3M DINOC - vinyl sticker - fancy but still fake carbon fiber

One of the latest and greatest fake vinyl sticker sheet to come out is the new 3M Di-Noc from their “Architectural Finishes” series line. What is kind of strange about this material is that is actually has a printed in texture to appear to make it more real carbon fiber looking. Well in the real world of real carbon fiber the good finished side is smooth with no texture and either high glossy or matte finish. So what they are saying is that the 3M Di-Noc is as good as the “bad” textured side our Sierra Composites carbon fiber sheets, the side that is slightly textured that we apply the adhesive backing to and is not shown. One big issue they advertise is the fact that you can use a heat gun and stretch this stuff around corners, well that’s great but you can do that will all fake carbon fiber that is sticker vinyl, and the fact that you can do that measn its not a real carbon fiber composite. O.K so maybe the new fake sticker is much cheaper than real carbon fiber sheet, well it is, generally it sells for about $0.12 per sq/inch and our real carbon fiber sheet at .015″ thin with adhesive backing sells at $0.15 per sq/inch. Well not a big difference there. There is one area where we can not compete with 3M Di-Noc, we don’t offer real carbon fiber sheets in 600 colors and styles, maybe you could try using their “stucco” fake Italian plastic 3M Di-Noc for your next project. Real carbon fiber sheets can be purchased at www.sierracomposites.com

Real carbon fibers? maybe - Real carbon fiber sheet composite? No

Since Sierra Composites was first made aware of a product that was called “Carbon Fiber Sheet” but was possibly raw carbon fiber fabric sandwiched between a clear vinyl on top and an adhesive backing. Further research has found the manufacturer of this “sort of ” carbon fiber sheet, its from an offshore company called Senko http://www.senkostyle.com/ under a heading of “Films” or “Laminate Films”. The company makes a wide variety of these films and adhesive films, tapes and a wide range of other products. The carbon fiber sheet film product is brand marketed under the name Senko Performance Carbon or Performance Carbon. How do we know the film construction is as we say, easy, we can peel apart the clear vinyl sticker on top from the carbon like fabric. Why do I say “carbon like fabric”, well judging from products that are made in China and based on what this product’s retail price is, I would suggest that most likely this is a E-Fiberglass approx 5.7 oz 2×2 twill weave that has been dyed black with the clear vinyl sticker on top and a non-3M adhesive backing of unknown quality.  We also noticed that most all photos of this product do not show the texture that is on the good side, but we have found a few that shows the true product. Now we are not claiming that this “carbon fiber sheet” is no good, maybe for your application it works, but it definitely is not true carbon fiber sheet composite as many would believe it is. For real carbon fiber sheet products visit our online store at www.sierracomposites.com

 

Sierra Composites carbon fiber sheet below

Fake Graphite Texalium Sheet (not carbon fiber)

Recently a B2B customer had sent us a sample of another fake carbon fiber type product. This time it is a fake Graphite Texalium sheet, often confused with carbon fiber sheet. Texalium is a high end raw fabric  fiberglass product made by Hexcel. Texalium is a high grade fiberglass that undergoes a process that applies a 200 Angstroms thin coating of aluminum, thus giving it the woven metal appearance. The aluminum base color can then be tinted by Hexcel to produce other colors such as the graphite steel color. It is used only as a top decorative layer on its own, or can be used in a laminate of carbon fiber with only the surface is the Texalium product. This fake sheet sample were sent does have what seems to be a Texalium or copy of that raw material as the base. Then it has a top layer of clear plastic vinyl that is .084″ thick on top and a .025″ thick layer of adhesive double sided tape on the bottom, making the entire thickness .109″ or approx 2.5mm. The top layer of plastic vinyl is very soft and can be easily permanently damaged by a simple fingernail mark. Most likely the plastic vinyl surface is also a very cheap grade that will yellow very quickly with any sunlight and be permanently damaged with most cleaning chemicals. Because there is actually nothing that makes this a composite, even at .109″ thickness it has zero structural qualities. If you see this product stay away from it at any price, as you will end up being very disappointed with it.

If you missed our article on fake carbon fiber sheet, click here to read it.

For real Hexcel Texalium sheets in silver and graphite colors visit our online store at www.sierracomposites.com

not carbon fiber sheet at all

There are a few business’s out the selling what they call carbon fiber sheet. But it is not really carbon fiber sheet. Its actually either raw carbon fabric or even black died fiberglass that has a clear sticker vinyl on one side and adhesive back on the other. The material is made overseas, this is manufactured by sending the three materials together through rollers, and that squeezes everything together. This in no way is carbon fiber sheet, or any sort of composite, there is no resin system present at all. You can tell right away from the look of it, it does not have a smooth mirror finish but rather a semi-glossy textured surface. The texture comes from the actual fabric weave below, the clear vinyl sticker on top conforms to the weave. Be aware of the carbon fiber sheet you are purchasing before you are dissapointed with a false carbon fiber sheet like the photo below.