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Carbon fibre is one of mankind’s greatest engineered materials. And because it’s lighter and stronger than most metals, it has revolutionised everything from the aerospace industry, to auto racing, to artificial limbs. And while its distinctive woven appearance makes it even more appealing, that doesn’t make it ok to use everywhere.
Even a cracked back panel on your iPhone 4 looks better than this carbon FIBRE decal. And you know what’s lighter than carbon FIBRE? Putting nothing on your phone at all.
We haven’t needed mousepads since computer mice stopped using rubber balls years ago. Particularly pointlessly expensive desk accessories like this.
Unless you type at a blistering 200+ words per minute, you don’t a keyboard designed to endure extreme temperatures and unrelenting g-forces.
Carbon FIBRE is extremely stiff when hardened, exactly the opposite of how you want a wallet stuffed full of receipts, photos, and cash to feel.
Do you want your marriage represented by the perfection of indestructible diamonds, or man’s feeble attempt to one-up Mother Nature?
Image by Nickelfree
Unless you’ve got roommates who refuse to lift it because it’s too heavy, there is no gastrointestinal condition known to man that can justify the need for an ultra-durable carbon FIBRE toilet seat.
Images by Carbon Fiber Gear
Why stop at a carbon FIBRE tissue box that can withstand the RIGOURS of cold and flu season, when carbon FIBRE tissues could last for months?
Images by Carbon Fiber Gear
The sorcery that keeps this wine bottle balanced works just as well when it’s made from wood, plastic, paper mache, or any other material that looks less ludicrous than carbon fibre.
Image by Carbon Fiber Gear
The only advantage to a lightweight carbon FIBRE bathtub is that it’s easy to carry upstairs. But the only people who can afford one can also afford someone to do all their heavy lifting for them.
Image by Carbon Fiber Gear
What could make your heavy set of keys lighter than a carbon FIBRE keychain? Maybe forgoing a stupid keychain altogether.
Image by Carbon Fiber Gear
Johnny Cash is probably rolling in his grave at this carbon FIBRE Blackbird Rider guitar. At least it’s black?
Image by Blackbird
Not even Ferrari’s Formula 1 racing team needs a carbon FIBRE toilet and bidet. And given carbon FIBRE can splinter, this may not actually be the most luxurious place for one’s posterior.
Image by Alberto Del Biondi
Carbon FIBRE is extremely lightweight, exactly what you don’t want in a dog bowl. Enjoy cleaning up spilled water and food when they easily flip these.
Image by Wired, Stockfresh
Sorry gamers of the world, carbon FIBRE still gets sweaty. And the friends on Xbox Live you’re trying to impress can’t actually see your ugly controller.
Image by Tech-kings/Inferno
No one’s ever complained their chopsticks were too heavy. And if your intake of sashimi is so intense there’s the risk of snapping a chopstick, maybe it’s time to dial things back.
Image by Black Site
Carbon FIBRE is the only way to go if you want to keep whipping a horse as effectively at the end of your work day as at the start.
Image by Body Body
This carbon FIBRE violin probably puts Stradivari’s wooden creations to shame. What’s that? The Stradivarius is still the most sought after instrument on earth? Then why are we building these again?
Image by Luis and Clark
Is this a stylish carbon FIBRE necklace, or a neck brace for someone who couldn’t fathom being caught in a white medical apparatus after Labor Day?
Images by Elsa Smith
Lead image by Leonard Carson
Image Curation by Attila Nagy
There's a Special Place In Nerd Heaven For Carbon Fibre Stormtroopers
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Carbon Fibre Bookshelves Are Novel Objects of Lust
What we could do with is some kind of carbon nanotube coating on the iPhone5 to stop it from getting scratched
actually carbon fiber scratches worse than aluminium just look at the back cover of any blackberry 9900
That’s a joke right?
(Of course it was and I bit… Damnit…)
If done right the decals can look quite good on some phones, looks great on the back of my LG GM205 and it’s only a couple quid for 30x50cm.
Ummmmm – that’s not what I meant….
I meant the back of my 9900 is plasticy faux carbon fiber – not real carbon fiber. So it makes the question awkward to answer…
Yes the back of the Blackberry gets scratched – but no it definitely is not made of carbon fiber any mor than bugs bunny is made of fur and bones and blood.
So it’s irrelevant if Bugs can talk or not – because he isn’t a real rabbit.
Is that clear?
Carbon fibre is as easy to scratch as the clearcoat of resin that’s usually put on top of it. It’s probably pretty easy to scratch.
Another thing is that carbon fibres are only strong in the direction of the fibre – they’re not strong in the other direction. So with an F1 car, lots of the fibres in the monocoque are pointing forward, so when there’s a crash the survival cell has maximum strength. If you have a fairly thin piece of carbon fibre, you’ll notice it flexes pretty easily in the other direction – it’s not that strong and breaks pretty quickly. Try to flex it in the distance of the threads, and you’ll have massive trouble.
I thought about trying to get a macbook case (like, the actual chassis) made out of a single block of carbon fibre. The idea sounded amazing to me – you know, just like the current unibody chassis, just, made out of a single lump of carbon instead of aluminium or polycarbonate. The problem that sunk the idea for me was that aluminium is very good at conducting heat, whilst carbon fibre is in general very bad at conducting heat. This means that the cooling ability of my already hot running mbp would be compromised.
A sheet of carbon nanotubes as opposed to carbon fibre might not.
It probably would still – you’d have to find some way of bonding said nanotubes together – which would almost certainly be the same resin used currently.
Surely you could use a weave?
Then it’d be Carbon Nanoweave.
If only there wasn’t a link at the bottom of this page to another article by Mr Liszewski describing carbon fibre knives as “works of art”…
What changed your mind Drew?
That violin looks amazing!
Yes and apparently they sound pretty good too – Yo-Yo Ma has a carbon fibre cello. Of course, compared to a Stradivarius or other antique, they’re actually cheaper (and rather sturdier!)
Well, you wouldn’t necessarily expect Gizmodo to know shit about musical instruments – after all, they ran a story on how much better spider silk was than normal instrument strings. Carbon instruments sound distinctive, rather than good in general. Some have claimed that they sound as good as cellos many times their worth – but if that were true they’d be sold for many times their current price. Yo Yo Ma may own a carbon fibre cello – but you don’t see him playing it much – the great advantage is the versatility – you’d be happy playing one on a boat. The sound is very distinctive – I remember hearing a recording that made them sound very very bright – often a sound you don’t want in a violin/cello.
True. I guess the point I was really trying to make was that it is a valid use of the material, not necessarily to produce the ‘ultimate instrument’ but certainly bringing something to the table. Good point on the boat use, the article I had read mentioning Yo Yo Ma gave the example of him using his for an outdoor concert held in autumn/winter (apparently Obama’s induction or something, hence the odd timing) when he wouldn’t risk his regular cello and could also be more certain of the sound it would produce since it wouldn’t be affected by the cold temperature unlike wood shrinking.
I must try and track down a recording of one to see if I can hear the difference.
Yes, I entirely agree with you. I heard a recording where someone played the same pieces side by side with the same microphone and I think maybe strings also – it’s certainly a valid use of the material.
If Gizmodo’s criteria of a valid use of the material is that the specific material is required, providing a tangible benefit, then fine, but then that would preclude the use of (say) rare woods such as oak to produce a table when polypropylene or non-expanded polystyrene or some other stuff works just fine.
It’s telling that the picture they use to illustrate places you should never use carbon fibre is a stormtrooper’s helmet – the first recommended article for me was something along the lines of OMG, THESE STORMTROOPERS LOOK SO F***ING COOL! I WANT ONE OF THESE! with the same picture;=.
my point about hearing the recording is that i looked for it last night and couldn’t find it. Sorry.
Storm-trooper looks badass
Aye, till he gets shot in the head by laser fire, then his whole head gets char-grilled. In my experience carbon fibre loves to burn.
“This armour’s useless, why do we even wear it?!… argh!”
The Goggles, they do nothing!
Real Acid..?
Note to the editor. The first four don’t use carbon fibre, merely vinyl made to look like carbon fibre.
Why is it carbon FIBRE?
because its a woven mesh of thin carbon fibres set with a resin or am i missing something here?
I was actually just asking why the word FIBRE is capitalised every time it’s used in the article.
carbon FIBRE!
Making the point that they’ve brought the spelling to this side of the pond.
ah i see, and good point, guess im just getting used to spell checkers correcting my real english into american english (god thats horrible isnt it)
If you eat lots of it, you won’t shit for a loooong time.
why the picture of a helmet in the title shot? i cant speak for war style helmets but carbon fiber makes a damn fine motorbike helmet
That sir, is a badass carbon fiber storm trooper helmet which is the explanation in itself
Agreed. If I could inject saline into my melt to make me look like that, I would.
I don’t understand the first three pics. They are not carbon fiber – they are plastic with a carbon fiber looking print. We can all safely agree that any decal/accent which is a print is super cheesy so nobody would really want that…
The rest however…. Wow… I’d like the entire lot. Beautiful…
If Henry VIII would have had carbon fiber grieves and cod piece then we might be living in a different world right now…
Carbon Fiber rules…
To be fair, CFRP is just plastic with some carbon fabric in it
That said the only way anyone is getting my carbon fibre pens off me is out of my cold, dead fingers!
One of my housemates and good friends at uni was researching carbon fibre (something to do with uniform thickness – I’m not entirely sure) he ended up with a load of it on his desk back home that he used as a paperweight purely for the irony.
Carbon fibre looks awful. Sure it’s inherently strong but it’s true merits are only worthwhile once it’s coated in resin then hidden away in a composite material.
“This carbon FIBRE violin”
That, would be a cello. And for your information, carbon fibre has excellent acoustic properties, it’s lightweight which it needs to be and it looks brilliant. So yes it does belong here!
Carbon Fibre instruments actually make a lot of sense as it can be easily tuned so it resonates a lot. Go have a look on youtube at those guitars and you would realize that they are pretty stunning.