Carbon fiber material firstly was used in motor cases on space rockets in the 1960s. Despite passed 50 years of today, carbon fiber remains expensively high-end. Especially when compared to other materials like steel and aluminum. Why carbon fiber price is expensive?
1. Complex and time-consuming production process
People usually compare carbon fiber with aluminum, steel, and other metal because of their relative strengths. However, their production way is very different. Carbon fiber production needs a complex process that takes a lot of time and effort. In the beginning, Let carbon rich acrylic create carbon fiber tows by Mechanical and Chemical processes. (It requires huge, energy-sucking machines to heat it for hours cause the power bill is huge. In addition, it will be 50% waste.) Then, each carbon fiber tows need to woven into lattice sheets. This step is very strict. It needs to be braided with enough strength, if some of the carbon filaments are loose during the braiding process, it needs to be re-braided. After weaving, it will weave into sheets. Finally, the seller will use proprietary formulas, processes, and combinations of materials to process it into carbon fiber composite products. You can see the whole production step is time-consuming and must be carefully controlled and monitored to achieve the required specifications.
2. Good mechanical properties
Carbon fiber has the characteristics of high strength and lightweight at the same time and is widely used in high-end products. Although metal is hard, its weight is much heavier than carbon fiber materials. So carbon fiber is used as an alternative to aluminum, stainless steel, and other metals. In addition, carbon fiber can make the product surface look cooler, it is widely used in cars, ships, motorcycles, and other places.
3. Need to pay the extra fee
Some customers use full carbon fiber sheets to make shape carbon fiber parts like shape carbon fiber tubes, curved carbon fiber frames, and other 3D parts. And all of these products need to cost the mold fee before starting production. in other words, the price is including carbon fiber sheets plus mold fee. Cause the total price is high.