Originally Posted by
Brian Ratliff
First, epoxy is actually the softer of the two materials in CF composite. It makes no sense for the matrix material to be harder than the filler. I mean, does anything improve if you make a composite out of steel matrix and cooked pasta noodle filler?
The carbon fiber (which doesn't resist compression very well) adds
tensile strength and the epoxy (which doesn't resist stretching very well) adds
compression strength. Like rebar in concrete. (I suspect you know this but other people might not.)
Originally Posted by
Brian Ratliff
One thing unique to carbon is the number of glue bonds in the frame. A welded or brazed frame is basically a monolithic structure. A carbon frame is a bunch of pieces glued together. After this, anytime I see metals bonded to composites in a frame (something stiff -metal- bonded to something soft -carbon composite-), I will be skeptical about its ultimate longevity.
Current carbon frames are more like the "monolithic" structure (except for the bonded-in metal bits). They aren't just tubes glued together (anymore).