SAMPE Journal - March/April 2022 - 45

Market
Automotive
Pressure vessels
Wind turbines
Non-wind energy
Commercial aerostructures
Commercial aero interiors
INTRODUCTION
Carbon fiber composites are utilized in high
performance vehicles for their superior specific
impact energy absorption and lightweight, high
specific strength and stiffness, low thermal
expansion, and durability in harsh environments.
For example in automotive components such as
body panels, floor, roof and underbody structures
are stiffness driven, where carbon fiber can provide
significant benefits1,2
. The trends in terms of fuel
savings through light weighting using advanced
materials and manufacturing are of high interest
and detailed in various briefings3-5
. In the wind
sector for example, carbon fiber provides attributes
of high stiffness for components such as turbine
blade spar caps to reduce overall bending deflection
of the blade. The growing trends of carbon fiber
markets are summarized in briefings by Sloan1
, see
Table 1. The biggest drivers of carbon fiber use over
the next decade are in the automotive, pressure
vessels, wind energy, non-wind energy, commercial
aerospace structures and aerospace interiors.
Figure 1 illustrates an example of the
automotive market segments for carbon fibers
which are grouped by their tensile strength versus
tensile modulus2
. TCF is superimposed on this is
graph and seen to have a compelling benefit in
stiffness driven applications, with 240-275 GPa (3540
Msi) tensile modulus and 2.0-3.1 GPa, (300-450
Ksi) tensile strength.
To meet increasing demand and reduce material
costs, textile grade PAN based precursors are being
explored as a promising alternative to conventional
PAN fiber6-8
(CFTF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
has developed a cost effective low molecular weight
(100000 to 200000 g/mol) PAN precursor-based
carbon fiber, also referred as textile grade carbon
fiber (TCF)8
processing the TCF from the precursor, oxidation,
and carbonization to produce TCF fiber8
. In 2021,
the estimated cost of manufacturing TCF is ~$10/
kilogram (kg) (~$5 per pound, lb.) offering low-cost
carbon fiber with adequate mechanical properties
for non-aerospace applications.
www. sampe.org
. The Carbon Fiber Technology Facility
Figure 2. Various stage of processing TCF (a) Precursor textile grade PAN;
(b) oxidation step; (c) and carbonization step of TCF 450k wide tow TCF.
PROCESSING ROUTES AND INTERMEDIATES
FOR TCF
Table 2 summarizes typical intermediates and
possible processing routes for TCF. There are
numerous processing routes for discontinuous
and continuous TCF using both thermoset and
thermoplastic resin systems9
. The processes range
. Figure 2 shows the various stages of
from twin screw compounding, fiber injection
molding, sheet molding compound (SMC),
extrusion-compression molding (ECM), hotmelt
or solvent impregnated tapes, compression
molding, vacuum assisted resin transfer molding
(VARTM), wet laid, roll forming, autoclave, filament
winding, wet compression, and pultrusion to name
a few10
.
MARCH/APRIL 2022
|
SAMPE JOURNAL | 45
2016
11,825
8,206
17,250
3,750
7,506
4,649
2021
23,526
25,674
31,744
11,440
10,319
5,196
Table 1. End market carbon fiber consumption, metric tons1
.
Figure 1. Tensile strength (Ksi) versus Tensile modulus (Msi) of a range of
carbon fibers and corresponding markets.2
The TCF is superimposed for
comparison. Units: 1 Ksi = 6.895 MPa, 1 Msi = 1000 Ksi.
2025
32,708
45,327
46,477
29,356
10,110
5,027
CAGR (%)
12.03
22.24
10.91
24.45
6.2
2.7
http://www.sampe.org
SAMPE Journal - March/April 2022

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