Chariot Skates: "Carbon Composite Technology
There are several methods of manufacturing carbon fibre products which include wet lay-up and resin-transfer-moulding (RTM) which have higher resin content as he resin applied to the fibre after it is placed in the mould and hence weigh more than the higher end products that are made using Prepreg. Prepreg refers to sheets of carbon fibre which have been impregnated with minimal amounts of thermo-set resin before it is cut to shape and fitted to the mould.
Manufacturing carbon fibre products using prepreg requires:
* hand laying the layers of prepreg in a specific pattern as determined and engineered according to the stress and load applications of any given product;
* the layers are usually formed around an inflatable bag which is custom shaped for a particular product;
* once the mould is closed it is placed in either a press or an autoclave – depending on the type of mould – and the bag is inflated to pressures up to 150 psi and the mould is heated to the required curing temperature this is usually done in stages over a period of time;
* the mould also requires time and processes to cool after the part has cooked before the part can be removed from the mould;
* the cycle time for one mould could be 2 to 6 hours depending on part and type of production setup; which"
