We were just watching the Inland Surfer video with James Walker, again and watching the change in the board through the year reminded us of our next scheduled build. We are focusing on developing the most advantageous components and differentiating those components based upon what part of the wakesurf boards needs are. One such area is the bottom of the wakesurf board. We love carbon fiber, but not all carbon fibers are the same. You’ve most likely seen the 2 x 2 twill used cosmetically and we will be introducing you to Spread Tow Carbon Fiber.
So this is what a normal 2 x 2 twill looks like. It’s the Carbon Fiber that is used in just about all cosmetic apllications, such as car parts and cell phone covers. Structurally it’s still very stiff, but it is heavier and can delaminate easier than unidirectional carbon or the spread tow we are discussing in this post. You can see in the picture below there is a great deal of interlacing.
The picture below is what is called Spread Tow Carbon Fiber, also sometimes referred to as Fat Weave or Phat Weave. You can see in comparing the pictures how the spread tow carbon fiber earned it’s nick name.
The concept of spread tow fabric is pretty straight forward. By arranging the fibers in the woven fabric in a more straight orientation, both in-plane and also out-of-plane, the fiber properties are more efficiently used in tension. The Spread Tow Fabric offers improved draping and delamination resistance compared to cross ply fabric. The flatter wider spread tows allow for easier wetting of the fabric, plus there is less instance of gaps and undulations and this helps reduce the likelihood of delamination.
The tow is spread and flattened out in what is referred to as Spread Tow Tape. Due to the tape being wider than the tow used in regular twill there is less interlacing and crimping, as well as, greater coverage. The lower crimping ratio increases the strength of the Spread Tow Carbon Fiber of the 2 x 2 twill, plus offers a somewhat lower weight, beacause the same amount of carbon fibers are spread over a larger area. Cosmetically, it’s still a good look, just different. It’s considered that this lower weight can amount to as much as 30% and less crimping can improve the mechanical properties over the 2 x 2 twill.
As we’ve mentioned in previous posts, carbon is very good in tension and also if you’ve followed along you know that the bottom of the board is “mostly” in tension. Accordingly, this is why we’ve chosen the spread tow carbon fiber fabric as the reinforcement for the bottom of the board. We’ll be starting this first build shortly, we hope you’ll follow along!
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FlyBoy Wakesurf Boards » Sports Blog
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