Carbon fibers feature superior strength and lightness, and this makes them popular for aerospace engineering applications. In fact, it requires great effort to improve the strength of carbon fiber composites with fibre-reinforced plastic as an example, only the optimization of fiber orientation is considered.
To address this, a team of researchers at the Tokyo University of science adopted a new design method. The method optimizes fiber thickness as well as orientation to achieve weight reduction of reinforced plastic. Thus, this opens door for the design of lighter aircrafts and automobiles.
Meanwhile, carbon is important for the existence of living organisms. This is because it is the basis of all organic molecules, which, are the basis of all living beings. This itself is pretty interesting of carbon. From there, carbon has recently found novel applications in disciplines of civil engineering and aerospace with the development of stronger, sturdier, and lighter than steel carbon fiber. Consequently, carbon fiber takes over steel for high performance products such as racecars, aircrafts, and sports equipment.
For industrial purposes, carbon fiber is usually combined with other materials to create a composite. Carbon fiber reinforced plastic is one such composite of carbon known for its tensile strength, high strength to weight ratio, and rigidity. Due to this high demand for carbon composites, a number of studies have been carried out to improve the strength of carbon fiber reinforced plastic, and most initiatives are focused on a particular technique called ‘fiber-steered design.” The technique is distinguished for optimization fiber orientation to enhance strength.
Nonetheless, the fiber-driven design approach has its own drawbacks.