<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2604" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"
bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document
face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>
<DIV>
<DIV>True to an extent Doug. However, carbon's strength is extremely high so
brittleness usually isn't much of an issue. Another item of interest is that
carbon in thin section is surprising flexible. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I tried laying up carbon wheel pants with some 1K cloth I had laying
around, to save weight, and was disappointed in the finished part. It was around
8 grams but just too flimsy. Doubling up the layer produced the desired effect
but weight nearly doubled at 15 grams. Decided to return to glass and
carbon composite. There are many more grades of glass available than carbon
cloth, so a combination of thetwo materials produces the desired result at
reduced weight</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>BTW- if anyone ever has the chance to tour the Boeing St Louis
manufacturing site, take it. The Hornets built there are practically all
composite. The wing skin molded assemblies use carbon extensively. Fuselage
also. Truly kool beans</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>MattK</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm
wrong but isn't CF alone somewhat brittle when in a layup without some other
material to provide flexibility? </FONT><BR><FONT face=Arial
size=2> </FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>-Doug</FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial size=2> </FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT>
<BR><BR>
<HR>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> discussion-request@nsrca.org
[mailto:discussion-request@nsrca.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Hitesh
Gajjar<B><BR>Sent:</B> Wednesday, March 23, 2005 7:42 AM<B><BR>To:</B>
discussion@nsrca.org<B><BR>Subject:</B> RE: Why are'nt there any carbon fibre
fuselages ?</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2><BR></FONT><BR><FONT face=Arial
size=2>Ok, I get it, cost and strength vs stiffness and the balancing act
between the two. Thanks guys.</FONT> <BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>