Sean

A friend of mine recently told me that the longevity of carbon fiber is suspect. "Over the years, it will grow weaker," he said. He is a bike enthusiast, and chose against purchasing a carbon fiber bike on this basis.

This news came as a surprise to me. Has anyone heard this complaint about carbon fiber, and if so - does it concern those who have ordered a Carrera GT?

mspiegle

while the carrera gt hasn't been out too long, i believe the mclaren car uses carbon fiber alot and i don't think i've heard much of it deteriorating... but I am not sure so my reply is no acceptable answer - just an idea.

RF GURU

Do they use resins to shape and harden the carbon fiber weave? I would imagine that the resins would break down eventually.

mspiegle

I think Andy over on the 928 board had attempted to make a carbon fiber intake at one point, but the epoxy stuff he used started to come apart.

Devia

A good carbon epoxy will hold it's own...if in doubt, find an old 286, and yank it open - what do you think the motherboards and all cards in computers are made up!?

I have as of yet to see one come apart.

Now as for manufacturing car parts, ask the Diablo guys - I believe the 30th Anniversary one was made out of it.

It will depend on how well you take care of it, and how it's made. I think you guys are getting it confused with FIBERGLAS!

- Julie

slevy951

I've messed with it, although no professionally. Think of it like concrete(resin). Before hardening, it's a sloppy mess. If it hardens, it's seriously hard, but brittle. Add rebar(carbon weave) for support, and now you can construct buildings out of it. Curing the resin properly is important for it's strength. Correct temp and under vacuum.

Koda

Well maybe (maybe not if cured correctly), and remember over the years steel rusts and fatigues...nothing lasts forever.

inactiveuser92616

I believe it will have better longevity than ungalvanized steel would. Wasnt the idea behind the DeLorean to make a car that could be in any climate, and never deteriorate? It had a fiberglass frame and SS body panels. The biggest thing with any composite is to protect it from the sun, which can be done with paint, special surface resins, or wipe on protectants.

mspiegle

Yes, as slevy stated, the curing process is important. I have a video of the making of a mclaren. They have to bake all of their carbon fiber parts in a special device (looks like a massive oven), and I believe it is under some special atmospheric environment.

PJXJ

I'm not sure what you mean by "Carbon-Fiber bike" but I race dirtbikes off road and have noticed that the carbon fiber protection pieces for the frame and expansion chambers do eventually wear and look like crap. But that's surely from getting pretty much sandblasted here in the Jersey Pines. I wouldnt think the frame of the CGT will hopefully never get that kind of abuse

chris walrod

Typically, composite parts are cured with heat and pressure. A laminated part is vacuum bagged, then placed in an autoclave. An autoclave is basically a pressure chamber, with heat.

As the chamber ramps up pressure and heat, vacuum on the bagged part is decreased.

UV rays causes damage to the resins and will turn green if not protected. Most exposed c/f is clear coated with UV protectants in the clear coat.

Of coarse damage will compromise a carbon fiber structure. The sub-structures in the Carrera GT should last forever barring accident damage. I am sure the loading that tub see's is much less than its limits. Epoxy based c/f structures should not degrade over time, unless damaged or loaded past its yeild points..

Hope this helps

jhunt@huntinter

My carbon fiber fishing poles break all the time :/

Aren't aircraft wings made of composites now? Of course one on an Airbus delamed a couple of years ago, wasn't a good thing.

sandor

UV is bad stuff! in addition to (apparently) damaging carbon fiber, it also increases formation of cataracts, causes skin cancer, increases risk of macular degeneration... break out the sun screen, sun glasses and uv car protection!!

Sean

I was looking at the Jerry Seinfeld article on the CGT. He mentions that Porsche has a patented new process for the carbon fiber resin that prevents the degradation…”unlike other supercars we won’t mention.”

So I can only assume that the MacLaren F1 suffers from this problem. Thankfully, it sounds like Porsche has already taken care of the matter!