Tech Q - woven carbon and sunlight
12-05-2009, 08:26 AM
#1
Tech Q - woven carbon and sunlight
Over the years I've noticed something with my carbon fibre chassis. I store cars in a conservatory (like a sun-house/summer house), and it gets sunlight from approx 7am to 8/9pm during summer.
After a while I notice something that you can see in the following photo (its not mine, I found it on the net):
The carbon colouring on the lower deck turns from the normal clear regular weave to what you can see in the photo, a dark brown/gold colour. You can see it clearly compared to the upper deck which I presume is cut from much newer carbon (its a Cyclone with TRF416 steering from a guy in the UK if anyone can't guess it).
Anyway, you can see the differences in the colouring, but does sunlight or UV rays affect the stiffness or something in carbon fibre?
After a while I notice something that you can see in the following photo (its not mine, I found it on the net):
The carbon colouring on the lower deck turns from the normal clear regular weave to what you can see in the photo, a dark brown/gold colour. You can see it clearly compared to the upper deck which I presume is cut from much newer carbon (its a Cyclone with TRF416 steering from a guy in the UK if anyone can't guess it).
Anyway, you can see the differences in the colouring, but does sunlight or UV rays affect the stiffness or something in carbon fibre?
12-05-2009, 09:35 AM
#3
the resin used to bond the layers of CF together is basically plastic, and plastic doesn't do well in direct sunlight.
12-05-2009, 10:22 AM
#4
The same thing will happen to a carbon fiber hood on your car if left in the sun too much. Keep them out of the sun...
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