5 ADVANTAGES OF CARBON FIBER and why it is the choice material for many

An element that outshines stainless steel? Well, not literally – stainless steel does shine exceptionally bright. However, upon a closer look at carbon fiber, you’ll quickly learn why it is becoming the choice material for many.

What is carbon fiber? Carbon fiber is a durable, lightweight, and strong material consisting of thin, transparent strands of carbon. Although thinner than a strand of hair, this element gets its famous strength from strands twisted together, much like fibers in yarn. Carbon fiber can be woven to form a cloth or molded together to form a permanent shape.

Let’s use research thus far to also highlight that using carbon fiber to replace steel for vehicle manufacturing shows the potential to decrease passenger car weight and improve fuel efficiency. All while maintaining, if not surpassing, car performance and safety over cars that use steel.

Read below to learn 5 advantages of using carbon fiber to design and assemble products and why we, at Orion, also chose to offer our extender pole made of 100% carbon fiber.

1. High Tensile Strength – the reinforced polymer of carbon fiber offers impressively high strength and stiffness per density.
2. Lightweight - when using material of the same size, it is shown that carbon fiber is nearly 5 times lighter than steel and close to 2 times lighter than aluminum.
3. Immune to Corrosion – the fibers that make up this element do not oxidize, preventing rusting and corrosion.
4. Low Thermal Conductivity – Carbon fiber conducts heat at low levels, unlike metals with high heat conductivity when exposed to heat sources.
5. Versatile – carbon fiber is moldable, functional, and comes in various shapes, forms, and colors. This component is highly functional from woven to chopped forms and an excellent option for manufacturing goods, equipment, etc.

The benefits of carbon fiber don’t end with the five advantages listed above. It offers other impressive characteristics that are also hard to overlook, like its ability to absorb sound, design flexibility, high durability, and non-flammability. Additionally, carbon fiber is often the choice material for the following industries and applications: aerospace, marine transport, aircraft breaks, large telescopes, waveguides, optical benches, sporting equipment, aircraft parts, plus automobile pieces and transportation components.

It's not a shock to understand why companies around the globe have transitioned from past materials to carbon fiber. The strength, weight, durability, and features of carbon fiber speak for itself.

Check out the Xtender CF-18 from Products By Orion, a new extendable pole made from 100% carbon fiber. It extends to 18 feet, collapses to 18.4 inches, and weighs only 1 lb. We have carbon fiber to thank!

Be sure to let us know what you think!