Apple May Order Carbon Fiber Parts for Future Product

Status
Not open for further replies.

southernshark

Distinguished
Nov 7, 2009
1,014
4
19,295
[citation][nom]The_Trutherizer[/nom]lol. looks like an Acer[/citation]

Since Apple has not made a carbon fiber Macbook Pro... it may well be an Acer with a photoshop.
 

greghome

Distinguished
Dec 30, 2009
477
0
18,810
[citation][nom]southernshark[/nom]Since Apple has not made a carbon fiber Macbook Pro... it may well be an Acer with a photoshop.[/citation]

Once they do, they're gonna sue Lenovo for "copying" them with the X1 Carbon
 
Of course, a switch over to carbon fiber would mean leaving its iconic aluminum look behind.
I don't care what look Apple's products have, personally, but seriously, their "iconic aluminum look" is played out, passe, uninspired, insert your own derisive adjective here. On the other hand, it's hard to imagine Apple users going for the carbon fiber aesthetic, so I'm not sure what they can do. They've kind of designed themselves into a corner, really.

That being said, I'd recommend Motorola file some design patents, stat. Clearly, "prior art" means f--k-all when it comes to these ridiculous lawsuits.
 
[citation][nom]Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer[/nom]I don't care what look Apple's products have, personally, but seriously, their "iconic aluminum look" is played out, passe, uninspired, insert your own derisive adjective here. On the other hand, it's hard to imagine Apple users going for the carbon fiber aesthetic, so I'm not sure what they can do. They've kind of designed themselves into a corner, really.That being said, I'd recommend Motorola file some design patents, stat. Clearly, "prior art" means f--k-all when it comes to these ridiculous lawsuits.[/citation]
Personally I love the mac look. I liked the innovative design of the 'toaster', and the 'lamp shade', and the 'cheese grater' power macs, and really like the simple metal look of the current gen all-in-one units. I am no fan of apple products, but they do look good.
But the problem with ALL apple products (aesthetically speaking anyways) is that the minute they rub up against something, or you use it, then they are easily ruined. They look great out of the box, but the exteriors only keep up if they are never touched. Moving to carbon fiber would fix some of that.

Personally, as much as I like to look at apple products, I do not like to use them, and would love to see carbon in more WP8 designs as that is what I am likely going to move towards.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Get rid of the fiber weave, and you have a winner. There's something aesthetically pleasing about the simple aluminum (or steel in previous cases) cases. And fiber weave doesn't have any real functional role in most modern CF manufacturing processes.

So if you can imagine a phone with a black aluminum look, but the lightness of CF (and bounce properties), you may have a winner.

However, as the previous owner of kestrel, the guy should at least know that one small chip in a CF chasis can have extreme consequences. At least it won't be as dangerous as having a frame, seat post, or handlebar blow up on you because of an unchecked crack.
 

willard

Distinguished
Nov 12, 2010
2,346
0
19,960
First Apple pulls out of EPEAT, now they're looking to manufacture products with one of the most environmentally unfriendly materials ever made. I think the carbon fiber look is completely played out anyway. Makes sense for things where every gram matters (like bicycles), but it's totally unnecessary for a computer.

Stick with environmentally friendly aluminum, please.
 
G

Guest

Guest
@darkpuppet

the weave is from the use of a bidirectional layup which adds extra rigidity and strength while minimizing weight and thickness, dont like the look then paint it or use an opaque resin

stress induced crack propagation on CFRP is no more disastrous than on metals (unless your talking about a homogenous aligned uni-direction fiber, but those are only ever employed in highly controlled lateral loading conditions), the only thing that would cause serious issues with CFRP is delamination
 
G

Guest

Guest
@willard

if it was the 80s maybe but in reality modern CFRP can be made to be ecologically sound, rayon (bamboo) derived carbon fiber along with a Corn/Hemp derived resin can be used, at end of life the carbon fiber can be extracted and recycled, these are cell phones after all not aircrafts or automobiles so high performance resins and fibers are not required
 

teh_chem

Honorable
Jun 20, 2012
902
0
11,010
Is carbon fiber actually a good choice for anything that might be taking daily usage-abuse? It was my understanding that CF doesn't hold up to knocks, drops, impacts, etc. without catastrophic snaps/cracks, whereas metal will just dent but still be usable.
 
G

Guest

Guest
@teh_chem

it all depends upon the composition of resin and fiber layup, if you want durability you could use a resin with better elastic properties and align the fiber direction along the direction of deflection you could also apply a layup which would accommodate more deflection

CFRP really is only a higher performing version of GFRP (fiber glass) and if you ever used a fiber glass fishing rod you would know these things can really take abuse, in some cases more so then metal yet will revert back to their original condition with minimal distortion

CFRP is not any more fragile than metal if engineered correctly
 
Status
Not open for further replies.