1.Product Description
Multiaxial carbon fiber reinforcement is an alternative to traditional woven carbon fiber cloth and is made up of alternately aligned layers of unidirectional carbon reinforcement. By not being woven, the fibers avoid the 'crimp' of going under and over perpendicular fibers in the way that they do in woven fabrics and so the fiber in multiaxials is intrinsically straighter and therefore stiffer under tension. Multiaxials typically use off-axis fiber orientation, such as +/- 45° and so are often included in a laminate as a convenient and efficient way to fiber orientation, and therefore strength, off-axis from the woven reinforcement.
At LK we currently stock carbon fiber multiaxial in a +/- 45° biaxial due to how effectively it can be combined with traditional woven carbon cloth to produce a laminate with relatively uniform strength in all directions, known as a quasi-isotropic layup. Our carbon fiber biax reinforcement is available in a choice of weights and widths.
2.Technical Data Sheet
Weight and Dimensions
| Width |
1270 |
mm |
| Thickness |
0.3 |
mm |
| Consolidated Thickness |
0.3 |
mm |
| Areal Weight |
300 |
g/m² |
Fabric Specification
| fiber Specifics |
3k |
| fiber Orientation |
+/- 45 |
| Colour |
Black |
| Weave |
+/- 45 Biaxial |
| Format |
+/- 45 Biaxial |
| Filament Count |
3k |
| fiber Type |
Carbon fiber |
fiber Properties
| Filament Diameter |
7 |
µm |
| Tensile Strength |
4120 |
MPa |
| Tensile Modulus |
234 |
GPa |
| Elongation at Break |
1.8 |
% |
| Density |
1.79 |
g/cm³ |
| UV Resistance |
Fully UV Stable |
|
| Brand |
LK |
|
Compatible With
| Compatible With |
Epoxy |
Yes |
| Compatible With |
Polyester |
Yes |
| Compatible With |
Vinylester |
Yes |
3.Advantages
- Very strong and lightweight fabric ideal for confined spaces.
- Used for flexure and shear strengthening as well as confinement.
- Fully compatible and excellent adhesion to resins.
- Non-corrosive.
- Because the fibers are always straight and non-crimped and also the fact that several orientations(0°, 45°, 90°) of fibers are possible on one fabric, these multiaxial fabrics are able to offer the maximum mechanical strength.
- Versatile; can be wrapped around complex shapes.
- Light weight does not alter mass & dynamic loads on structure.
- Alkali resistant.
- Special manufacturing of the fabric makes it very stable & prevents fraying.
- Since Multiaxial fabrics are thicker and with multiple fiber orientations, fewer layers are needed to build a laminate. This results in a faster building speed and saving labor costs as well
4.Typical Uses
This biaxial cloth is a very versatile reinforcement and has a multitude of uses including:
- Reinforcement in carbon fiber vehicle panels
- Reinforcement in moulded carbon fiber parts, such as seats
- Internal/backing layers for carbon fiber sheets (adds quasi-isotropic strength)
- Reinforcement for carbon fiber moulds (for prepreg or high temperature moulds)
- Reinforcement in sporting equipment eg. skis, snow boards etc
5.Note
However, caution must be used when handling since a fine carbon dust may be present on the surface. Gloves must therefore be worn to protect against skin irritation. Caution must also be used when cutting the fabric to protect against airborne carbon dust generated by the cutting procedure. Use of an appropriate, properly fitted NIOSH approved respirator is recommended.
6.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 Do I Go About Ordering A Sample Of This Carbon Fabric?
You can purchase a sample of our fabrics here.
5.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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8.What Colour Is Carbon fiber?
All Carbon fibers are naturally charcoal black in colour.
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