How Carbon Fiber Is Used In Automotive Applications

What is carbon fiber? First invented in 1860 by Sir Joseph Wilson Swan to use in incandescent light bulbs, it is an extremely strong and rigid type of carbon fiber reinforced plastic - or CFRP. It consists of layered carbon fiber cloth, with the fibers connected and held together by a binding matrix in the form of a thermoplastic polymer or thermoset resin. It is time-consuming and expensive to produce but the result is a stable material with a very high strength-to-weight ratio. It's more than 20% lighter than an equivalent aluminum component and half the weight of a steel component.

In order to produce a carbon fiber component, these steps must be completed:

• Making the carbon fiber filaments. The fibers are can be made from a variety of precursor polymers such as the acrylic copolymer polyacrylonitrile (PAN) spun into yarns. They are then oxidized to promote crosslinking, resulting in what is called a PAN filament. This is then superheated in the absence of oxygen to get rid of all non-carbon atoms - a process called carbonization. After this, the filaments are treated in a chemical bath, usually containing sodium hypochlorite or nitric acid, to give them a rougher, pitted surface with more area for adhesion. And finally, the filaments undergo sizing, whereby they are coated to protect them during handling and processing.
• Filaments are combined into rovings. Thousands of these filaments are combined to create bundles that are called rovings, which are wound up and stored on rolls.
• Cloth produced from rovings. From these rovings, flat carbon-fiber cloth is created by layering the rovings. The direction in which the fibers are laid is important, as a carbon-fiber component is most rigid in the direction the fibers are laid and flexible perpendicular to the fibers' direction. For a component that must be rigid in all directions, layers with different fiber orientations are laid on top of each other, forming stacks.
• Molding. The cloth is placed in its mold and the mold is filled with the resin.
• Autoclave. It is then baked in an autoclave for around two hours.
• Finishing. The final product is removed from the mold and milled to finish it off, and then painted - or covered in clear lacquer for components of which the weave stays visible. The lacquer protects the carbon and improves its durability.

由于材料的强度和低体重,carbon fiber components such as crash structures are used in auto racing to protect the driver; examples include gymkhana, drag, rally, and circuit racing, which you can read more about here. It can be used for some body panels on all types of steel or aluminum cars - such as the doors, hood, and trunk lid to reduce weight. Creating carbon fiber car accessories and interior parts confers very few actual advantages except for bragging rights. However, these are seen as exclusive carbon fiber design elements and are often offered as an expensive option on a premium vehicle.

At the expensive end of the market where the use of carbon fiber for cars' bodies can be justified, there are quite a few examples of the full carbon fiber car, in which the entire structure and body are made of carbon fiber:

• Aston Martin Valkyrie
• Koenigsegg Agera RS
• 亨尼西Venom F5
• McLaren Sennaand Speedtail
• Bugatti Chiron and its derivatives
• Alfa Romeo 4C
• BMW i3
• Lamborghini Aventador

From these, two cars stand out. One is theAlfa Romeo 4C, which is the cheapest car composed almost completely of carbon fiber. The other is our favorite premium hatchback from among all the premium newluxury carscurrently available - the BMW i3. It is an oddball yet advanced EV with full carbon construction that was ahead of its time when it was launched. Its carbon technology has filtered down to BMW's othernew sports carmodels; for example, BMW uses exposed-weave carbon fiber sheets for all M cars' roof panels.

For that touch of exclusivity, carbon fiber wrap for a car is a vinyl wrap with an imitation carbon weave printed on it. Various components can be covered in this wrap to make it appear as if these parts are made from carbon fiber. Some people cover just the hood, roof, spoiler, or body kit, but the entire car can be wrapped in a carbon wrap if the owner wants a full-carbon look. The owner can wrap rims in carbon fiber, too.

As electric cars with heavy battery packs become more widely available, lightweight carbon fiber will probably play a bigger role as a car-body material. However, at the moment, it is still a very specialized job to work with carbon fiber and it's costly to produce, so its use for large and structural components remains limited to more expensive cars. Improving technical processes and breakthroughs such as Lamborghini's "forged composite" process to greatly speed up production might eventually reduce its cost and bring it into the mainstream.