krnxdoughboi

wats the difference of wet and dry carbon? there is a pretty big price difference.
heres the website of which spoiler that i wanted http://www.japanparts.com/db/partsli...ker=41&volkey=

NgoRX8

iTrader: (1)

here is what i know:

wet carbon is carbon fiber layed with resin and provides a wavy surface

dry carbon is full carbon fiber formed together in dry process under heat which makes the cf look smooth.

another big difference is dry carbon is substancially stronger than wet due to their forming process.

carbonRX8

iTrader: (1)

Actually, the wet carbon is smooth (it is the epoxy that is smooth and the "wet" refers to the wet epoxy) and the dry carbon is a little rough. The dry carbon generally doesn't "look" great, but it holds helicopters and high performance cars together. The wet carbon fiber really isn't great for structural support, but is ok for replacing steel body panels. The weight difference is a wash for aluminium (like the hood) though.

krnxdoughboi

so are you saying that the wet carbon might break or something?

Direwolf

Maybe they're just refering to a glossy or matt finish? There's no such thing as "wet" or "dry" carbonfiber, per se.

They might be talking about "pre-preg" carbonfiber versus "non pre-preg". The difference is simple... Pre-Impregnated ("pre-preg") carbonfiber already has the resin evenly soaked into by the factory, and dry carbonfiber does not. As such, pre-preg carbon fiber must be kept in a freezer until it's used, so the resin doesn't cure.

Layups with pre-preg carbon fiber are almost always very professional looking, becuase the fibers always lay in nice neat rows. And, because there is very little excess resin that needs to be soaked up, the weight is minimized.

Layups using dry carbonfiber are usually somewhat sloppy looking, because the rollers and brushes used to apply the resin will push the fibers around, creating wavy patterns. They're also usually a little heavier, because there's typically more excess resin applied to avoid under-wetting the fibers, which can result in pinholes or degraded strength.

Professional-looking casts with dry carbonfiber can be done with a process called "resin infusion", which draws the resin into the dry carbonfiber under a strong vaccum.

CarbonRX8,
The surface finish doesn't tell you anything about the strength of the panel. All it tells you is that the mold was glossy smooth.

An excess of epoxy in a layup will not adversly affect the strength of the panel. In fact, more epoxy will make the panel stronger... cast a 1" thick slab of epoxy and tell me it's not stronger than a 1/8" thick slab. However, epoxy and most resins are heavy and expensive, and there is more than one way to strengthen a panel.

quick_dry

good explanation Direwolf.

'Wet' CF is used to refer non pre-preg CF, but IMO it is a shortened form of 'wet layup', because you've dealing with the resin in a wet form, not like pre-preg where you'relaying up the cold but dry pre-preg and then autoclaving it.