Here are some frequently asked questions about advanced composites.
What are Advanced Composites? What is carbon fibre? Why use advanced composites? What are the characteristics of carbon?

What are advanced composites?

Materials such as carbon fibre and aramids (commonly known as Kevlar, a Du Pont product) are referred to as advanced
composites. These materials were first developed for use in the aerospace industry. Most people are familiar with carbon
fibre as the material used in the manufacture of exotic products such as the body of the Ferrari F50, the 1994 America 's
Cup winning yacht Black Magic and graphite golf club shafts.

What is carbon fibre?

Carbon fibre is made of one of life's base elements - carbon. Carbon fibers are fine filaments, made up of elemental
carbon. Fibre types range from amorphous carbon to crystalline graphite.
The main features of carbon fibre as a material for design and manufacture are:-

1. Incredibly high tensile strength, approximately 15 times the strength of construction steel.
2. High rigidity, up to 3 times the stiffness of steel.

These two features mean that carbon fibre is a great material for making high performance products. It is also a great
material for design. The high strength to weight ratio, in combination with high rigidity, offers superior design freedom.

This has led to carbon fibre being used in a diverse range of products, from yachting to high performance motor vehicles,
to sporting goods.

Working with carbon fibre is a real challenge for the designer. The material is complex, with movable fibre orientation,
and it's performance parameters are not yet well understood in the general design community.

As designers begin to understand carbon fibre, as material costs fall, and as more efficient process technologies are
developed, carbon fibre will become a major material used to produce a wide variety of products.

Why use advanced composites?

Advanced composites are much more efficient materials than either wood or metals. With a good design, every composite
fibre can be utilized in a product. This is due to what is referred to as a movable fibre orientation. Advanced composites
can maintain the strength of metal with much lighter weight. They offer a superior strength to weight ratio.

The use of advanced composites in consumer products has been held back by two major issues. Firstly, the materials are
expensive. Secondly, the manufacturing processes used in fabricating products from composite materials in complex
shapes are labor intensive, and require a high level of skill. These are problems associated with the application of most
new technologies.

Recently, there has been a rapid increase in the production of advanced composite materials. This is leading to a gradual
decrease in materials costs. New process technologies are also being developed to efficiently manufacture goods in
volume. Liquid Infusion Technology (LIT), as used in the manufacture of Talon furniture, is a good example of a new
advanced process technology.

The use of composites in the furniture industry is not entirely new. In the 1960's a number of pieces were created using
simple composites (i.e. using non-oriented fibre reinforced polyester) generally referred to as fiberglass. Examples are
DAR (Dining Armchair Rod) for Herman Miller by Charles and Ray Eames and The Tulip Chair by Eero Saarinen for Knoll.
These pieces were largely superseded by polyethylene injection moldings.

Over the last decade various pieces have been designed using advanced composite materials, particularly carbon fibre.
For example, Soft Light for Alias designed by Alberto Meda. However, these have been very up market art pieces,
produced by hand in tiny volumes. The Talon Chair is the world's first carbon fibre chair to be manufactured in volume
(and at an affordable price) - the embodiment of 30 years of progress in the use of composite materials and processing
technology.

As the the 21st Century approaches, sophisticated, high technology composite products will take over the roles that
metals fill today, such the bodywork of motor vehicles, industrial and structural tubing, furnishings, and just about
anything you can think of that currently uses wood or metal for its construction. This will be a major challenge in design.
The new, complex and different nature of advanced composite materials offers tremendous opportunity for design
excellence.

This is highly relevant for the furniture industry. The efficient application of composite technologies offers new design
freedoms. On a more mundane level, composites can be used to replace metals and wood in such applications as the
inner structural sections of lounges and other soft furnishings, and in structural sections of office furnishings. The
advantages and opportunities of advanced composite materials, in combination with new process technologies, will lead
to a completely new attitude to furniture, space and the possibilities in design.