Is there a true carbon fiber skateboard?

How are carbon fiber strands/resin used and where can they be bought?

• I have seen on the show Mythbusters the use of carbon fiber strands many times, for example, in the jetpack episode, where Adam makes the air ducts by taking a foam structure and layering in carbon fiber strips and resin. After that, it becomes as hard as if the whole thing were made of carbon fiber. I have also seen this technique used in a Kurt Schreckling style homemade jet engine, where the compressor blades are made of plywood, then layered in carbon fiber for strength and thermal protection from the extreme conditions in the engine. How is this achieved, and where could materials, resin, and hardener be bought?

• Answer:

  Carbon Fiber is typically bought in weaved fabric or unidirectional fabric (fibers only in one direction). You can buy dry fabric and resin or pre-impregnated fabric (pr-impregnated with resin). Typical resins are epoxy, polyester and vinylester but you can use many different materials not even limited to polymers. polyester and vinylester are used mostly for cosmetic pieces, while epoxies are used for structural parts (and cosmetic pieces too). The idea behind carbon fiber composites, and really all composites, is to combine the properties of different materials to achieve desirable conditions for whatever application you are creating them for. So for the case with carbon fiber composites they are typically used with epoxy to yield a material with the strength closer to that of carbon, but still remaining lightweight and the combination also makes it less brittle than its two constituents, due to disruption in crack propagation through the layers. here are a couple of smaller suppliers for dry fabric and resin (prepreg is typically harder to process for the beginners...) http://sollercomposites.com/ http://uscomposites.com/ http://www.fibreglast.com/