>>1274031Depends on the kind of load you put on the material:
>tensile strengthgreat
>stiffnessgreat
>compressive strengthgood
>impact strengthdangerously weak
>heat resistancedepends on the resin, often gets weaker at 50°C
>UV-resistancedepends on the resin, can be pretty bad
>mode of failureYou can't see fine hairline-cracks and carbon has no ductility.
If carbon fails, it does so instantly without a warning.
Carbon fiber is a great material, but it isn't some magic super-material.
Just like any other material it has its weaknesses, especialy on parts with high impact-loads like forks it can get dangerous over time with the formation of hairline-cracks.
For parts designed to flex a little and be subject to impact-loads, S-glass is far supririor to carbon fiber, as its toughness is about 4x as high, stretch is much higher and tensile strength/weight ratio is about the same.
One example for that would be a fork:
To allow better ride quality, it must have some flex in it to absorb road-buzz, to be relieable it must survive impact loads and it should be lightweight.
Carbon struggles especialy with impact loads and isn't all that flexible.
