Available Carbon Fiber Profiles

Spoolable Carbon Fiber Pultrusion
Rectangular Profiles
Width Thickness Linear Density Composite Modulus Composite Tensile Strength Composite Flexural Strength
(in) (in) (lbf/ft) (MSI) (ksi) (ksi)
0.5 0.125 0.043 24 >450 >300
0.5 0.125 0.044 30 >450 >300
0.5 0.125 0.046 44 >400 >275
0.325 0.125 0.028 24 >450 >300
0.325 0.125 0.029 30 >450 >300
0.325 0.125 0.03 44 >400 >275
           
1020 Steel 0.5 0.125 0.225 29 70 55
6061 aluminum 0.5 0.125 0.075 10 40 33


Composites have long been used because of their high specific performance. A comparison with typical steel and aluminum alloys is provided above where specific performance can be obtained by dividing the strength and stiffness values by linear density. Clearly, the pultruded composite profiles are vastly superior.

It should be noted, however, that these are 100% unidirectional fiber composites with much reduced properties in the transverse and through-thickness directions. So, these small spoolable profiles cannot be used to make an aircraft wing skin on their own or a pressure vessel but they can certainly be used to great effect to stiffen your sailboat mast or the neck of your violin or your pedestrian bridge or any of a myriad design applications where the outstanding strength and stiffness add value.

It is also worth noting that most highly engineered structures are designed primarily on stiffness with strength as a secondary consideration. This might be a simple cantilevered structure where low weight and high stiffness provide for a small deflection. The material modulus contribution to overall stiffness can also be used for superior solutions to buckling and resonance.

These carbon fiber spoolable pultrusions have one more design advantage over traditional metals in that the thermal expansion coefficient (CTE) is almost exactly zero. So, where metallic materials grow and shrink substantially with changing temperatures LTI pultruded profiles will remain dimensionally unchanged.

Call LTI today for assistance in designing your product using an LTI spoolable pultruded carbon fiber profile.