Anyone Used Kevlar or Carbon Fiber?

Was reading about the polyester vs epoxy resin and how epoxy is used for kevlar and/or carbon fiber. Has anyone used this material for enclosures? and/or done their own interior dash panels with this. And if no, why is it not used more in car audio? both are very strong materials seems like they would be good for subwoofer boxes especially. Yes I know these are more expensive, any other reasons?

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Both are rather hard to work with. WAY more expensive. And there is absolutly no need for kevlar in car audio. Carbon fiber is only used for looks, strength like that is not needed unless you plan on popping caps to boost your db. I have done a few small projects with carbonfiber. All in all it's easier to make it from fiberglass and have it hydrocoated to look like carbonfiber.

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Nik
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I've done some Carbon Fiber work, mostly with carbon/kevlar hybrid materials. The reason it's not used much in car audio is as you said price, since a gallon of epoxy resin is going to be about 70 bucks on average, and a yard of carbon weave is 100'ish. It's got lots of good things to it strength aesthetics things like that but it's just not worth the money when fiberglass is cheaper.

I have used lots of carbon and also posted the "polyester vs. epoxy", this is one reason I have gallons of it sitting around. A gallon of epoxy with hardner runs about $40.00, and a yard of fabric (depending on weave) runs me $32.50 for a 50" by 1 yard piece. you could use something like a 2x2 twill weave that is very drapable to cover your dash, but you still won't get very good results without vacuume bagging and a hear source to put it in.

cool guyz thx for responding. i was just thinking maybe subwoofer boxes might be good with something like that for some extreme strength and ridgedness.

If you actually want to see the carbon fibre then epoxy would be the wrong choice all together, as its brown! You need to use clear casting resin for the front of the mold, then carbon fibre then epoxy.

Hua??? you use casting resin in a rubber mold to make a finished piece. All epoxy resin is clear but sometimes has a very slight yellowish tint. Polyester resin is brown, you NEVER use polyester resin with carbonfiber it is way to brittle.

we dont use rubber molds. With carbon fibre we have always used casting resin for the top coat, same as you would use a gel coat for the top coat on glass piece.

Vacuume bagging is the only way I know of to get all the air out. The cheapest system I know of runs about $300.00.

so just to sum things up, your saying vacuum baggin is the only way to go? and the cheapest system is 300?

In order to eliminate any chance of bubbles, form it to the mold and make it so that you don't end up with a pile of s@#t, yes. That is also the average price of all the materials, not exact at all.