saramos

I came across a site, www.cstsales.com, that sells Carbon Tissue in two weights, .2 oz and .5 oz. It is sold by the yard in 36" widths. There was no information on the site about its strength or use. Has anyone used this material? How would it perform as a replacement for fiber glassing? If used for covering, would it fuzz when sanded, requiring a top coat of glass? How well would it form to curves? Would it provide a more durable finish? What other applications would this material be useful for? Any information would be appreciated. Thanks.

barto

One thing, dont use it for covering, its waaaaaaaaaaay too expensive.
you can use it for making a landing gear or a fuse or for reinforcement.
You should use fiberglass for covering a plane.

Jetman007

My Feedback: (6)

CF Tissue works well as the first layer, under a fiberglass finish on wings. Our customers use it to provide dimensional stability to balsa sheeting before applying the fiberglass finish. It helps to hide basla seams that sometimes appear after the model is finished and exposed to moderate temperature excursions.

Apply the CF tissue with epoxy, then immediately follow with the fiberglass layer. Ensure the epoxy soaks in well to both layers and the balsa underneath. Blot up the excess. Vacuum bag if desired.

You can view the process of fiberglassing in our How To page on our site.

Ed Smith

I experimented with carbon "Tissue" or "Mat" some time ago. I wanted to see if it would be a lightweight method off addind stiffness to fuselages etc.

My experience is as follows.

It is very expensive.
It does not follow compound curves without a lot of manipulation.
it did not add any stiffness, as carbon tow wound into a string does.
It soaks up resin like crazy defeating the lightweight requirement.

I tried it on the front (Curved) surface of molded props to see if it would prevent splits from running down the blade. It did not. It was also difficult to keep in place in the mold.

All in All it did not do anything for me that Say 5/8oz-3/4oz fibreglass cloth did not do better, cheaper, lighter and easier. I do not use it anymore. Others may have perserved and learned how to use it. If so maybe they can educate us all.

Ed S

KC-135

My Feedback: (3)

I use the carbon fiber mat from ACP on the center section of wings with a light weight glass over the top.Haven't used the tissue from CST but would say its the same stuff.I like it cause you don't end up with a ridge and easier to sand smooth and the strenght is excellent.

saramos

Thanks for the info and comments. I think I'll try some tests and then decide whether to add it as a first layer of a glassing on my TF Spitt.

Scott Ramos