While experimenting with the material at the University of Washington, Lamborghini met up with another interested party: Callaway Golf. Since their interests overlap but don’t compete one with another, the two recently announced a strategic partnership to develop a more versatile, cost-effective form of carbon fiber.
The result is called Forged Composite. Whereas conventional carbon fiber is layered down in sheets and bonded together, Forged Composite comes mixed together in a paste of fibers and epoxy that can be squeezed into any shape desired. The application makes it far easier to form complex shapes, and since the fibers come out oriented randomly, the resulting form is apparently stronger in every which direction, instead of fixed ones like in conventional layered sheet carbon.
Lamborghini demonstrated what it has in mind for Forged Composite with the Sesto Elemento concept currently on display at the Paris Motor Show. The concept’s monocoque and suspension arms are made from the stuff. For Callaway’s part, they’re planning on using Forged Composite for a new generation of golf club heads, allowing for lighter weight, a longer shaft and a drives an estimated at eight yards longer than with existing clubs. Callaway Golf plans on phasing out titanium drivers – currently the market dominator – in favor of the new Forged Composite ones within a year.
Almost looks like marble? I wonder in Josh will have a kitchen done like this soon?
Have any of you guys ever worked with carbon fiber before? Just curious as to how it’s done. Is it similar to working with fiberglass or does it need lots of special attention and a special oven?
Yeah it appears there is a lot of marketing involved based on some of the comments in the original article like:
random fibers in a matrix is not stronger than unidirectional pre-preg aerospace grade cf because random fibers are usually not straight and tend to have a lower fiber volume fraction than pre-preg. Yes, it has more uniform isotropic material properties, but the beauty of cf is the directional performance… otherwise, its just black aluminum.
This is a form of the same kind of plastic that has been used for years. This uses carbon fibers which are a little stronger than aramids or glass.
It’s good stuff, it has a good stiffness to weight ratio for something you can form easily (unlike regular CF which has to be laid up). But it’s not anything super special.
I would question why they would use it in certain areas that are heavily stressed such as suspension arms like they say. If it is weaker than regular carbon fiber.
All composites fit that category. CF layup is no different that fiberglass, with the exception of cosmetics (using a clear instead of a gelcoat, yadda yadda).
I am interested in how they mold this stuff;just like what a vacuum does, in order for this new stuff to be strong, the resin needs to be desaturated out of the piece, otherwise you have a weak fiber filled plastic (unless it is in fact a “stamped” piece, vs having a solid block like the countertop idea)
vacuum cured isn’t really accurate. To get a real strong product you need heat and pressure, not just vacuum but like 100-300 psi depending on the application.
For an example the difference between a kevlar neck gaurd for hockey and a kelvar army helmet is a LOT of pressure
I’m on the same page. I can see how they would obtain the heat and pressure, my curiosity is if the pieces are solid all they way through, and if so, how they pull the resin out of the material.
From what I’ve seen in the aeronautic and defense industries they almost exclusively use pre-impregnated carbon and repeat the heat/pressure cycles for each layer.
Fucking Exactly. I can post pictures of my 2004 Viper’s inner fenders, and guess what its made out of? The same damn thing they are trying to pass off as “new” The stuff has enough carbon in it to conduct electricity for fuck sake.
