Comparison of glass fiber reinforced materials and carbon fiber reinforced materials

Comparison of glass fiber and carbon fiber

Both glass fiber and carbon fiber are recognized materials that can enhance performance. Both are synonymous with ultra-high tensile strength in the field of composite materials, but they have been used in very different fields and have different evaluations.

	Raw Material	Processing Methods	Conductivity	Flammability	Colour
Carbon Fiber	Organic Fiber, More Than 90% Carbon Content.	Non-melting Heat Treatment	Excellent Electrical Conductivity	Not Easy To Burn. High Temperature Is Easy To Oxidize.	Black. It Can Be Blended With Colored Aramid, But It Cannot Be Colored By Itself.
Glass Fiber	Inorganic Non-metallic Materials	Melting Wire Drawing	Excellent Insulation Properties	Nonflammable	Transparent And Colorful.

The practical application of carbon fiber and glass fiber

Carbon fiber

Carbon fiber is stronger than steel, less dense than aluminum, more resistant to corrosion than stainless steel, more resistant to high temperatures than heat-resistant steel, conductive like copper, and has electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties. In contrast to most materials, carbon fiber has a negative coefficient of thermal expansion. The low thermal expansion coefficient is an ideal material for applications that must operate in a wide temperature range.

Carbon fiber is usually not used alone. It is fused with resin and other materials to form a reinforced composite material, so the electrical conductivity will be reduced, and the temperature resistance of carbon fiber itself is good, but carbon fiber usually needs to be bonded with epoxy resin. Because of its flammability, the resin burns carbon fiber and becomes loose fiber, which no longer has strength.

In addition to traditional use, carbon fiber is used as a thermal insulation material. It is often added as a reinforcing material to resin, metal, ceramics, concrete and other materials to form composite materials. Carbon fiber has become the most important reinforcing material for advanced composite materials.

Glass fiber

Glass fiber is strong and flexible, so it can become an excellent structural material after changing its shape with resin. As its diameter becomes smaller, the strength of the glass fiber increases. These characteristics make the use of glass fiber far more extensive than other types of fiber.

Both glass fiber and carbon fiber are widely used in various industries such as construction, aviation, and automobiles.

Carbon fiber composite material VS glass fiber composite material

Price

The price of glass fiber is much lower than that of carbon fiber, and its application is more extensive. Carbon fiber products are customized products with high directivity, and because the raw materials and production costs of carbon fiber are particularly high, and the requirements for the process are also very high, it is relatively difficult to realize the mass production of carbon fiber products, and there is no price advantage. There is also a huge difference in strength.

Specific Gravity

Carbon fiber has a small specific gravity and is 15% lighter than glass fiber composite materials. Carbon fiber composite materials are more used in rockets, satellites, missiles, fighter jets, ships and other advanced weapons and equipment essential strategic basic materials. For example, it is applied to the missile body and engine shell of strategic missiles, which can greatly reduce the weight and increase the range and assault capability of the missile. As an automobile material, carbon fiber has the biggest advantage of light weight and high strength. The weight is only 20% to 30% of steel, but its hardness is more than 10 times that of steel. Carbon fiber is better than glass fiber in this point.

Density

Carbon fiber has high strength and low density is its most widely known label. In addition, it also has a series of advantages such as high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, and aging resistance. Therefore, carbon fiber is widely used in many fields with its many excellent properties. Compared with glass fiber, carbon fiber material generally has higher performance. The Young's modulus of carbon fiber (the physical quantity of solid material resistance to deformation) is more than three times that of glass fiber, and it has stronger corrosion resistance and lighter weight. .

Health

When glass fiber is manufactured, it is very dangerous to inhale glass fiber into the lungs. It will cut the lungs. This problem does not exist with carbon fiber.

Impact resistance

Glass fiber has high impact strength, and carbon fiber has low impact resistance.

Hardness and toughness

Carbon fiber is a brittle material, and it will not be deformed under excessive force, but will break directly, so carbon fiber products cannot be repaired and can only be replaced after damage. Glass fiber is more suitable for providing a higher ultimate breaking point than the same part in carbon fiber. Fiberglass is more suitable for extremely curved patterns. Glass fiber is more tough than carbon fiber.

Tensile Strength

Although carbon fiber composite materials have high tensile strength, their shear strength is weak, and complex stress calculations are required during processing.

Conductivity comparison

Carbon fiber has excellent conductivity, so the cost of antistatic coating made of conductive carbon fiber is significantly reduced, and glass fiber is an excellent insulating material for manufacturing insulators. It can still protect good dielectric properties under high frequency. It has good microwave permeability and has been widely used in radomes.

Carbon fiber can also cause galvanic corrosion to the metal in contact with it. Generally, isolation such as glass fiber or epoxy resin is used to solve this problem.

Flammability

Due to the incombustibility of glass fiber and the advantage of low price, glass fiber is more used in products that require fireproof effects, such as fireproof cotton in walls, fireproof blankets, and fireproof clothing.

Glass fiber has simple but extremely powerful applications

Continuous glass fiber bundles to enhance performance can produce amazing results. For example, compared with ABS, the tensile strength of prints with continuous glass fiber is 20 times that of traditional ABS prints, while the rigidity is 10 times higher. Continuous glass fiber is usually the ideal choice for the production of tools/fixtures on the factory floor that are too costly, or the production of high-strength prototypes.

Both glass fiber and HSHT glass fiber provide some unique potential secondary properties. Although reinforcing fibers are usually wrapped inside, when the print is worn, glass fibers or HSHT glass fibers will be exposed. These white filaments will spread out on the worn surface, clearly showing that the part is "end of life". In addition, the toughness of the exposed fibers will increase the service life of the parts. With clear "visual wear mark" and later "wear prevention" features can help users apply in the actual industrial process.

The above is the difference between carbon fiber and glass fiber. Both materials have their advantages and disadvantages. The performance of carbon fiber is better than that of glass fiber, and it is considered to be more high-end and more expensive in many commercial consumer markets. Glass fiber is more popular in industry because of its flexibility, low price, and wide application range.