The specimens I’m using were made and sent to us by the project sponsor, Boeing. They were cut from a plate of “cross-play layup” (i.e., 0 degree and 90 degree fiber orientation) material using a diamond saw. The plate was made out of unidirectional prepreg tapes of Hexcel IM-7 fibers with Cytec’s 977-3 epoxy as a matrix, which has to be cured in an autoclave. We have a few autoclaves here on campus at Georgia Tech (which unfortunately I haven’t had the privelege of using–but I’ve got a few more months here!), but Boeing wanted to manufacture the specimens in-house, to “aerospace grade” specifications.

For cruder, autoclave-free laminate fabrication, I’d recommend checking out my post on racecar fender fabrication. It’s a pretty extensive write-up, and describes the mold-making and vacuum bagging process. If you get room temperature curing epoxy, then even fancy vacuum bagging systems and heating rooms aren’t necessary to make the composites.

Cured carbon fiber laminate can be bought off the shelf though. GMail’s creepy email-reading algorithm always thinks I’m interested in buying the stuff, and keeps recommending the following site to me:

http://dragonplate.com/

I haven’t checked to see if McMaster-Carr sells cured C.F. laminate, but I’ve stopped suspecting that they wouldn’t carry anything humans would ever need, hahahaha.

(p.s.: lol )