Beware of the Carbon Fiber Fakes

1. Beware of the Carbon Fiber Fakes Demand for carbon fiber products continues to grow around the world. Here at Rock West Composites, we are growing as well. We just released a new line of advanced carbon fiber panels for architectural and interior design. At any rate, not all carbon fiber products are what they purport to be. For example, you can purchase a carbon fiber wrap for your car. But a wrap is not the real thing. A car wrap is nothing more than a set of printed vinyl panels that offer the appearance of something other than what your car normally looks like. Texas drivers can enhance their carbon fiber wraps with brand-new license plates printed to look like carbon fiber. Again, we are talking fakes here; the plates are not made of genuine carbon fiber. Instead, they are printed to look like it. The Look Is Very Marketable For the record, we do not object to car wraps and license plates that mimic the look of carbon fiber. We get the fact that the look is very marketable. People see something that appears to be carbon fiber and they immediately think modern, innovative, and cutting-edge. And why shouldn't they? Real carbon fiber is all that and more. Our only real concern is the risk of people thinking they are getting carbon fiber when they are not. It is not such a big deal with car wraps. People are smart enough to recognize vinyl when they see it. Can the same thing be said about the carbon fiber-like license plates?

2. And what about other consumer products? A new laptop computer with a supposed carbon fiber case might not actually be carbon fiber at all. The case might be a cheaper, less resilient type of plastic that only mimics the carbon fiber look. You would never know until you dropped the computer and cracked the case. Real Carbon Fiber Is Distinct Much of the confusion between real carbon fiber and fake products is rooted in a misunderstanding of what carbon fiber actually is. The average consumer thinks of carbon fiber as a hard, rigid material that makes a great option for everything from auto body panels to tennis rackets. But such thoughts are flawed. Carbon fiber is actually groups of carbon molecules aligned end-to-end to form microscopic fibers similar to cotton or flax fibers. The fibers are spun together to create tow which, in turn, can be used to create threads with larger diameters. Threads are either used to create finished products through braiding and spending, or they are woven into fabrics. A carbon fiber laptop case starts as a piece of woven fabric. The fabric is impregnated with an epoxy resin and laid into a mold. Additional layers of fabric are added until the desired thickness is achieved. Then the entire package is cured under high heat and pressure. The result is what our industry calls a carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP). It is a very distinct plastic. The Carbon Fiber Look What we all recognize as the carbon fiber look is created by the threads that provide the underlying support for the finished product. For example, the weave pattern observed in larger panels is actually just the weave of the embedded fabric. The cross patterns of the carbon fiber tube are formed when threads are forced to cross one another during the braiding process. As carbon fiber's reach into the consumer market continues to expand, there are going to be plenty of imitation products. It's fine to call them fakes; just beware of them. Make sure you are getting exactly what you are paying for.