These sound soooooo amazingly sexy. The idea was prototyped and formed in a collaborative effort between Calloway Golf and Lamborghini in an effort to produce something that can solve some of the shortcomings of normal carbon fiber weaves. These problems include time for production, strength in directions not designed for, moldability, accuracy of molds, and the ability for bolts and non glue based bonding.
Forged composites solve these problems in the fact that the composite is not formed through the process of weaves of fabrics, but from the random array of carbon "chips", e.i., a small block of what is essentially a single direction of carbon. These chips resemble carbon scraps but are not random assortments of fibers. Instead they are pieces of uniform carbon that has been chopped and spread into many directions.
This array of random fibers solves the strength issue easily by making the random assortment average out into a piece that has relatively equal strength along its plane. This strength also allows bolts to hold pieces together without having to reinforce the marked holes prior to drilling. A rivet or threaded bolt can now effectively hold carbon pieces together.
The most amazing part of this setup is that a mixture of chips and resin can be inserted into a mold and heated to harden the mixture into an extremely accurate shape that can handle sharp corners and go from mold to finished piece in 5-6 minutes. Although the cost to produce is unchanged, the benefits of being able to mass produce cut costs of production and required labor immensely.
What makes this piece of technology so important is that it allows someone like you or me to still make complex, strong, and specially molded parts without the issues of bonding or making design decisions based on the ability of the carbon to make only a certain range of shapes.
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