Hypetex – Colored Carbon Fiber

colored carbon fiberHypetex is a bew colored carbon fiber available in bright, brilliant colors.  I’m not quite sure how they’ve managed to make black carbon into these colors, but am assuming that the carbon fiber strands are coated in color before being woven into traditional carbon fiber mats for production in any product.

Naturally, you can expect to see Hypetex appear in automotive applications where carbon fiber is already prized for its combination of light weight and stiffness.  Cars are often left unpainted to show off the carbon fiber weave, or the weave contains other materials such as titanium threads to enhance its beauty (such as Pagani or the Koenigsegg Trevita).  Chairs and other home furnishings are another possibility.  The most interesting application I foresee though is personal electronics.  Imagine the rear shell of your iPad being constructed from this material.  Beautiful, rigid, lightweight…I think it’s only a matter of time before Apple moves away from aluminum and towards carbon fiber for their products…and this colored carbon fiber will only hasten that transition.

Koenigsegg Carbon Fiber Wheels

I’d already reported on the carbon fiber wheels Koenigsegg is using (see this post), but I came across a cool twelve minute video showing the manufacturing process of these wheels.  Neat video, still a bit excessive, but if you see the value in a 280mph street car, wheels like these do make sense!

Aircore Carbon fiber wheels

Hollow, one piece carbon fiber wheels?  Cool use of technology here.  With the only bit of metal being the filler valve, these wheels are incredibly light and strong, something you really do need on a car that’s expected to be capable of 270mph, the Koenigsegg Agera R.  Designing a wheel for high speeds is no small task….the 253mph Bugatti Veyron, for examples, requires its wheels to be stress tested or replaced at every fourth tire change (at a cost of >$10k each!).  Of course, carbon fiber wheels are relatively new to applications such as this, so owners may yet be stuck with comparable replacement costs.

Now, back to reality and perspective here.  How does a 1140hp, 270mph car make any sense whatsoever?  I love cars, really I do, but this is just a ridiculous machine that serves absolutely no purpose except to further enhance consumerism and deplete this planet’s natural resources.  It’s a joke. A fast, impressive joke, but a joke nonetheless.

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