affects the strength of the final component.Many of the carbon fiber components are built with a light aluminum honeycomb interior, around which the cloth is wrapped, to strengthen the final component.
             So how does the carbon fiber go from its cloth-like state in a mold into becoming one of the most solid materials fabricated by man? John Howett, the president of the Toyota F1 team, explains. From the design room the carbon fiber moves into another room where it will spend many hours transforming into that rock hard substance:"It looks a bit like a bank vault but it is actually an autoclave," John said. "After the parts are completed in the lay-out room they are placed in a bag, the bag is placed under vacuum and they are then baked under high pressure and temperature in an oven. These ovens work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "That's right, it is a little bit like baking a cake - except that the carbon composite components that emerge are so hard that while they may be quite inedible, for an F1 team serves a much better purpose: they are almost unbreakable. There is little better to ensure the safety of the drivers.
             To meet the ultimate PNGV mileage goal, one potentially enabling technology is to use carbon-fiber composites, which form the structure of U.S. fighter jets. Carbon-fiber composites weigh about one-fifth as much as steel, but can be comparable or better in terms of stiffness and strength, depending on fiber grade and orientation. These composites do not rust or corrode like steel or aluminum. Perhaps most important, they could reduce vehicle weight by as much as 60%, significantly increasing vehicle fuel economy.To make a vehicle that gets 80 miles per gallon of gasoline to satisfy one goal of the U.S. Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV), the automobile industry is seeking a lighter structural material. Steel is the material of choice today because of its strength and low cost. But st...