The defining features of CFRP are that it is lightweight, strong, and resistant to corrosion. On top of that, it offers a wide range of advantageous properties, including excellent fatigue strength, chemical resistance, and stability under normal thermal environments. These characteristics have led to its adoption in sports and leisure products, automobiles and motorcycles, civil engineering and construction, and industrial machinery. It is also a highly reliable material that has been used for many years under demanding conditions, such as in aerospace applications and racing cars.
However, for components used outdoors over long periods, it may be necessary to apply coatings or plating to prevent degradation of the resin matrix. Depending on the usage environment, the type of matrix resin, fiber, and surface treatment must be selected appropriately.
One of the major characteristics of CFRP is that it is an anisotropic material. While metals and plastics are isotropic, CFRP is a combination of fibers and resin—materials with different properties. By changing the fiber orientation or the type of materials used, stiffness and strength can be tailored. For example, CFRP can be lighter than aluminum and, depending on the direction, can even achieve stiffness greater than steel.
CFRP also enables design possibilities that metals cannot achieve, such as creating shapes impossible to manufacture with metal or integrating multiple metal components into a single structure.