Carbon Fiber Driveshaft

When most people hear someone talking about carbon fiber, the first thing that they think of is a race car. While it is true that carbon fiber can dramatically improve the performance of a race car, that isn't the only vehicle that can benefit from parts that are made of carbon fiber.

Regardless of what kind of vehicle you drive, if you are interested in improving its performance, a carbon fiber driveshaft can be the right choice for you. If you are wondering exactly how a carbon fiber driveshaft can improve the performance of your vehicle, there are actually multiple answers to that question.

To begin with, because a carbon fiber driveshaft offers lower rotational mass, as well as more strength to resist extreme torque than steel, this type of driveshaft can provide your vehicle with rear wheel horsepower gains of more than five percent. Next, carbon fiber's unique vibration dampening characteristics also help improve power output.

Another great feature of carbon fiber driveshafts is that they not only improve the performance of your vehicle, but they also improve the safety of your vehicle (which is something that is on the mind of almost every driver, regardless of whether you are only driving yourself or are responsible for the safety of your whole family). While a broken metal driveshaft can cause severe injuries to the driver of the vehicle, as well as significant damage to anything that it comes into contact with, a carbon fiber driveshaft minimizes these consequences. Because a carbon fiber driveshaft will simply "broom" (this term means it turns into a bunch of loose carbon fibers) in the event of this happening, the carbon fiber broom will probably just polish dirt and paint off the chassis (in contrast to injuring the driver and shredding the chassis like a metal driveshaft).

Back on the subject of the performance benefits provided by a carbon fiber driveshaft, many vehicle owners become frustrated when they start experiencing vibration issues with their vehicles. While there can be multiple causes to this issue, a metal driveshaft is commonly the root cause of this problem. By replacing a metal driveshaft with one made of carbon fiber, you can completely eliminate this very annoying and frustrating problem.

As you can see, the benefits of carbon fiber driveshafts are quite extensive. While one might be skeptical that carbon fiber driveshafts can actually provide all of these benefits, once you start looking at the features offered by carbon fiber driveshafts, it is much easier to see why they are such a superior alternative to traditional metal driveshafts.

Because the aluminum yokes are filament wound into the carbon fiber shaft and wet composite material sinks into knurling on each yoke and encapsulates it during the manufacturing process, each yoke is permanently locked into the carbon fiber shaft when the epoxy composite is cured. This allows carbon fiber driveshafts to avoid relying adhesives to transfer the torsional load.

Additionally, carbon fiber driveshafts also feature a non-load bearing sacrificial composite outer layer, which provides increased durability. Torsional strength and natural frequency is also maximized thanks to the ultra high strength carbon fiber composite being directionally oriented.

While carbon fiber driveshafts may seem like a major cost at first, once you take into account all of the benefits that they can provide to your vehicle, it's much easier to see purchasing a carbon fiber driveshaft as an investment for your vehicle and your overall quality of driving. In addition to solving existing issues with your vehicle, replacing your metal driveshaft with made of carbon fiber can provide you with a more pleasant driving experience than you ever thought possible.