1.Product Description
Braided Carbon Fiber Sleeve is a biaxial braid of precisely oriented fibers of maximum stiffness, torsial stability and compressive strength. The sleeve has a 45 degree orientation and will compress about 20-25% and tension about 60-65% from their base diameter. A biaxial braided sleeve easily and repeatedly expands open to fit over molding tools or cores. They can accommodate straight, uniform cross-section forms as well as non-linear, irregular cross section components.
These braided carbon biaxial sleeves feature the desirable cosmetics of a 2x2 twill pattern. They can be slid over a prepared mandrel or cylinder to create straight or tapered tubing.Braided sleeves will completely conform to the shape of products with changing geometries like prosthetics and hockey sticks, improving overall performance, minimizing weight, and maximizing the ultimate tensile strength of carbon.
2.Technical Data Sheet
Fabric Specification
| fiber Specifics |
LK A38 6k |
| Weave |
2 x 2 Twill |
| Format |
Braided Sleeve |
Weight and Dimensions
| Thickness |
0.49 |
mm |
| Width |
125 |
mm |
| Consolidated Thickness |
0.49 |
mm |
| Areal Weight |
430 |
g/m² |
Product Data
| Colour |
Black |
|
| Filament Count |
6k |
|
| fiber Type |
Carbon fiber |
|
| UV Resistance |
Fully UV Stable |
|
| Brand |
LK |
|
Compatible With
| Compatible With |
Epoxy |
Yes |
| Compatible With |
Polyester |
Yes |
| Compatible With |
Vinylester |
Yes |
3.Advantages
- 2x2 Twill weave for great conformability, strength and aesthetics
- 45° Angle twill weave orientation
- Wets out easily with resin
- Fatigue resistance for durable strength
- Maximum Continuous Operating Temperature of 419ºF
- Lighter Than Virtually All Other Sleeving
- Ideal for Strong Lightweight Tubular Structures
- Perfect When You Need Coverage, Strength & Can't Afford to Add Much Weight
- Cuts Easily with Scissors
- Insulates Delicate Wires & Components
- Made From Polyacrylonitrile (PAN)
- Non-Flammable
- UV Resistant
4.Typical Uses
Carbon Fiber Sleeve is used worldwide to fabricate products ranging from aerospace grade rocket bodies to the automotive industry in air intakes, the sporting world ranging in fishing rod grips, hiking poles, hockey sticks, and even providing rigid support to prosthetics.
Composite Reinforcement
Repair of Pipes and Structures
Automotive
Aerospace
Sports Equipment
5.Shipping information
Restrictions
This product is not classed as dangerous goods for transport and can be shipped to all destinations without restriction.
Package Size
There are no package size restrictions or surcharges for this product.
---------- FAQ ----------
1.How Much Resin Will I Need To Wet Out Carbon Cloth Fabrics?
For wet-lay lamination you will use approximately the same weight of resin as the weight of the fabric. For example, with a 200gsm cloth, for 1 square metre you will have 200g of fabric and thus will need 200g of resin to wet it out, plus a small amount of wastage for the brush and mixing pot.
2.What Does The '3k' Mean?
'3k' is the filament count or tow size. It simply means that each 'bunch' of carbon fibers that this cloth is woven from is made up of 3000 individual carbon filaments. Bigger counts (6k, 12k etc.) means chunkier 'bunches' of carbon so chunkier fabrics.
3.What Typical Thickness Would Each Layer Be?
Thickness of any reinforcement is dependent on consoldation(how much it's 'squashed down'. For this reason we generally give out thickness figures for when the reiforcement is consoldated under vacuum (1bar); this seems like the most useful figure. For example,a 90gsm carbon,a single layer, compressed under vacuum, would be about 0.1mm thick. For a 200gsm carbon a single layer would be about 0.25mm thick. This is the number you see listed under 'thickness' in the specification table.
4.How Much Resin Would Be Needed On Average Per Sqm?
Well, this depends entirely on what reinforcement you're laminating, speficically how thick and heavy it is. If you're laminating 5mm of carbon fiber you'll use a lot more resin that if you're laminating just 1mm of it. Fortunately though there a really quick rule to get a good estimate-simply add up the total weight of your reinforcement and you'll probably need the same weight in resin. This means that if you're laminating 5 layers of 200g carbon(so a total of 1000g of carbon) then you'll want about 1000g(i. e.1kg) of Epoxy Resin.If it was 2 layers of 450g glass then you'd need about 900g per square metre.
5. What Is The Maximum Service Temperature As I Want To Make An Engine Rocker Cover.
The carbon fabric itself will survive many hundreds of degrees and is not the limiting factor for almost all applications. The limiting factor will be the heat distortion temperature of the resin system you plan to laminate this fabric with.
An engine rocker/cam cover may easily be exposed to hot oils at around 120°C as well as heat from the exhaust which would be dependent on the engine configuration and level of tune. As such we would recommend considering using a higher temperature resin system.
6. Does The Carbon Have A Shelf Life?
For very critical applications, such as aerospace, even dry carbon fabrics will be 'lifed' due to very gradual degradation of the sizing on the fibers, however in practice, for most applications, the degradation is minimal and most users would consider dry fabric s to not have a shelf life when stored appropriately.
7.What Colour Is Carbon fiber?
All Carbon fibers are naturally charcoal black in colour.
8.Does The Braided Sleeve Retain Any Of Its Texture After Resin Infusion?
When infused against a mould surface, the mould facing surface will take on the finish of the mould itself,i. e. if the mould is smooth and glossy, so will the finished part.
9.What Level Of Stretch Is The Nominal Diameter?
We use the same measurement that the manufacturers use when measuring the braid, that is with the fiber orientation at 45degrees, which should be half way between 'fully stretched' and fully contracted; it is quite fluid though (as you'll now have seen) and so it can easily appear shorted or longer than expected depending on how much it's opened up.
10.How Can I Contract The Sleeve?
Just stretch it, that will reduce the diameter of the sleeve.
11.What Is The Thickness Of The Sleeve?
We actually list the thickness on the 'specification tab'; if you look under Thickness at 50% FV mm you'll see that the nominal thickness of the material.
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