Carbon fiber pipes mostly adopt the roll wrapped process. It is necessary to prepare the mold according to the specifications of the pipe, cut out the prepreg, and then soften the carbon fiber prepreg with the help of the rolling machine’s temperature and then roll the carbon fiber prepreg evenly on the mold. Carbon fiber tubes have excellent mechanical properties and can be used as load-bearing parts for equipment.
The mechanical properties of carbon fiber tubes are determined by the content of carbon fibers, and the higher carbon fiber content, the better mechanical properties. The strength of the carbon fiber pipe is 6-12 times that of steel pipe, which can reach over 3000mpa. Low density, light weight, with a density less than 1/4 that of steel, the carbon fiber pipe be widely used in kites structure, aviation model aircraft, medical equipment, sports equipment and other mechanical equipment. Carbon fiber tubes have a series of excellent properties such as stable size, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, small thermal expansion coefficient, self-lubrication, energy absorption and shock resistance.
Carbon fiber tubes are mostly produced by roll wrapped process. First, cut the carbon fiber prepreg according to the pipe’s specifications and select a suitable inner core mold. Then relying on the temperature of the rolling machine to soften the carbon fiber prepreg, and then evenly roll the carbon fiber prepreg onto the inner core mould. The mold plays a key role in controlling the accuracy of the pipe. The principle of selecting the right core mold is to use the elastic material with high linear expansion coefficient as the forming mold, and the steel with a low linear expansion coefficient as the auxiliary mold.
During the rolling process, a reasonable layup angle can optimize the mechanical properties. Common layup angles are 0°, +/-45°, and 90°. After all the prepregs are rolled on the mold, a layer of OPP tape will be wrapped on the surface, and finally sent it to the autoclave for high temperature curing. After molding, remove the OPP tape, this is the rough embryo of the carbon fiber tube. Cut off the unsmooth and uneven parts at both ends, and after multiple processes of grinding and polishing, we will get the preliminarily completed carbon fiber tube, but more further processing be necessary. First, according to the specifications of the finished product, remove the excess parts at both ends of the semi-finished product to form a unified and neat cutting section. Then through professional polishing machines and manual grinding and polishing, a carbon tube with smooth and shiny surface be formed.
As the excellent performance of carbon fiber tubes be well known by more industries in the application, the carbon fiber rollers in printing, papermaking, plastics, films, textiles, lithium battery pole winding machines and other industries have begun to gradually replace the traditional metal roller. In this context, the carbon fiber tubes produced by Runfeng CFRP with superior surface quality and manufacturing precision have been widely recognized by customers. To learn more about carbon fiber products, please contact us at helen@runfengcfrp.com