[frorider]

Corvette supplier Plasan Carbon Composites invented a “hot oil pressure press system” that the firm’s chief technology officer, Gary Lownsdale, calls, “the first major step toward mass production of carbon-fiber components.” Compared with traditional autoclave molding and curing techniques, the new methodology reduces process time by 75 percent—from 90 minutes to just 17 per part. Corvette hood and roof panels come out of their molds with such high quality that robots can be used for trimming and scuffing. The faster curing and 80-percent reduction in finishing time yield a 30-percent cost reduction.

........

 

[jonKranked]

Interesting. A buddy of mine works for them, and I'd be willing to bet he had a hand in this. I'll shoot him a message and get the low down.

 

[ronnyg801]

Biggest problem I see is I bet we see no cut in consumer/retail costs with excuses of machinery costs etc… or the process will be for such large production it is not a current justifiable solution for smaller bike/ component companies, oh well, time will tell.

I don't think any new tech is bad though.

 

[Tomasz]

or the process will be for such large production it is not a current justifiable solution for smaller bike/ component companies

My thoughts exactly.

 

[demo 9]

Would it be possible to CNC carbon? Could a company make lets say, carbon fiber bricks with a "universal" layout that could be worked from any direction, with the only additional work being a clearcoat when finished?

AKA, (bike company) could buy carbon cubes(100 bucks a SQ foot) and run them through their machine on the cheap and sell the products for lets say 150 (and recycle the unused carbon)

 

[maxyedor]

Would it be possible to CNC carbon? Could a company make lets say, carbon fiber bricks with a "universal" layout that could be worked from any direction, with the only additional work being a clearcoat when finished?

AKA, (bike company) could buy carbon cubes(100 bucks a SQ foot) and run them through their machine on the cheap and sell the products for lets say 150 (and recycle the unused carbon)

Yes, sort-up.

You'd lose the ability to run continuos fibers through an entire part. Yes you could design the block to have a grain structure, and machine it to take advantage of that grain, like you do when machining a forged aluminum part. However, you couldn't have 3 dimensional grain structure like you can with a laid-up part. All the broken grain structure from machining would be all but wortless from a strength standpoint, so your part would be significantly heavier.

You also couldn't have hollow parts. For most carbon parts, the core can, and should be hollow. You can work around that by using an I beam type structure (Think Race Face Turbine cranks), but you'll still never achieve the strength to weight ratio you can get out of a hollow part.

Carbon doesn't machine well. You can hog it out like you would a block of oak, and then you'd have to hand finish to achieve a smooth part.

The expense of carbon comes from 3 things. The mold required to form the part. The labor required to lay-up the fiber properly. Lastly the material itself. You would be eliminating the expense of the mold by machining a block, but you'd add the expense of machining each part, along with tooling, fixturing, CAM work, etc. You'd be hugely increasing the amount of carbon used to make a simple part, jacking up the cost. You'd also need the same skilled labor to lay up the blocks of carbon, but you'd put more hours into a block than you would a finished part.

Lastly, carbon can't be recycled like metal can. You can melt your 7075 AL chips, and make more 7075 blocks, you can't do that with carbon.



I've worked with a different division of Plasan, using this technology, and it's great for cars, next to useless for bicycles. Very cool technology, and it opens up the possibility of using carbon, and other high strength composites in many places they've yet to be seen. You're going to see a whole lot of sheet aluminum being replaced with composites in the next decade.

 

[jackalope]

^^
Sounds like you're making excuses to me. I'd suggest the ban hammer.

 

[jonKranked]

Yes, sort-up.

You'd lose the ability to run continuos fibers through an entire part. Yes you could design the block to have a grain structure, and machine it to take advantage of that grain, like you do when machining a forged aluminum part. However, you couldn't have 3 dimensional grain structure like you can with a laid-up part. All the broken grain structure from machining would be all but wortless from a strength standpoint, so your part would be significantly heavier.

You also couldn't have hollow parts. For most carbon parts, the core can, and should be hollow. You can work around that by using an I beam type structure (Think Race Face Turbine cranks), but you'll still never achieve the strength to weight ratio you can get out of a hollow part.

Carbon doesn't machine well. You can hog it out like you would a block of oak, and then you'd have to hand finish to achieve a smooth part.

The expense of carbon comes from 3 things. The mold required to form the part. The labor required to lay-up the fiber properly. Lastly the material itself. You would be eliminating the expense of the mold by machining a block, but you'd add the expense of machining each part, along with tooling, fixturing, CAM work, etc. You'd be hugely increasing the amount of carbon used to make a simple part, jacking up the cost. You'd also need the same skilled labor to lay up the blocks of carbon, but you'd put more hours into a block than you would a finished part.

Lastly, carbon can't be recycled like metal can. You can melt your 7075 AL chips, and make more 7075 blocks, you can't do that with carbon.



I've worked with a different division of Plasan, using this technology, and it's great for cars, next to useless for bicycles. Very cool technology, and it opens up the possibility of using carbon, and other high strength composites in many places they've yet to be seen. You're going to see a whole lot of sheet aluminum being replaced with composites in the next decade.

tl;dr - making carbon in a format that is machinable would lose all the benefits of using carbon in the first place.

 

[jonKranked]

also, this particular process improvement (the hot oil pressure press) is being done on parts that are non-structural.

 

[frorider]

The roof panel is structural, right?

 

[jonKranked]

The roof panel is structural, right?

nein.