Carbon Fiber: Better, Faster, Stronger

This past weekend, our very own President, James Chalmers, came away with an impressive second place finish in a local High-Performance F18 Catamaran Regatta. As seen below, you can see why they call these innovative product designs, high-performance boats. While most sailboats you see on the water can sail to speeds of 5 to 7 knots, these F18s have been clocked as high as 23 knots. His boat consists of parts that are made of carbon fiber, including his tiller, dagger boards, rudders, and it is even present in his sails. Carbon fiber has become a common building material in high-performance boats such as the beautiful new America’s Cup boats, the AC 45’s. Carbon fiber is well known to have properties that bring significant advantages to performance products; strength and durability, resistance to water, and its light weight.

An F18 Catamaran Sailboat in action

The History and Benefits of Carbon Fiber

The use of carbon fiber, an innovative product design, dates back to as far as the late 1800s when inventor Thomas Edison was using it as a filament in his early light bulbs. In those days, the carbon fiber wasn’t quite as strong as the type we use today, but it had the ability to withstand high levels of heat which were good for conducting electricity.

Edison’s carbon fibers were made out of cellulose-based materials, such as cotton and bamboo, unlike the petroleum-based products available in today’s market.

Quality Over Quantity

The quality of carbon fiber that is currently used in premium goods was discovered in the 1950s by Dr. Roger Bacon. This evolution of such an innovative product design has allowed the material to weigh only a fraction of steel yet have stronger tensile strength. With these advancements, multiple industries, including the automotive industry, have found much value in using this material to enhance the durability, design, and overall quality of their products. Currently, carbon fiber is famously found in NASCAR and Formula 1 racing cars, performance goods such as golf clubs and bicycles, in addition to more common functional consumer products, including premium phone cases.

Carbon FIbre Bicycle

MAKO understands the importance of finding the right materials when we design new products. Innovative product design solutions are being developed every day to improve the quality of our lives. The ongoing evolution of carbon fiber will allow manufacturers to lower the cost and improve performance in all sorts of premium consumer goods, sporting goods, and everything in between. With our support of these advancements, we look forward to seeing the use of this durable material on a wider array of high-performance consumer goods.

About: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories. Also, our founder Kevin Mako hosts The Product Startup Podcast, the industry's leading hardware podcast. Check it out for tips, interviews, and best practices for hardware startups, inventors, and product developers. Click HERE to learn more about MAKO Design + Invent!