Motorsport Composite Fundamentals: Non Woven Mat
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Non Woven Mat
03.54
| 00:00 | Non-woven mat is a dry mat made up of randomly orientated reinforcement fibers which are held together with a binder. |
| 00:07 | In the case of carbon fiber this is generally referred to as non-woven mat, but the equivalent for fiberglass is chop strand mat or CSM for short. |
| 00:16 | These are usually significantly cheaper than the woven fabrics we'll be discussing in the following modules and are also often made from recycled reinforcement which is part of the reason they're cheaper and in some cases arguably better for the environment. |
| 00:31 | Aside from the fabric sizing such as the K count or Tex count as we discussed in the previous tow module, fabrics either non-woven or woven are also specified by their weight. |
| 00:42 | For example 100 gram non-woven mat weighs 100 grams per square meter. |
| 00:48 | A more traditional and imperial equivalent would be in ounces per square yard. |
| 00:53 | These products are commonly available in a range of weights with the lighter options like 35 gram for example often being called tissue. |
| 01:02 | The heavier the mat becomes the less pliability it has. |
| 01:06 | Good pliability is what makes non-wovens easy to work into molds. |
| 01:10 | Non-woven carbon fiber or chop strand mat is commonly used for more traditional applications like in buildings or for example rather than high performance applications like motorsport. |
| 01:22 | This is because the random orientation of fibers doesn't offer as ideal control over the mechanical properties as a directional or woven fabric where the fibers can be aligned in a uniform structure and the resulting strength and stiffness to weight ratios are significantly improved for specific applications. |
| 01:41 | On top of this the aesthetics of the resulting parts is generally not considered as good which may or may not be an issue depending on the application and how the part is finished if it's painted for example. |
| 01:54 | Non-woven mat and CSM are however a great option for making molds which is where they'll be most useful for us and the specific properties and aesthetic drawbacks aren't such a concern. |
| 02:05 | On that note both carbon fiber and fiberglass are commonly used for mold making but we'll be covering this in a dedicated section later in the course. |
| 02:14 | The key consideration with these products and the point of difference from woven fabrics is the resin that should be used which is mostly dependent on the binder used to hold the strands together. |
| 02:25 | Again, we'll cover this in more detail later in the course but generally speaking epoxy resin can be favoured for high performance and quality applications due to how it bonds with the fibers. |
| 02:37 | However, for emulsion bound mat, polyester or vinyl ester resins must be used as these will dissolve the binder allowing us to properly wet out the mat during construction. |
| 02:48 | Failing to do this will lead to voids in the material which could render the final product useless. |
| 02:54 | A side note here emulsion binders are those based on two liquids that won't fully mix with each other. |
| 03:01 | This isn't really important though, all we need to know is that they're the alternative to powder binders. |
| 03:06 | Epoxy resins can be used for powder bound mat however so it's just important to know what we're working with to get the best results. |
| 03:14 | In summary the key points to remember here are that non-woven carbon fiber mats and fiberglass CSM are a cheap and environmentally friendly alternative to woven fabrics. |
| 03:25 | However, as they consist of randomly orientated fibers held together with a binder, their resulting strength to weight ratio and aesthetic properties are less than ideal. |
| 03:35 | For emulsion bound mat it's important to use a polyester or vinyl ester resin whereas with powder bound mat we can use epoxy resin. |
| 03:43 | While they can be used to create parts with decent mechanical properties they're also well suited to mold making for our applications. |
