By using lightweight composite materials, the aviation industry can become more sustainable.
(Photo: dpa)
Cologne The climate crisis and high fuel prices are opening up additional potential for a special material: carbon fibers, which can be used to reinforce plastics. With their properties, they even surpass steel and aluminum.
The composite materials are mainly used in the aerospace and automotive industries. Increasingly, however, they are also being installed in wind turbines and energy storage systems.
Four listed manufacturers of this “miracle fiber” could be of interest to investors: SGL Carbon, Facc, Hexel and Nippon Carbon. Some of them report a significant increase in demand for composite building materials.
The starting material for making carbon fibers is often polyacrylonitrile, a white powder first synthesized by German chemists in the 1930s. Thin threads can be produced from the powder.
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These are wound onto a spool and first oxidized in a furnace at around 250 degrees Celsius and then carbonized at 1,200 to 1,800 degrees. Carbon fibers remain, which are very strong and stiff, but light.
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