(Auto) Environmentally friendly carbon fiber?

[Askor lml]

A new manufacturing method promises to be greener and more accessible.

Carbon fiber is not a new invention, it began to be used in the automotive industry more than thirty years ago and today we could say that there is no self-respecting sports vehicle if it does not have one or more pieces of this material, not counting supercars with a monocoque entirely made of carbon.

The benefits of carbon fiber lie in its extreme resistance and very low weight, but its great drawback is that it is very expensive. That high cost is because carbon fiber is typically formed by placing multiple fiber fabrics in a mold, vacuum-compressing them to shape, and then baking. In a process that requires a great deal of time and energy.

what's coming

Apparently, now all this will be part of the past. A company called Retrac, through its CEO Dan Walmsey, stated that they found a way to substantially improve the carbon fiber production process, reducing the total time needed to create the parts and therefore the use of energy.

As detailed by the company, the new carbon fiber manufacturing process combines dry fabric pieces and premixed resin to reduce the process steps. Then a 60-ton press from the company goes to work, doing the work of compressing the part and sucking out any air bubbles as the compression takes place.

Since the press uses electric rather than hydraulic servos, Walmsley says it has super-fine motor control. As an example, he commented that a body panel they are working on can be completed in just four minutes. If we compare that with what a traditional autoclave takes (about 6 hours or 360 minutes), the time savings are colossal.

At the moment, Retrac works on low volume, but his idea could prompt it to think big, or be acquired by the big automakers.
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