High-Performance Composites is read by qualified composites industry professionals in the fields of continuous carbon fiber and other high-performance composites as well as the associated end-markets of aerospace, military, and automotive.
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editor from the editor T ber manufacturing process has inhe wait for $5/lb carbon creased incrementally, that won���t ���ber is over. That is, you bring a big drop in the price of ���ber can stop waiting beanytime soon. cause it���s not coming. That���s What is dropping is mold cycle the word from Compositestime. We���ve come a long way since World���s Carbon Fiber 2012 autoclaved prepreg was the only conference, which was held way to go. Teijin says it is ���neDec. 4-6 in La Jolla, Calif. tuning a 60-second process for the For more than 20 years, molding of carbon ���ber/thermoone of the Holy Grails of the plastic parts for automotive applicarbon ���ber composites marcations. Dieffenbacher and Kraussket has been the automotive jeff@compositesworld.com Maffei have jointly developed a industry. Lighter, stronger three-minute part-to-part process and more fatigue- and corroto mold carbon ���ber/thermoset parts ��� in use right sion-resistant than steel and aluminum, carbon comnow by Audi. Quickstep reported at CF 2012 on its efposites would be a perfect ���t for primary structures in forts to develop Resin Spray Transmission for the highcars and trucks if it weren���t so expensive and could be speed manufacture of automotive parts. And Globe fabricated at or near auto industry production rates. Machine continues work with Plasan Carbon ComposSince the dawn of composites time, the auto industry ites on a high-speed molding process. has said, ���If only carbon ���ber were $5/lb, and if only What all of this means in the long run remains to cycle times were two minutes or less.��� be seen. In any case, the argument in favor of carbon Where and how the demand for $5/lb started is un���ber���s use in almost every other application has always known. Speaking at CF 2012, Geoff Wood, CEO of Probeen focused on something beyond unit cost. Even if ���le Composites, said he had his ���rst brush with the $5/ an inexpensive precursor were developed, carbon ���lb demand in a meeting with Big Three auto executives ber will win the day not because it���s cost-competitive back in 1989. Whatever its genesis, ���$5/lb��� has become pound-for-pound with aluminum or steel but because a mantra mostly by virtue of repetition ��� and a sort of it is cost-ef���cient throughout the vehicle���s lifecycle by straw man for some automotive engineers and execuvastly increasing fuel-ef���ciency, prolonging product life and preserving resale value. expect a gradual adoption of composites in That���s how carbon ���ber earned such a large presence on the Boeing 787, the automotive as carmakers sort out the cost/ Airbus A350 XWB, and other compositesbenefit of carbon fiber to the car buyer. intensive aircraft coming onto the market. In automotive, however, the variables are different: Aircraft are designed to last 30 years, while tives, who, deep down, don���t want to switch to carbon ���ber and use the $5/lb threshold as a way to keep the cars are designed to last about 10; aircraft volumes are typically not greater than 100 a year, while a single car composites industry at bay. Never mind that the demodel���s volume is measured in the hundreds of thoumand for $5/lb carbon ���ber has persisted despite in���asands. Thus, you can expect to see a gradual adoption tion. If we date the ���rst demand for $5/lb carbon ���ber to of composites in automotive as carmakers sort out in 1989, in���ation alone would have boosted that number production vehicles the cost/bene���t of carbon ���ber to to about $10/lb today. Certainly, hope persists. Consultant Ross Kozarsky, the car buyer. See the March issue of HPC for a complete report on in his Market Trends column this issue (p. 7), predicts the Carbon Fiber conference and the ���ber���s prospects we���ll yet see $5/lb carbon from a lignin-based precursor in 2017. But at the conference, many carbon ���ber in automotive, aerospace, wind energy, pressure vessels and more. manufacturers made clear that they believe $5/lb carbon ���ber is not only not within reach but never will be. Despite efforts to ���nd a cheaper, feasible alternative, they say polyacrylonitrile (PAN) is still the precursor of choice. And although the ef���ciency of the carbon ���Jeff Sloan january 2013 | 5