MQC has been a leader in recent years in pioneering the introduction of carbon fiber parts into many industrial applications. Carbon fiber composite’s high strength/weight and stiffness/weight ratios and low thermal expansion properties make it a natural choice for many industrial products.
Wherever mass is being transported or turned or moved in any way, carbon fiber’s weight savings will be an advantage. Wherever structural members are required to span distances with a minimum amount of deflection, carbon fiber offers many desirable attributes. Carbon fiber also offers inherent vibration damping qualities that can be advantageous in many industrial applications. To illustrate some of the many different industrial markets that carbon fiber has penetrated, below is a partial list of applications MQC has been involved with. Core shafts for the converting industry- Large rolls of paper and film products are collected on cardboard cores driven by rotating core shafts. The production process is made more efficient if “take-up speed” can be increased. At higher speeds, heavier metal shafts deflect more than carbon ones, causing product wrinkling and core shaft fatigue. Carbon fiber shafts thus improve productivity and quality. Support arms for Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMMs), CMM machines are extremely precise measuring devices made for 3-dimensional “points in space” measurement.
Carbon fiber tubing is used in these machines to offer low flex, low weight, and zero thermal expansion/contraction with environmental temperature changes. Medical prosthetic limb structural components- Light weight, stiffness, spring rate, and vibration absorption are the attributes that prosthetic limb manufacturers are looking for in their structural members.
Carbon fiber tubing is being used extensively in the “below-the-knee” prosthetic market. Other examples of industrial uses for carbon fiber include: wind power blades, shuttles for automation equipment, gun barrels, motion control structural members, compressed natural gas tanks, cylinder rods, and many others.
