pic: 766's mystery material

[MFS766]

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[Aaron Lussier]

Carbon Fiber?

[roboguy #1]

Originally Posted by Aaron Lussier

Carbon Fiber?

Not the prettyest either it would be really nice if you could angle the flash being reflected away from the camera too. Did you buy that or buy the carbon fibre and resin kit?

[ChrisH]

Originally Posted by roboguy #1

Not the prettyest either it would be really nice if you could angle the flash being reflected away from the camera too. Did you buy that or buy the carbon fibre and resin kit?

It is a carbon fiber laminate. The cloth is a 4 or possibly 5 harness satin weave and I'd guess the tow size at 3K. It would be about 0.015 in thick per ply. It looks like it was made on a mold of some kind, but whether the team made the mold or the part was purchased is difficult to tell at this time. A look at the back side would give better indications of the technique used.

Actually he did a pretty good job of bringing out the fibers in the picture and the finish shows a good job of molding, whoever did it. Carbon composite parts can be difficult to photograph for detail. When was the last time YOU tried to take a picture of black on black?

What I can't tell by looking is which carbon fiber was used. Carbon fibers come in many grades and different manufacturers have different chemistries in their precursors, giving different results. Unfortunately all grades look pretty much alike until you get them in a structure or on a test machine. Guessing from the weave and financial considerations, I'd say it's AS4, T300 or a commercial grade fiber and not the more expensive IM7 or similar high modulus fiber.

Any other silly questions?

[Ianworld]

How much did it cost you guys? Used to not be legal, so I suppose teams will take many years to migrate over to the newly available materials(even if its only in certain areas of their robots due to cost.)

[Gdeaver]

Carbon fiber cloth real isn't that expensive. We bought a 36" x 50" piece of 5.7oz plain weave for $24 and a quart of epoxy for $18. We're also using a yard of 6oz s2 fiberglass that cost $12. This Saturday I worked with 2 freshmen to lay up a pulley. With some research and practice, composite construction is possible for all teams. There are some safety issues that need to be addressed for teams that go for it. We even use the scraps. We cut them up into 1/4" fibers and mix them with epoxy to make a filler and molding material. Composites are wonderful materials, however you can't use normal metal working techniques. Takes a little different mindset.