Let’s Talk About Carbon Fiber Pipes
If you’re tired of lugging around heavy steel or aluminum tubing, carbon fiber is where you want to look. We make these by wrapping carbon filaments around a mandrel with a resin mix. The result? A tube that’s incredibly rigid and doesn’t budge under pressure. The heat factor. Here is the best part: these pipes barely move when things get hot. While metal expands and warps—forcing you to mess around with annoying expansion joints—carbon fiber stays put. We usually see these in high-temp fluid lines or holding up heating elements. Just keep in mind that heat travels differently here. It zips along the length of the fiber way faster than it moves through the wall. You’ll want to keep that in mind when you’re figuring out your heat loss. The trade-off. Now, it’s not all magic. Carbon fiber is stiff, but it’s brittle. It won’t dent like a copper pipe would. If you over-tighten a fitting or accidentally whack it with a heavy wrench on the shop floor, it’s not going to bend—it’s going to crack or peel. To stop that from happening, we suggest using reinforced sleeves at the connection points. It keeps the pipe from crushing when you tighten the clamps. Putting them to work. You’ll find these all over aerospace and high-end chemical plants for a simple reason: they don’t rust. You can run aggressive solvents through these that would chew through 316 stainless steel in a matter of weeks. Just double-check that your resin is rated for your specific temperature. If you push it past the “glass transition temperature” (the Tg), the pipe loses its strength and the whole thing fails. Keep an eye on your temps, and these things are a dream to work with.