Carbon fiber is well known for its properties including high stiffness, high tensile strength, low weight, high chemical resistance, high temperature tolerance and low thermal expansion. Most of the time carbon fiber comes woven into fabrics that are laid up on a mold, imbued with resin, vacuum sealed, and sometimes cooked in an autoclave depending on the final use or application of the part being made.
For this project, our team acquired several spools of carbon fiber tow, which is essentially the yarn with which the aforementioned sheets are made from. We created several orb-like volumes made from wrapping balloons and other inflatables with tow and epoxy resin, allowing them to dry, then popping the inflatable molds.
After this initial process, we developed a custom lathe that allowed us to suspend these orb-like volumes in space while we wrapped the entire assemblage with an open mesh of tow. Once dry, the orbs remained suspended in air, appearing as though they were stretching and distorting the surface with which they are encased.
Team:
Alex Dahm, Ashley Sholder, Marie-Sophie Starlinger Mohammed Al-Jehani, Wan Lee
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