of technical

excellence must be achieved. Imperfections and air bubbles can significantly affect
performance. Typically, autoclaves, or vacuum equipment is required. Molds and mandrels
are major expenses as well.

Failure of Carbon Fiber Composite Materials:

Due to the uniqueness of Carbon Fiber Composite materials having superior properties than
their constituents, their method of failure is also unique and had to be studied separately to
understand the fracture mechanics and failure at both a microscopic and macroscopic level.

1. Delamination:

One of the main reasons for composite failure is delamination which occurs at the
intermediate between the surface of the carbon fibers and the matrix due to lack of adhesion
between the two constituents. This also causes internal laminar stresses throughout the entire
material. Delamination can be the result of impact, stress concentration and strain under
loading. Due to the difference in strain values of the two constituents of the composite, they
tend to deform different amounts under load causing delamination to occur.

2. Low Impact Tolerance:

Carbon Fiber composite materials have a relatively low impact tolerance as impacts cause
irreversible changes in the material to occur such as delamination, fiber breakage, and
formation of microscopic cracks. However, the stacking order of the fibers does widely affect
the impact toughness.

3. Voids:

Voids are the most common type of microscopic defects in composites. Voids can occur due
to air bubbles introduced during the manufacturing process or irregularities in the fiber and
usually occur at the junction between the matrix and fiber. Voids cause internal laminar
residual stresses which decreases the ultimate yield strength of the material.

4. Failure Detection and Prevention:

Damage to composite materials is difficult to diagnose prior to catastrophic failure as much

of the modes of failure originate from the internal laminar structure. This requires specialized
techniques such as acoustic emission.

5. Axial Arrangement of fibers:

The axial arrangement of the fibers plays an important in the strength of the material. The
material displays superior strength in the direction of the fibers but is significantly weaker in
 Page |8

other directions.

Types of Carbon Fiber:

CFRP:
Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites (CFRP) are lightweight, strong materials used
in the manufacturing of numerous products used in our daily life. It is a term used to describe
a fiber-reinforced composite material that uses carbon fiber as the primary structural
component. It should be noted that the "P" in CFRP can also stand for "plastic" instead of
"polymer." In general, CFRP composites use thermosetting resins such as epoxy, polyester,
or vinyl ester.

Standard Modulus Carbon Fibers:

Standard modulus carbon fibers typically exhibit a fiber modulus of 33-34 msi, or slightly
higher. These are the most cost-effective fibers as measured by tensile strength or modulus
per unit cost.
T300 - Baseline carbon fiber used in aerospace applications. 
T400H - Enhanced tensile strength and modulus over T300 and T300J, specifically designed
for aerospace applications.
T700S - The highest strength, standard modulus fiber available, with outstanding processing
characteristics for filament winding, weaving and prepregging. This never-twisted fiber is
used in a variety of industrial and recreational applications, including pressure vessels such as
natural gas vehicle (NGV) storage tanks and SCBA breathing tanks.
T700G - Enhanced tensile modulus and adhesion properties over T700S. Applications of this
never-twisted fiber include aircraft and high performance sporting goods where demanding
conditions require superior composite properties.

Intermediate Modulus:
Intermediate modulus (IM) carbon fibers exhibit a tensile modulus of 42 msi. They were
originally developed for aerospace applications, IM fibers now find use in recreational and
industrial applications as well.
T800H - An intermediate modulus, high tensile strength fiber, with high level and balance
composite properties. Designed and developed to meet the weight saving demands of aircraft
applications. Is used in primary structure of commercial aircraft, including vertical fin and
horizontal stabilizers.
 Page |9

T800S - A very cost-effective, high tensile strength alternative to T800H. This never-twisted
fiber has especially high tensile properties.
T1000G - The world's highest tensile strength carbon fiber. Suitable for lightweight, tensile
strength critical applications such as pressure vessels for aerospace vehicles, and satellites, as
well as hydrogen storage tanks for fuel cell vehicles.
T1100G - Next generation intermediate modulus fiber with excellent processability in
traditional manufacturing methods (weaving, PrePreg, etc.)
T1100S - Next generation intermediate modulus fiber with excellent processability in
traditional manufacturing methods (filament winding). 

High Modulus Carbon Fibers:

Toray's MJ and M-series high modulus carbon fibers represent the highest modulus PAN-
based carbon fibers available. PAN-based high modulus fibers are superior to pitch-based
fibers due to tensile and compressive strengths that are often times more than twice that of a
corresponding pitch-based fiber. The MJ series fibers offer enhanced tensile strength and
elongation over M series fibers. They are typically used in stiffness and coefficient of thermal
expansion (CTE)-critical applications such as spacecraft, premium sporting goods and
industrial rollers.

Heat Treatment:
Activated carbon fibers are prepared from general purpose carbon fibers by a heat treatment
in order to achieve a high level of porosity. It is used in filters, face masks, for air
purification.
Based on final heat treatment temperature, carbon fibers are classified into:
 Type-I, high-heat-treatment carbon fibers (HTT), where final heat treatment
temperature should be above 2000°C and can be associated with high-modulus type
fiber.
 Type-II, intermediate-heat-treatment carbon fibers (IHT), where final heat treatment
temperature should be around or above 1500°C and can be associated with high-
strength type fiber.
 Type-III, low-heat-treatment carbon fibers, where final heat treatment temperatures
not greater than 1000°C. These are low modulus and low strength materials.
During the heat treatment of the T300B fiber, which is a high performance carbon fiber
reinforced epoxy matrix composite, specifically during curing process it was observed
through X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy that activated carbon atoms can be detected, which
are defined as the carbon atoms conjunction with oxygen and nitrogen. Surface chemistry
analysis shows that the content of activated carbon atoms on treated carbon fiber surface,
 P a g e | 10

especially those connect with the hydroxyl decreases with the increasing heat treatment
temperature. Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) analysis reveals that the dispersive surface
energy γ Sd increases and the polar surface energy γ Ssp decreases as the heat treatment
temperature increases to 200. Contact angle between carbon fiber and epoxy E51 resin, which
is studied by dynamic contact angle test (DCAT) increases with the increasing heat treatment
temperature, indicating the worse wettability comparing with the untreated fiber. Moreover,
micro-droplet test shows that the interfacial shear strength (IFSS) of the treated carbon
fiber/epoxy is lower than that of the untreated T300B fiber which is attributed to the
decrement of the content of reactive functional groups including hydrogen group and epoxy
group.
In a study conducted by Department of Nano engineering, JSNN, North Carolina A&T State
University Greensboro, North Carolina, USA the effects of heat treatment on carbon fabric
used for fabricating laminated carbon fiber reinforced composite with epoxy resin was
studied.  The heat treatment of the carbon fabric involved two stages. The first stage is called
stabilization (term usually used for the PAN fiber treatment) which was performed in air at
280oC for 6 hours and then followed by nitrogen at 1200oC for 1 hour. The ramp rate for the
temperature increase was 5oC/min. For both the set of materials, carbon fabric used was
Hexcel AS4twill type. The resin used was EPON 862 with 26.4 % hardener Epikure W.
Twelve layers of carbon plies were stacked and composite laminates were fabricated using
HVARTM method (See Fig.1). The panels were then cured at 149oC for three hours.
Heat treated carbon fibers appeared much brittle and were less pliable compared to the fibers
that were not subjected to any heat treatment. Stacking the heat treated carbon fabric was
more difficult as significant amount of fibers came out from the tows at the edges. The brittle
behavior of the heat treated fibers indicated possible loss of sizing treatment during the heat
treatment.
Once the carbon fabric was heat treated, they were stacked under the same vacuum bag along
with the conventional carbon fibers and two types of laminates were fabricated using
HVARTM technique. Significant thickness variation was observed for the laminates
manufactured using heat treated carbon fabric and the one which was manufactured using the
non-heat treated counterpart. The ultimate tensile strength was reduced from 819MPa to
252MPa for heat treated fiber composite. The neat resin (Epon 862-W) ultimate tensile
strength was reported as 102MPa by Theodoreet al. The observed change in mechanical
properties of the heat treated carbon fiber composite possibly indicates the change in fiber
properties by the additional heat application [20]. The fiber topography was characterized by
SEM to observe the possible change in surface degradation shows a representative surface
topography of two types of fiber used in the present investigation. No significant change in
fiber dimension was noticed. Topographic examination indicated some left over flakes of
sizing on the surface of the heat treated carbon fabric indicating possible exposure of surface
flaws due to removal of sizing compounds or/and a possible change in chemical properties of
the fiber surface. To understand the cause of reduction in strength and stiffness of the carbon
fibers due to heat treatment, number of FTIR studies were performed on the carbon fibers.
Usually the FTIR results for pure carbon do not show any peaks of transmittance over the
wide range of frequency spectra. To observe the possible changes in chemical bonding due to
heat treatment detailed FTIR investigations were performed for the heat treated and non-heat
treated carbon fibers. The figure clearly indicates two characteristic peaks: one at
 P a g e | 11

approximate 3300 cm-1 region

and another at 1630cm- 1region.
The possible bonds for the first
region are amines, -NH (range
3100-3500), hydrogen bonded
alcohols, -OH (3200-3500)
or carboxylic acid, –COOH
(range 2400-3400). The second
region indicates a possible
amide, -NR (bend) vibration
resonance (range 1550-1640).
Two distinct regions on heat
treated carbon fiber FTIR curve are indicative in terms of change in chemical bonds of fibers
due to heat treatment.

Applications:
Aerospace and space were some of the first industries to adopt carbon fiber. The high
modulus of carbon fiber makes it suitable structurally to replace alloys such as aluminum and
titanium. The weight savings carbon fiber provides is the primary reason carbon fiber has
been adopted by the aerospace industry. An example is Boeing 787 Dreamliner whose
structure has a majority composition of carbon fiber reinforced composites.
Tennis rackets, golf clubs, softball bats, hockey sticks, and archery arrows and bows are all
products commonly manufactured with carbon fiber reinforced composites.
Carbon fiber is also used in the manufacture of spare (a stiffening rib that runs the length of
the blade) in wind turbines.

References:
1. Christine DeMerchant
2. Materialsciencejournal.org
3. http://www.performance-composites.com
4. clearwatercomposites.com
5. Review on the characterization and selection of the advanced materials for tidal
turbine blades Shiekh Elsouk M. N.* , Santa Cruz A.* , Guillou S.S. *
6. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4720745
7. http://www.ae.utexas.edu/courses/ase324_huang/MT2002.pdf
8. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsta.2011.0441
9. Mechanical and Impact Damage Analysis on Carbon/Natural Fibers Hybrid
Composites: A Review Carlo Santulli School of Architecture and Design, Viale della
Rimembranza
10. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/182/1/012031/pdf
 P a g e | 12

11. https://www.materialsciencejournal.org/vol14no1/carbon-fibres-production-
properties-and-potential-use/
12. https://www.academia.edu/36508753/EFFECT_OF_HEAT_TREATMENT_ON_ME
CHANICAL_PROPERTIES_OF_LAMINATED_CARBON_FIBER_REINFORCED
_POLYMERIC_COMPOSITES
13. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S016943321100674X
14. https://www.thoughtco.com/uses-of-carbon-fiber-820394
15. https://www.thoughtco.com/understanding-cfrp-composites-820393
16. https://www.toraycma.com/page.php?id=661