There’s an obvious need for carbon fiber price reductions to occur so that it can be used in more applications. Unfortunately the #1 (Toray) and #3 (Mitsubishi Rayon) announced today that they will be increasing prices accross the board.
Toray will be raising its prices by 10-20% starting in September, while Mitsubishi Rayon will be increasing its prices 20-30% starting in August. The #2 manufacturer, Teijin, LTD. hasn’t raised their prices yet, but is said they are considering and we can expect an announcement next week. The reason for the price hike is passing on increased costs of fuel and raw materials.
This could very easily slow the pace for development of new applications for carbon fiber as well as current uses, as it’s a hefty price hike to account for.
The set comes with 4 coasters, made of solid quasi-isotropic carbon fiber. They have a matte finish, which is scratch resistant on both sides. One side has non-slip feet to ensure your glass isn’t going anywhere. They are 4″ in diameter, with a thickness of 1/8″.
As you can see in the pictures, the weave on the coasters looks perfect, and it’s a great way to add to the modern look of wherever you have these.
A new car manufacturer based out of The British Midlands area has popped up with the goal to develop the most fuel efficient vehicles in Europe. The companies name is Axon Automotive, and they have developed a new passenger vehicle that is capable of doing about 100mpg with a top speed of 90mph using regular pump gas.
The secret to obtaining such good fuel efficiency lies in…you guessed it, carbon fiber. The company has patented a mass-production technique that allow much of the structural elements and body panels of the car from carbon composites. These pieces are made from carbon fiber “ropes” each braided over a foam core and infused with epoxy resin. They are just as strong as steel, weigh only 40% of the weight, and can be made cheaper.
At this time, carbon fiber is considered more of an exotic material. The costs are too high for automotive manufacturers to utilize, although there are steps being taken to get the material into the mass-market. If Axon has created a method to use carbon fiber, and reduce such a great amount of weight, at a cheaper cost…why not use these methods?
The car will be released as a 2010 model, with no official name or price yet. We just know it will be considered “affordable”. The main question that came up for me was safety. I’d like to know how the car handles in an accident scenario as opposed to a car made out of aluminum/steel. Is it just as safe? What about expenses to fix after an accident? Is it cost effective? These are all questions that will be answered as we get closer to a release date. In the meantime, it’s a huge step towards the carbon fiber movement, and we’re looking forward to it.
As far back as the late 15th century with Leonardo da Vinci until present time, man has been fascinated with flight, myself included. Once the Wright Brothers had successfully completed their first flight in 1903, man has ever since been trying to perfect the airplane, making them faster, larger, and more luxurious.
The Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, established in 1926 by President Calvin Coolidge, was created to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S. The FAA sets strict rules about the type of airplanes permitted to fly over our skies. In 2004, they ruled and established a new Light Sport Aircraft category. This class, along with an easier-to-obtain Sport Pilot License, simplified the process for private individuals to take to the skies. The new certification requires just 20 hours of flight training and costs around $3,000-$4,500. The planes in this category can only carry two occupants, must fly below 10,000 feet and cannot exceed 120 knots, or approximately 140 miles per hour.
Founder and CEO of ICON, Kirk Hawkins, a former U.S. Air Force F-16 pilot, had a vision back in 2004 while he was a graduate student at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, to create an airplane that was as consumer friendly as BMW or Apple. For the past three or so years, Hawkins, along with fellow graduate student and former IDEO design engineer, Steen Strand, have been diligently erecting their creation ever since.
Hawkins received backing from IDEO founder David Kelley, CEO and founder of Eclipse Aviation, Vern Raburn, and Jim Ellis, lecturer from Stanford. Unfortunately, ICON will not disclose how much financing it raised for this project.
On June 11th, Hawkins unveiled the prototype, the A5. At 22 ft. long, roughly the length of two compact cars back-to-back, it seats two and has a 100hp Rotax 912 ULS engine that can achieve an estimated maximum speed of 105 knots (120 mph). There are a few extras that Hawkins included to make this airplane truly stand out from the crowd. For starters, it is a composite of carbon fiber, aiding the plane in being as light as it is and as light as the FAA requires. A 46 inch cockpit that looks more like a sport car dashboard than the usual airplane cockpit. This one a feature that Hawkins was adamant about, making the A5 consumer friendly.
The A5 also features optional retractable landing gear, allowing it to land and take off from both land and water.
As if all those extra were not enough, the A5’s most appealing feature has to be its folding wings. The wings, which span 34 ft., can fold manually or automatically and tuck neatly under the plane’s slim rear tail. This standout element allows the A5 to be towed behind your vehicle the same way you would your speedboat and allows you to store it at home rather than paying for storage place at an airport.
With all these amazing extra features, you would think the A5 would have to skimp somewhere, but it does not. Especially where it really counts, safety. The A5 includes a rocket-launched Complete Airplane Parachute (ICAP) stowed in the roof section, a low stall speed, patent-pending Propeller Guard, Wing Angel of Attack indicator, integral headlights and a GPS moving map system that informs the pilot of local terrain and weather in real-time.
After all this, I was thinking this baby would be at least half a million bucks, so I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it is starting out at, and I use this term loosely, only $139,000. Of course, a few of the goodies and safety features are at an additional cost, like the ICAP, the retractable landing gear and a custom aircraft towing trailer. The only downfall that I can see is the weight limit to take off. You are allotted just 430 pounds between fuel, cargo and passengers. So that would be a 20 gallon fuel tank, two weekend bags and…? It seems that only the Olsen twins and Keira Knightly will be able to fly this bad boy.
Related Videos
Icon A5 Unveiling
See the private unveiling of the A5 aircraft:
Icon A5 First Flight
Watch as Icon Aircrafts takes the A5 on its first flight:
This news just came in from Hong Kong. Honda and Nissan have partnered with Toray Industries Inc. (The world’s biggest marker of carbon fiber) out of Tokyo, Japan to develop a new carbon fiber material that will be used to mass-market carbon fiber cars.
Readers of this blog know the main benefits of carbon fiber…it’s light, and it’s strong,but it’s also in short supply and expensive. The groups goal is to produce a new carbon fiber material by around 2015 that can be used in mass production for vehicles. Utilizing the new material, Honda and Nissan expect to mass produce cars that are as much as 40% lighter than steel-built vehicles.
In a time of rising oil and gas prices, anything that can be done by the auto manufacturers to improve the situation and save us all money is appreciated. By creating lighter vehicles, it will improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions by 30 percent. On top of this, the plan is for the auto manufacturers is to save money because of the inflated steel prices and raw material costs. While carbon fiber is more expensive than materials being used now, the prices are supposed to drastically be reduced as production is increased.
It sounds like carbon fiber is going to be leading the way in the future of automotive development. We’re excited to see how it all progresses!
RaceChairs.com offers some really unique office furniture. They take seats from a variety of exotic cars like Lamborghini’s and Ferrari’s, and turn them into office chairs. For example, this carbon fiber seat from a Lamborghini Diablo GT was converted into an office chair which can you be yours for a mere $3,500:
Aside from exotic chairs, RaceChairs also sells a few nifty carbon fiber accessories, like the carbon fiber mousepad they sent us for review:
The mousepad is made using real carbon fiber in a semi-stiff resin. It has a semi-matte finish that is perfectly smoothed out…perfect for using an optical mouse, or one with a trackball. The bottom has little non-slip feet in order to keep the mousepad in place.
As you can see, the weave is absolutely perfect, with no imperfections. The pad itself is pretty thin, measuring in at only 1/16″ of an inch. It really matches a modern office look, and it’s a great way to impress your friends.
We launched Carbon Fiber Gear back in December of 2007, and its been an interesting ride. The site has rapidly grown, and we’re getting known to be the place to come for the latest in carbon fiber product features and news. We’ve been featured on popular sites such as FHM Magazine, Autoblog, and Luxist.
With more and more of you coming here every day, we’d like to share a few ways you can stay connected with us and be a part of the community. We’ve setup quite a few things you can do to be connected, and we always have open ears when it comes to feedback for improvement.
The Blog
The blog is what you’re reading right now, and is considered the main feature of Carbon Fiber Gear. This is where our team posts about the latest and greatest products made with or out of carbon fiber. We’re always on the lookout for interesting products and new technologies to write about, whether it’s a submission from you, or something we find. Here are some ways you can stay connected with us:
Bookmark Us - An easy way to keep up with us is to bookmark this page. You can even set it as your homepage so you don’t miss any updates.
RSS Feed - Our RSS feed or “news feed” allows you to get our latest content directly to you through a feed reader such as Google Reader, My Yahoo, and many others. It’s a newly popular way of browsing the web. If you’re unfamiliar with RSS, check out WhatIsRSS.com for more detailed information.
Social Bookmarking - You’ll notice at the bottom of each post, there is a link for “Digg” and “Stumble”. These are social networking sites which allow you to bookmark your favorite websites/pages, and then share them with everybody else on the web. It’s a great way to help promote your favorite sites, any social bookmarking you do for us is always appreciated and helps us grow.
Commenting - The last way you can be a part of our community is by commenting on posts. On any of our posts you’ll find a comments section on the bottom of the page. This is where you can post your feedback for an article and read feedback from others. We look forward to hearing your thoughts, so definitely post away!
Your Feedback
How do you follow Carbon Fiber Gear? Let us know by posting a comment below or contacting us directly. We’d also love to hear any feedback you have in terms of improving the site.
You’ve already got the exotic carbon fiber bicycle, with the mindset of reducing weight as much as possible right? If that sounds like you, you’ll be interested in Speedplay’s new carbon fiber water bottle cage:
They call is the Nanogram Ultra Light cage, and it only weighs in a 19 grams. Even with its light weight, it’s very strong because of its unique design. It’s made from unidirectional carbon fiber, and positions the water bottle stop at the top of the case rather than near the mount where it’s most vulnerable. It’s designed specifically for a road bike, and can absorb the repetitive impacts of rough roads with ease.
Don’t ride a road bike? You’re in luck, Speedplay also makes a standard version of the carbon fiber cage that weighs in at just 27 grams, but can handle a mountain bike or a behind-the-seat triathlon position.
Both carbon fiber cages include lightweight aluminum fasteners and a BPA-Free Nanogram logo water bottle. The MSRP on both cages is $65 USD.
The 2nd generation of the Apple iPhone, dubbed the 3G, comes out today. One of the first accessories people will buy is a case so they can protect their new tech toy. You may want to consider checking out a carbon fiber leather case from the guys at Case-Mate.
Carbon Fiber Leather
I was reading the press release when it came into my inbox, and I had to a do double take…carbon fiber leather…I had never heard of that before. I tried to contact the company to have some questions answered regarding the material, but nobody would get back to me. From what I’ve researched, the fiber is used as a lubiracant, which keeps the leather soft. According to Case Mate’s website, the material is only used in high-end cars like the Techart Porsche, and high-end cell phones like the Vertu. The use of carbon makes it feel more like nylon over leather, but it gives it a good grippy feel.
The carbon fiber leather is wrapped around a impact resistant plastic case, and also has a screen protector. Case Mate offers the carbon fiber leather in both silver and black. Retail prices come in at $50. You can already find these on eBay here. You can also find a variety of other Case-Mate iPhone 3G cases on eBay here, they have some neat ones like Croc skin.
Update 7/22/08: Case-Mate is in the process of sending us one of these, so we’ll have a hands-on review soon. Stay tuned by subscribing to our RSS feed or subscribing by e-mail. We’ve got our hands-on review here!
LG has a new ‘Black Label’ series of phones which currently includes the Chocolate, the Shine, and the Secret. The Black Label Series represents a premium line of highly stylish handsets, and the Secret definitely fits that model. One quick thing to note is the Secret is not available in the US, you can find a list of available countries (it pretty much seems to be everywhere else) on LG’s micro site. I did find a bunch of unlocked LG Secret’s on eBay, so that is an option if you want to bring one into the US.
The reason we’re most interested in the Secret Black Label Series handset is because of the use of carbon fiber (or carbon fibre overseas) on the phone. The phone features a carbon fiber backing with a scratch resistant protector. LG points it out nicely:
Strong enough to resist scratches yet appealing to the senses of fashionable people, Carbon Fibre is set to emerge as the keyword for premium designs. It’s a unique fashion point of LG Secret, style that lasts.
I’m not 100% sure what it is, but based on Engadget español’s unboxing pictures, it looks to come with some sort of carbon fiber key chain type of unit as well:
The design of the phone is gorgeous, outside of the carbon fiber, it utilizes metal, glass, and fake leather to give it a real unique and high-end look.
Let’s cover some of the core features that stand out the most:
5 Megapixel Camera/Slow Motion Video
While the Secret is a thin phone, it still features a high quality 5mp camera. On top of that, it offers high-speed 120 fps video recording, so you can take some really nice slow motion shots. Here’s an example that CNet UK did from their review of the phone:
On top of this, it also does DivX recording and playback. This will allow you to record some really high quality stuff in a small compressed file size.
Auto Rotating Display
The auto rotating display works by using an accelerometer inside the phone. This allows the screen to adjust its view depending on how you’re holding the phone. Extremely useful if you’re watching a video. Another neat utilization of the technology is with games, where it has a Nintendo Wii like feel. One of the games allows you to fish by “fishing” with the phone itself.
Google Package
We all don’t know what we’d do without Google? The Secret has some Google functionality built right into the phone that allow you to do things like search, use Google Maps, upload directly to YouTube, and blog.
Touch Navigation
The Secret features a touch navigation, but note that it’s specifically one menu section that is most commonly used. The rest of the phone doesn’t use the touch navigation, and was one of the gripes from some of the reviews out there.
Tempered Glass
The use of tempered glass on the phone means it should be really durable, and you can expect it to last. It’s scratch resistant, and you can literally take a hammer to it (although I don’t recommend it!) without doing any damage.
Video Reviews
Here’s a few video reviews that I’ve found which you may find useful:
CNet UK
Stuff.tv
Stuff thought the phone was sexy, but had some complaints regarding the unresponsiveness of the touch screen. You can see in the video what the host is talking about, and I could definitely understand that becoming pretty annoying.
We 
