How Strong is Forged Carbon Fibre? Forged Carbon vs Aluminium vs Markforged vs Onyx

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In this composites video tutorial we take a look at the mechanical properties of 'forged' carbon fibre components, made using randomly oriented short-strand carbon fibre, and compare them to the strength of cast aluminium, 3D printed Onyx and Markforged 3D printed carbon fibre.
We run a series of basic mechanical tests to compare their tensile strength and stiffness and then perform a 'real word' test based on a bending load on a brake lever component made from these different materials.
This tutorial is a follow up to our tutorial on how to make forged carbon fibre parts: • Make Forged Carbon Fib...
Forged Carbon Fibre Development Kit
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[@Rich77UK]

As a biker and fan of making CF items, I am extremely impressed by a diy built forged carbon fibre lever. Add the aligned strands and wow. That's borderline autoclave professional CF.

[@neetones]

This is an absolute master class in how to present data, compare results, and teach. Every single thing you mentioned is perfectly clear and supports learning. You are an excellent teacher.

[@easycompositestv]

Thank you Nitin, that's really appreciated. Presenting relatively complex and data-heavy subjects in a relatable and engaging way is certainly a challenge but we enjoy doing it and try our best to get these topics across well.

[@maxupp]

Honestly, you are doing amazing work here. I'd never expect such a level of scientific method from a "company" channel.

[@easycompositestv]

Really appreciate the feedback, it's comments like this that motivate us to carry on making videos :)

[@aygwm]

It’s what happens when engineers, not marketers, are involved directly in making and selling a product.

[@alexanderfergusson3753]

It’s not scientific at all and dangerous to suggest otherwise. I, Alexander Fergusson, am a Lecturer in Composite Materials in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College. Dr Soraia Pimenta delivers our lectures on the mechanics of short fibre reinforced composites (I give the lectures on long fibre reinforcement and classical laminate analysis). Her research is the basis of why companies likes Lamborghini can forged composite parts with quantifiable levels of confidence in how parts will perform whilst Easycomposites don’t appear to have a clue. If you want to see how to use science to design forged composites then look at her papers rather than nonsense like this.

[@maxupp]

@@alexanderfergusson3753 You, Alexander Ferguson, are making an ass of yourself.

[@j6077xxd]

@@alexanderfergusson3753 pfffff

[@ayoubsayhi3485]

This is brilliant guys, thank you very much for the efforts that you put in these great free engineering lesons

[@easycompositestv]

Our pleasure Ayoub : )

[@jashwanthsingh681]

we r blessed to learn so easy

[@RamyRC]

Very interesting results, I did try your forged carbon fiber mothed the other day and turned out great! Thank you very much for making these videos, keep them coming please.

[@easycompositestv]

Thanks Ramy, great to hear from you and glad you got good results with the process. Look forward to learning more about what you made : )

[@FiferSkipper]

@@easycompositestv It was a landing gear bracket for a massive A380 model... definitely worth checking his channel out.

[@adameichler]

@@easycompositestv I still cannot unnotice that there has not been any cooperation video :P Ramy uses so many of your products that it would be a great case study, like the bicycle manufacturing one.

[@chrisbryden8102]

Wow this is out of my realm of use but just wanted to comment on how visually appealing your test setup with real time measurements is. Absolutely top shelf.

[@Runmeerkat]

After hearing about forged carbon fiber for the first time this has always been on my mind. Thanks for the video it will be interesting for sure.

[@w8stral]

Well, this idiot never showed any forged CF. Just molded CF and 3d printed matrix with CF additive.

[@taitsmith8521]

There is no such thing as "forged" carbon fiber. This is no different than OSB compared to plywood. It's just a laminate. There is no restructuring of grain or lattice composition.

[@BMSWEB]

Not only absolutely mind blowing data! but so well presented!!! Thank you

[@tophyr]

I love you guys for not only showing such a wide range of fabrication and composition techniques and making them so accessible and easy to understand, but also for the honesty and science involved in your analyses and the matter-of-factness about which techniques are well-suited for the various possible designs.

[@HarleyDesignsInc]

I bought your development kit and have been printing molds and making parts successfully. Absolutely love this process and your dev kit was the perfect package.

[@easycompositestv]

Glad the kit has worked out well for you.

[@Thomason1005]

the level of scientific testing shown here is insane for a youtube video, like this is solid research.

[@bosstowndynamics5488]

Apparently the Onyx filament is nylon based, nylon is extremely ductile. It would be interesting to see a polycarbonate filament reinforced with chopped fibres which I expect would come a little bit closer to the isotropic forged carbon fibre part (since the resin is a pretty important part of the material properties, not just the presence of and type of carbon fill). That will also be why both 3D printed parts were extremely ductile in the 3 point bend test, since none of the fibres are oriented in that direction they're both acting much more like plain nylon than they would in other axes.

[@michaelbuckers]

It's the length of the carbon fill that's the problem. At that scale it acts like loose particles rather than fibers, because almost all of the load goes through the plastic and not the carbon. All it really does is destroys your nozzles. If it didn't matter so much then forged carbon would be made using microscopic strands and not large chunks of chopped up carbon film.

[@villhelm]

Onyx is designed to be used with mark forged printers which weave continuous carbon fibre, Kevlar fibre or glass fibre through the part as well. It’s not designed for end use applications without the continuous fibre reinforcement.

[@bosstowndynamics5488]

​@@villhelmThat's what they tested though the Onyx was printed with maximal continuous carbon fibre reinforcement, but the ductility test I was referring to didn't benefit from that because the load wasn't in line with the fibres. What they *didn't* test was a higher stiffness resin with chopped fibre, which while still short is much longer than the milled fibre fill for their other 3D print test. While I'm sure the Onyx would beat it in the other tests, in that one specific test I think high end PC-CF or similar might beat it since the fibres only help when they're actually being loaded, in other loading conditions the Onyx will behave as if it's plain nylon.

[@henrir4362]

@Easy Composites 16:00 - glue end-tabs onto the tensile specimen to prevent breaking of the specimen between jaws! Use some softer material like polyester+glass, but make sure you use really strong glue. For my specimen that required ~90kN pullforce to tear apart I used 1mm thick GPO3 rectangles glued with 2k epoxy.

[@easycompositestv]

Yes we could have done to get a more accurate figure, but the results were high enough for the purposes of comparison in this video.

[@j6077xxd]

Wow Paul. You just won the internet. This is hands down the best video on this topic I have ever seen. I am now a total convert and looking forward to being your customer. Also inspirational stuff for making clips for our own business when we market our planned products using these manufacturing methods. Thanks so much.

[@ls1gt611]

Great video, this has been highly anticipated since watching the process of making the forged lever. Thanks for the data driven approach as well as the real world explanations!

[@easycompositestv]

No problem at all, thanks for watching and for the feedback : )

[@eddie8223]

I bought the forged carbon starter kit because I saw your last video. Got my first part done yesterday. It turned out amazing. Thanks for those informative videos. Please keep it up👏🏼

[@easycompositestv]

Hi Eddie, that's fantastic. We've been so encouraged by how many people have commented that they've bought the kit, followed the process and got amazing results. That is - of course - exactly what we want to hear!

[@davidreynolds8551]

That’s pretty impressive just how strong that forged carbon fibre can be, plus the advantage of weight saving makes it a great choice for many applications. Thanks for this great video.

[@user-ow1jh8yb5j]

Honestly the info on this channel for free is incredible. Eyeing up some forged cf projects for myself

[@ddegn]

That *Optimized Forged CF* is really impressive. Is the method to make this sort of part as straightforward as you suggest in the video? I really like your forged DF videos (OK I like all your videos) but I don't recall seeing a video about making an optimized forged CF part. It would be great to see any tricks you have to share. Thanks for another really interesting video.

[@easycompositestv]

The footage at the start when discussing the optimised version is of the lay up of that brake lever. Its a bit messy as you are laying it into the mould by hand but perfectly doable and where the extra stiffness and strength is needed, well worth the effort.

[@ddegn]

@@easycompositestv I noticed that portion of the video. I was wondering if you had taken time to document the process in greater detail. A video on the topic would be interesting but pretty much any video you decide to make will also be interesting. Thanks again for this video.

[@mckenziekeith7434]

@@ddegn in the previous video he showed the molding process for the brake lever, however he didn't put the long strand fibers in. Only the chopped tow. Still, I think it will give you a better idea of the process than the small snippet shown in this video. If you already saw the previous video, then my apologies. Here is the link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aGaznqSDZ5l7e80

[@ErtsenPlayGames]

@@ddegn the only one difference between optimized and "not optimized" is that u add long fibers along the part to add stiffness in the direction where 90% of strength will be applied

[@AlenHR]

I would say it is as straightforward as it looks. I made a quad frame using optimized forged cf without knowing it is a thing, it made a lot of sense to use directional fiber and it worked out great.

[@andresilva8444]

I only found out about forget carbon fibre in your last video, now I want everything in my life to be forget carbon fibre and reinforced when needed. What an amazing video. Thank you!

[@jamesbyerly8557]

Awesome video! This could easily be used in a strength of materials college class or even in a high school class because it's so clearly laid out! One comment about something this doesn't quite address. A little bit more description of ultimate stress and ductile v brittle materials could have easily been added to the existing data to show where aluminum may be more desirable in cases where a damaged part still needs to function. The motorcycle brake lever is a perfect example of that. In racing dirtbikes, a bent lever can still finish the race, whereas a broken lever ends the race.

[@mezzanoon]

I'd love to see more details on the optimized forged carbon process, such as how often to include the longer strands of tow

[@easycompositestv]

Well, the considerations would be very similar to those governing the inclusion of unidirectional carbon fibre placement in a more conventional layup. The more unidirectional fibre you add, the stronger and stiffer your part will be in that direction, but at the expense of stiffness in other directions. For the forged carbon process, there would also be an upper limit to the amount of unidirectional tow you could add (in proportion to the chopped to) before there wasn't sufficient short strand tow in order to redistribute itself in the mould under pressure. Aside from that, if you have a specific direction of load then the more unidirectional tow you add in that direction the better!

[@MathewPuthiakunnel]

They uploaded a new video detailing the process kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJnUcpuPhMl6hMU

[@sheldon...]

Great video, you did a really good job of demonstrating and explaining the differences between the different methods. I particularly liked the playing card analogy. Can't wait for the next one 👍

[@easycompositestv]

Thanks Sheldon, appreciate the feedback. We laboured over the card analogy for some time, trying to think of something the demonstrated what we think is happening.

[@reaganharder1480]

I do kinda love the how the only part of this that surprised me at all was how the performance of the carbon compared to the aluminium. A nice little confirmation of my understanding of basic material science as it relates to composites fabrication.

[@link18953]

Paul and Matthew, you guys are absolute legends. That you for such an amazing offering. Everything you guys do is awesome

[@Murphy5-5]

Random 3 AM youtube moment. Love, how the sound of the carbon fibres cracking and the bumps on the graph match up

[@icelandic1717]

I've been looking forward to this one since the end of the last vid, and it didn't disappoint! Thanks for all the data gathering, it was really interesting to watch.

[@easycompositestv]

You're welcome. Thanks for your patience and sorry it took so long; we had a few operational issues to resolve in the meantime! Hopefully we'll be able to release content more frequently in the coming months.

[@michajedrzejczak9394]

Thank you. Finally good quality information! So refreshing to see something proper on KZbin.

[@calebcoburn2785]

So happy to see this video, I was also eagerly awaiting its release. Great work and high quality presentation. My next mold is printing now. Planning to make an 'optimized' forged part, with continuous tow on the outer surfaces of a thin flexing arm. Sounds like lots of people have arrived at this idea on their own, but really cool to see the huge effect on strength and stiffness so clearly in this video. Well done and thank you! I noticed the project page lists flexural modulus and tensile yield in conventional engineering units, but not tensile modulus or flexural strength. Also, ran across an old picture of Paul with long hair on an old composites forum from some google search and recognized him from these videos. He's like a composites celebrity, I recognize him better than lots of famous personalities now haha

[@easycompositestv]

Thanks for the feedback, we will look and see if we can include the figures. Yes Paul has featured in many of our videos spanning from the starting days over 10 years ago on Carbon Mods up to the present day on Easy Composites!

[@panupongjamras26]

This VDO is the best sourcing knowledge of comparing material❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ Thank you so much!!!!!!

[@Xailow]

Could you also include a "traditional" layup in future tests? I'd be interested to see the comparison between optimized forged and traditional layup.

[@philhunt1442]

my brother in christ please

[@reaganharder1480]

This video is mostly as a follow up a video specifically about forged carbon, of which the primary advantage is that it allows you to make complex geometries that would be all but impossible with a traditional layup.

[@harrisonaero]

Whoever did your editing did a *fantastic* job- kudos. Educational videos like this don't get much better for graphics. Nice job.

[@easycompositestv]

Thanks Joa, that’s Kyle, he’s our full time video guy. I’ll pass on the kudos; he’ll appreciate it!

[@Eight20]

YES! the video I've been waiting for! I'm still printing the moulds as the high density infill takes ages.

[@easycompositestv]

A slightly quicker technique we have seen recently is to print a hollow open backed mould, then back fill in with the TC80 Tool cast.

[@Eight20]

@@easycompositestv I had considered this but was unsure if it would work, thank you!

[@nathancupp1361]

Including flexural modulus even. Good stuff, and more valuable as a practical understanding of what these materials do than any textbook I've seen yet. Vendors doing too much these days, but I'm here for it.

[@Coulter.Machining]

fantastic video! very easy to understand and interesting results! I just made my first Forged Carbon part the other day thanks to your prior video and I am loving it!

[@darrellmabry699]

This is so awesome. Makes me wanna try and make something for my bike now. Just need to make a mold🤔

[@aly-tek7190]

Wonderfully presented. The perfect way to finish off the series on forged carbon parts. And I love the fact you used the Markforged 3D printer, I was looking at purchasing one for similar products but now it looks like I need to go down the path of forged Carbon ;)

[@aly-tek7190]

P.S. I would be curious to see how a machined 6061 lever would go instead of cast.

[@tyroneerasmus6759]

I, nor anyone else could ask for a more informative video on the strengths and weaknesses of carbon fiber in such a well delivered video.

[@easycompositestv]

Thanks Tyrone, appreciate the feedback 👍

[@rix1602]

What I like about these results is how well it transfer into my job. I design concrete buildibgs and that's exactly how things work with concrete. For instance, the tensile strength of the long omnidirectional carbon strend is pretty much how the rebars work in concrete. The point of failure being predictibly at the extremity because there isn't enough length to transfer the load at the end. It could be improved simply by making a 135° turn at the anchor point without changing the geometry of the object. That's how we design beams that have a small support point for instance. I really like this video because it's a manufacturing method I can relate to and maybe use when I need it But not now, I already spent more than enough money on my 3D printer !

[@Chriss120]

that optimized forged cf really shows how well you understand your workmanship. well done.

[@easycompositestv]

Thanks Chris

[@tummyg]

I would be extremely interested in wear resistance testing different types of carbon fiber as well! A lot of these parts will be exposed to the elements and other types of wear and adverse operating conditions. This video was fantastic thanks!

[@markwadsworth1254]

Wear resistance of carbon fiber composites is primarily a function of the matrix, there's little difference between the fibers in these properties. For higher abrasion resistance and a orders of magnitude higher erosion resistance you need to use a thermoplastic matrix instead of a thermosetting matrix. Thermoplastic matrix composites are more resistance to UV and weathering as well.

[@tummyg]

@@markwadsworth1254 ah sorry, I should have clarified the wear resistance of the different types of binder plastic used to make carbon fiber parts. Sometimes I forget the carbon fiber is only part of the material and not the material itself.

[@markwadsworth1254]

@@tummyg no worries that's not entirely obvious, only an expert would know such things.

[@daviddavis1322]

Very comprehensive, very visual. Maybe the best video I've ever seen. Kudos!

[@easycompositestv]

Glad you liked it!

[@dekutree64]

Excellent data! Good to know that the randomly oriented CF has significantly lower flexural modulus, since that means the short fiber skin won't crack before the continuous fiber core takes up the load.

[@easycompositestv]

Yes, indeed; that's a valid point.

[@dekutree64]

@@easycompositestv Though upon further pondering, the skin will still crack first since its elongation doesn't appear to be much more than the optimized forged. It would be interesting to try chopped glass or basalt fiber with continuous carbon. Since the continuous carbon seems to be providing most of the stiffness, the total part stiffness may not be reduced by a lot, but deflection before break may be significantly higher.

[@formulajake1996]

As a Mechanical Engineer, I loved this! Very satisfying to see your proper tests and relating units to the average person. Reminds me of my old Mechanics of Materials class!

[@easycompositestv]

Haha, thanks Jake. We thought long and hard about whether to use MPa/GPa or whether to translate to kg, in the end we decided to go with what we think is more relatable. The write up on our project page (link in the description) also includes the conventional force units.

[@f1hotrod527]

I am noticing the carbon filled 3D print filament marginally increases strength and marginally increases stiffness. The carbon also tends to make prints more brittle and decrease toughness. So it appears to be not worth it. There is an important property that the carbon fibers add to 3D printing, and that is it limits warping and size change. So the carbon fibers are best used to print filaments where you struggle with warping and dimensional stability.

[@ddegn]

A big problem with the filament used in the video is the base plastic. Nylon is a really bad plastic for this application. It's much too flexible.

[@f1hotrod527]

@@ddegn it is probably not the optimal, but how much better would polycarbonate have done? Maybe 30% better. I have also heard the carbon fibers hurt layer adhesion, I cannot confirm this, but if true it is making a prime problem with fdm printing worse.

[@ddegn]

@@f1hotrod527 *CNC Kitchen* tests all sorts of filament. He has a video titled *Which is the MOST RIGID 3D printing material?* I think this video is relevant to this discussion. Apparently PETG with CF is more ridged than PLA. PLA is more ridged than PETG without CF. I think you're right about the layer adhesion issue. In the video *3D PRINTING with CARBON FIBERS - ColorFabb XT-CF20 REVIEW* the layer adhesion strength is about 30% of the strength of the material itself. I think it's pretty clear that there are much better filaments one could use in this sort of comparison. @Easy Composites Ltd isn't really a 3D printing channel so I'm not too disappointed they selected an inappropriate filament to use in this test.

[@f1hotrod527]

@@ddegn I agree that there is probably better materials and maybe better technique that easy composites used. But it would have to increase rigidity and strength 4 or 10 fold. Yes CNC kitchen is awesome. But I noticed something, he did a video on prusament pc blend months ago. He showed that he was also testing the carbon fiber version of the PC blend. You will notice that he seems to be refusing to release a video on the carbon version of pc blend. I am wondering itvit is because it performed worse than the non cf version? I do love 3D printing, but there is a place for it, and design techniques that need to be used.

[@ddegn]

@@f1hotrod527 "he seems to be refusing to release a video on the carbon version of pc blend." My bet is he's gone off one some tangent project and hasn't gotten around to finishing the review. There are plenty of videos where he shows he's disappointed in a filament or project. There's a lot of carbon fiber related posts on his Twitter. He might be testing other CF filaments at the same time. "but there is a place for it" Yes. It kind of drives me crazy when I see things being 3D printed which could have been built faster, stronger and cheaper using a sheet of material cut the appropriate size.

[@someguy5035]

This guy knows his stuff. Very clear, and concise results.

[@easycompositestv]

Appreciate the comment!

[@NothingXemnas]

For something as elastic as Onyx, it is interesting to imagine how to combine the stiffness and brittleness of the other CF and the resistance to deformation from the Onyx. Much like concrete, pre-tensioning Onyx to hold ordinary forged CF together could yield some interesting products

[@Adierit]

To be honest the Onyx product has me wondering how it would perform compared to rubber components on cars.

[@ACEMEDIA]

@@Adierit It definitely wouldnt yield the same traction result as near 100% rubber tire would.

[@ccibinel]

Be interesting to see how much better (if at all) it is vs a standard nylon filament or a more rigid one.

[@robincoope5352]

As others have said, this is an excellent video. The level you present it at, a bit simplified for non specialists but with all the information you need to calculate GPa and psi values, is just perfect. That optimized forged carbon method is very impressive indeed.

[@easycompositestv]

Thanks, its a fine balance between overloading on technical information that may not be understood by all versus over simplifying the information such that it looses its meaningful nature.

[@c3ramics]

Lol this is literally a master's project in video form.

[@stevenrs11]

These videos are absolutely invaluable to people like me who walk around dreaming of making things all day. The performance of the optimized CF was astonishing, and the flexibility of manufacturing is mind boggling. Love it.

[@easycompositestv]

Thanks Steven, we'd agree with you on this, it's not right for everything but it's another process that can feed the imagination of practically-minded problem solvers; given the relative simplicity and performance of the end result, there have got to be some exciting applications for this process!

[@Pseud0nymTXT]

I would've loved to see titanium tested alongside the aluminium.

[@jon-williammurphy9780]

This is honestly insanely good, I’m a mechanical engineer working in electronics / automotive and the level of materials science accuracy and clarity puts many college courses to shame.

[@easycompositestv]

glad you like it!

[@yayayayya4731]

Great content as always! Can you make a video on "skin frame" using composites, i.e, not having any frame, but making a strong skin using composites. Like F1 cars?

[@easycompositestv]

It would be a complex project but we do have plans to make a video about producing a composite monocoque, yes. Not sure when it will be but we agree that this would be an interesting and challenging project.

[@yayayayya4731]

@@easycompositestv thanks. Would be a very interesting project indeed, and definitely challenging. But thankfully we can count on your expertise 😅.

[@ddegn]

@@easycompositestv I agree with @Yayayayya, the upcoming project sounds interesting. I look forward to the video.

[@MrAbeAllen]

I am personally a fan of cf frames. However when I talked with the Italian Lamborghini guy in charge of UW’s composites lab (I think this was THE forged cf guy) he said, in the case of a wreck you want a material that will deform not one that is too rigid, that way you can have a crumple effect and basically may save the driver’s life. (I’m paraphrasing to my best understanding btw).

[@yayayayya4731]

@@MrAbeAllen it's the crash structure. It's on F1 cars and most cars you buy.

[@mobilemarshall]

really impressive to see the difference optimized forging makes, thanks for the video

[@eackerw85]

I've been waiting for this video!!!!

[@easycompositestv]

Indeed. It's been a while coming unfortunately because we had a of things holding back publication. All sorted now and we have the next couple of videos reasonably well progressed too. Look forward to hearing what you think.

[@eackerw85]

@@easycompositestv I just want to thank you, I had seen your channel awhile back and always loved the idea of carbon fiber but I had little knowledge of how to actually mold it into what I wanted. You showed me the rabbit hole and I've been going down it ever since.

[@izhlayukio5863]

Very informative! My university has that same machine, I used it for a class but my lecturer didn't go this in depth into the data like you guys did so I was left to figure things out myself. This helped a lot.

[@rooftopv4664]

Thank you for this video! I have a question. When it comes to chopped CF, I saw that you can use different lengths of the fibers. Like 6mm, 12mm, 18mm etc. Will the tensile strength be greater if the fibers are lets say 18mm instead of 12mm?

[@easycompositestv]

Well, taking it to its logical conclusion, if the tow becomes long enough then you'll get to a point where you have undirectional reinforcement which would be very strong indeed and we know that milled carbon (um in length) does very little to benefit strength so there's obviously a strong correlation between strength and fibre length. However, there is also a practical consideration because we know that continuous fibre along doesn't work well in this compression moulding process because the fibres can't migrate and redistribute themselves inside the mould cavity and so there's a trade off and there will be an optimum fibre length for a given component. The size and shape of the mould will determine this to a large extent; in a smaller more complex mould (like the brake lever) even the 12mm tow is being prevented from randomly orienting by the geometry of the mould. In this case it's probably a good thing (steering more fibre to align in the zero axis) but on other occasions it might now be. For a larger moulding longer strands might be OK but such components are probably better made using woven cloth anyway.

[@SteveVon7]

This is one of the most amazing well made videos i've ever seen on youtube in every way I could think of, seriously! I am a hard nosed and hard to impress, and you've astonished me with this masterpiece of illustrations and concise communication.

[@easycompositestv]

Wow, thanks Steve; we appreciate your appreciation!

[@aarondcmedia9585]

Been hanging out for this episode since the forged parts video. Thank you for posting such informational videos and tutorials. The card analogy was inspired. Does a continuously increasing load replicate spontaneous (impact) loads? It would be unusual to slowly increase the load on a brake lever, but I can imagine a sudden impact load on a brake lever during an accident. Just curious if the results are applicable in that real world scenario?

[@easycompositestv]

Sudden impact can illicit a different response from materials which is why specific impact tests do also exist. We don't have an impact tester but we did fabricate an ad-hoc impact test for one of our previous material test videos (part of the 'Dark Ice Project' where we tested the impact strength of various materials like carbon fibre, Kevlar, Diolen, Dyneema etc.). Although it's a complex subject, you can predict a lot about the impact strength of a material from its ultimate strength, elongation properties and failure mode in tensile and 3-point bend tests.

[@aarondcmedia9585]

@@easycompositestv thank you for your response - I'll go check out the Dark Ice impact test video.

[@capnthepeafarmer]

Paul, you and the Easy Composite guys have once again done a wonderful job presenting your data and conclusions in an easily digestible way. You also did a great job of explaining the reasoning for the selection of the graphs and units. While the engineers in the crowd may be shouting for stress and strain curves, your comparison is easily understood by anyone. Thanks for making such high quality content, keep it up!

[@easycompositestv]

Glad you enjoyed it and also that you understood the reasoning for the units we used. We thought long and hard which way was best to display and decided to do it as is, because the more technical minded viewers will have the skills to work things out in more technical units where as other viewers may not.

[@barneyklingenberg4078]

Very good content, Also shows that 3d printing isn't feasible for many applications. I am very impressed with that reinforced carbon forging proces though. twice the strength and half the weight of aluminium. That means you can go an quarter of the weight with some Q&A testing on these parts. That is actually really really good stuff. Especially looking at how simple it is to do and it seems feasible to produce at high volumes as well.

[@troythegardener]

These videos are fantastic mate, you deserve all the success in the world.

[@Smokeyr67]

Woo hoo, I was worried you’d stopped making video’s!!

[@easycompositestv]

Hi Shane, no, plenty more to come. In fact we've been pretty hard at work in the studio this last couple of months so hopefully you won't have to wait so long next time!

[@Smokeyr67]

@@easycompositestv Good things come to those who wait👍

[@richardwagner1632]

@@easycompositestv woooohoooooooo 🎉 🎈

[@fraserbell2716]

Feel like I’ve been waiting for months for this follow up video! Great work thanks guys :)

[@easycompositestv]

Well, it has been a lot longer than we hoped this time Fraser. The good news is that we've simultaneously been working on a number of other videos too so hopefully the wait between the next one's won't be anywhere near so long.

[@nick37781]

ooga booga finally another upload

[@FedeManBCN]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is like going to the university to have a masterclass in carbon fiber. Congrats!!!

[@polka23dot70]

forged carbon fiber = chopped carbon fiber

[@gregbrightwell4682]

One of the best composite channels on the KZbin's, if not the best

[@easycompositestv]

Thanks! Glad you like it.

[@scifactorial5802]

That onyx stuff seems oddly bendy for a CF filled filament and generally seems to perform terribly. If the data for the tensile strength at 16:49 is for a 3 mm x 10 mm sample it means it failed under 29MPa. Even normal PLA should be nearly 2x better than that.

[@ddegn]

I think this is an application where nylon isn't a good choice. A CF filled filament of a different plastic would likely work better. As you suggest, even PLA would be better.

[@MrMistery101]

@@ddegn I don't think any of the PLA has strands, most of it just uses dust for a matte finish. CF-PETG and CF-PC are better choices. But the numbers are low, even for CF-nylon. Wonder where they sourced it from.

[@scifactorial5802]

@@MrMistery101 Thats what we are trying to say. it's concerning that even plain old PLA without any additives will perform substantially better in this test than the "exotic" filament.

[@easycompositestv]

We were surprised just how flexible it was compared to the other materials. Not to say the material is bad throughout, but for this specific application, it is not suitable.

[@alexbv475]

@@scifactorial5802 onyx is not designed for high strength, but to work well when combined with long carbon fibers. (like in the other markforged sample) According to the channel visionminer, a big reason nylon filament contain carbon fibers is to make it easier to print. (it stabilizes the material against thermal effects like warping) PLA is actually a very good plastic from a strength and rigidity standpoint. Its main issues are that it shatters easily and can't stand high temperatures in the slightest. Engineers usually are less interested in strong but brittle plastics (like acrylic) and prefer polymers that are sometimes weaker but possess toughness, chemical and thermal resistance.

[@ali-imrantayeb5666]

Very informative and well documented. The only question not answered that I'd like to see would be a forged carbon piece vs traditional carbon fiber layup parts. Other than that, well done!

[@fail_fast]

Great video. Onyx is a poor representation of the strongest fdm has to offer. Essentium CF25 is roughly 5x stiffer and stronger than pure onyx. I performed a suite of tests on 5 or 6 different FDM CF nylons using my own universal tensile tester

[@jamesallen4050]

A relevant scientific communication with excellent script writing. Bravo! 👏🏾

[@johnbob-od3xt]

Thank you for these videos, I watched the forged carbon video and it seemed perfect for my use case, with this video I feel safe utilising forged carbon in my use case.

[@TheDeepDiveLLC]

This was one of my favorite educational videos I've seen in a while

[@Skitad]

The quality of your videos is amazing.

[@drryatt]

I’ve done my PhD work on developing proper mesoscale models of forged composites. I love seeing application of zero waste composites

[@RealWunderBanana]

I’ve been waiting eagerly for this video for 3 months and it did not fail to impress! Phenomenal video!

[@easycompositestv]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@adicser]

It is a nice addition to my Polymer Material Science course and it is almost as professional as that!

[@patrolduty8715]

Extremely clear explaination and analysis of the test! Thank you very much!

[@easycompositestv]

Glad it was helpful!

[@sabinespeed4146]

Fascinating (and inspiring - in the original sense of the word) results, and once again I have to compliment the presentation style. Accessible yet not dumbed down.

[@easycompositestv]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@charliemaybe]

Honestly I am impressed with this video style lab report, nice work

[@JamesWilliams-kt5qr]

Wow, I am impressed by the optimized forged carbon fibre. It may even exceed the performance of chromoly steel in the tensile strength test.

[@jokunimi5625]

Absolutely fantastic video. I would love to see impact strength tests in the future as well.

[@bibinsagaram]

Amazing video as always! Breaking of optimized forge carbon in steps is interesting. I think some loaded fiber breaks and the unloaded ones take over. Explaining the test while the plastic is stretching is funny.

[@easycompositestv]

Generally the most loaded fibre fails first then the others as they become overloaded. That applies to composite failure in general.

[@wiggenvan]

Very interesting video! While tensile strength isn't really relevant for brake levers, I can see how it would be useful for some other parts. Great presentation, thanks!

[@Bruno-cb5gk]

amazing video, explains the testing methodology and results super clearly and most importantly links them back to the real world.

[@easycompositestv]

Thanks Bruno, appreciate your feedback and glad the presentation was clear and relevant for you.

[@pandeomonia]

KZbin randomly suggested this to me and I couldn't be happier. Fascinating!

[@easycompositestv]

Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@emrage]

Great lesson. Taught me more than my mechanics class at uni. Thank you 😊

[@easycompositestv]

I'm glad the video was useful :)

[@jpme2872]

OMG! So much clarity now! Thanks! :)

[@bence.gabor.slezak]

My god that optimized forged method is amazing!

[@Astrix_Jaeger]

This is an awesome presentation. I appreciate it. Obviously, each will have different application. For example, the Onyx method maybe not very strong as a lever but with high flexibility, it will make awesome body panels.

[@ronaldharris6569]

This was a good test answers a lot of questions especially about printing carbon parts

[@Metalwolf765]

I love these videos- so cool to see real world parts examples and tests with materials we can actually use at home!

[@StillnessInMotion88]

Absolutely loving the tests and conparisons..the internet needed this as this video will settle many many useless forum debates :) great job!

[@easycompositestv]

Hi Ram, thanks, we do indeed try to bring some quantitative science to subjects where speculation and assumption can be off the mark. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@j121212100]

I have been waiting for the video! Very interesting the forged CF process particularly the optimized forged CF process.

[@davabran]

can i say how well put together this video is. bravo.

[@easycompositestv]

Thanks, appreciated :)

[@armandmatossian2081]

Wow this is a FANTASTIC video. I do stuff like this daily and it’s great to see this presented so well.

[@easycompositestv]

Glad you enjoyed the video Armand!

[@abepeterson]

Amazing video, this is the quality of content that should be taught at engineering schools.

[@jakeyoung2870]

I have been geeking out on your carbon fiber instructional videos, and then I stumbled on this gem. I loved the scientific-ish demonstration of 4 types of carbon fiber vs aluminum. It is enlightening to see the pros and cons of each type of material as well as to be able to consider the manufacturing process involved in each. I’m excited to learn that the strongest and most rigid type of carbon fiber can be made in my shop using a 3D printed mold! Amazing! Thank you! Please make more videos!

[@RBgamesbr]

Excelent video as always, I have been working on an project using carbon fiber and this has been an incredible source of information.

[@easycompositestv]

Our pleasure, hope the project is going well and glad the information has helped.