5 ms·
Carbon fiber and other composites are actually much better wrt fatigue than aluminium. In fact they are pretty much immune to it, if you mean the word in the se
by himinlomax 5y ago
Carbon fiber and other composites are actually much better wrt fatigue than aluminium. In fact they are pretty much immune to it, if you mean the word in the sense it's used in metallurgy. They are however much worse for impact resistance.
- danmaz74 5y agoDoes the impact resistance degrade during the expected lifetime of those composites?
- himinlomax 5y agoNo, except inasmuch as the resin may degrade over time, but that's not just an issue for impact resistance.
- namibj 5y agoTo elaborate, carbon-fiber reinforced carbon, the expensive ceramic used for very heat-resistant lightweight structural members (like the leading edges of the space shuttle, and some jigs for use in metallurgy furnaces, where it's lack of deformation and low heat capacity is beneficial) can handle something around 20% of it's ultimate tensile strength for millions of full load cycles. This is, going by fatigue-limited-strength to weight ratio, far better than steel or aluminium. The difference is mostly that it's a brittle ceramic and retains most of it's strength at temperatures where steel can be poured.
- philjohn 5y agoWhich is why Aluminium drop-handlebars on bikes freak me out - when they fatigue they become brittle and can just snap one day if you put too much weight on them (e.g. out of the saddle sprinting).
- msandford 5y agoThe only time I've ever had aluminum drop bars go out on me was when the salt brine from sweat corroded the aluminum a lot. I was on a hill in a mild rain riding next to a friend. I managed not to take her out and stay upright which was great. The cycling team I participated on in college said road bars need to have the tape off and inspected every year. They were right.