Ng Hui Juan_S-RR_Draft3
Summary Reader Response Draft 3
According to the article “Custom 3D Printed Carbon Fiber Bike Frame” written by Androole (2012), the process in the article allows bike enthusiasts to make a frame with customisable properties and save money on just buying a carbon fibre bike. Androole came up with a guide on making use of computer-aided design (CAD) and 3D printing to allow people to design one-of-a-kind bicycle frames. There is flexibility in using CAD to create the shapes that one desires, whichever kind of bicycle type it may be as there are not many restrictions. Making just the connections out of carbon fibre and the frames using tubings will lessen the workload and cost overall. “I wanted to design a process for building bicycles that allowed an enthusiast to spend less overhead, less time on finicky details and put the emphasis on actually designing and making a bike that you want to ride”, showing that the guide was made to help bike enthusiasts reduce the cost and time wasted and instead spend more time designing the bike of their dreams (Androole, 2012, Introduction section, para. 6). Making parts of bicycle frame out of carbon fibre, give users the freedom and flexibility to customise the shape and properties of their bike frames to suit their cycling style or bicycle type, be it mountain bikes, road bikes, etc.
One benefit of making parts of bicycle frames using carbon fibre is that it allows the combination of metal frames to make a complete structure which capitalises on the superior properties of both materials. According to the article “Joining of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites and aluminium alloys – A review” written by (Pramanik, 2017), the superior property of carbon fibre is the material used as a structural product, is the strength to weight ratio. “At a microscopic scaled level, carbon atoms of fibres are bonded together parallel to the fibre axis, and thus give rise to the unidirectional alignment, which in turn contributes to superior tensile strength along with light-weight structures and low thermal expansion” (Pramanik, 2017, Introduction section, para. 1). Using both metals and composites together to make a structure allows the utilisation of the better properties of metals and composites such as resistance to stress and strain, cracks, etc.
Another benefit of using carbon fibre to make bicycle frames is it can be shaped into any design made using CAD as carbon fibre can be mixed with filaments which are used in 3D printers. According to the article “3D printing of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic parts” written by (Nakagawa, Mori, K., & Maeno, T. , 2017), plastic strength can be improved with a mixture of carbon fibre strands. With the aid of CAD software such as Solidworks or Autodesk Inventor, a wide range of designs for bicycle parts can be created to desired shapes and sizes, and be printed out using carbon fibre-reinforced plastics.
According to the article “Topological design for 3D-printing of carbon fibre reinforced composite structural parts” written by (Chen, & Ye, L., 2021), 3D-printed carbon fibre reinforced composite is great for supporting high loads. The structure of the carbon fibre composite parts is made using the honeycomb method to allow it to have more strength and still be lightweight at the same time thus maximising the weight-to-strength ratio.
Although carbon fibre bicycles are known for their flexibility and durability properties, it has their flaws as well such as being more brittle. According to the article “Bike frame materials explained: carbon vs aluminium vs steel vs titanium” by Norman (2021), Norman stated that even though carbon fibre is known for its properties to make a high-performance bike frame, it also has its disadvantages such as being more vulnerable to crash damage compared than other materials. As carbon fibre bike frames are made up of many layers of carbon fibre, it does not allow components to be screwed in. As such, bearings have to be pushed into the bicycle frames or metal inserts must be added to accommodate threaded bearings. Press-fit bottom bracket bearings are known for creaking, while metal inserts add weight to a bike which would cause alignment issues if not done properly. The article also mentioned that carbon fibre is easy to crush and can be easily damaged in areas like quick-release drop-outs. This is the reason carbon bikes have metal dropouts or metal areas for these areas.
In conclusion, carbon fibre makes a great bicycle frame as the material is highly durable, can be easily formed, and is able to achieve the best bike performance. Carbon fibre bikes improve riders’ psyche, allowing users to feel confident and can last for a long time. Although creating a carbon fibre bicycle frame is a time-consuming process, the outcome is definitely worth the cost and effort.
References
Androole. (2012). Custom 3D Printed Carbon Fiber Bike Frame. The Instructables
Chen, & Ye, L. (2021). Topological design for 3D-printing of carbon fibre reinforced composite structural parts. Composites Science and Technology, 204, 108644–. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compscitech.2020.108644
Nakagawa, Mori, K., & Maeno, T. (2017). 3D printing of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic parts. International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 91(5-8), 2811–2817. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-016-9891-7
Norman (2021) Bike frame materials explained: carbon vs aluminium vs steel vs titanium
Pramanik, Basak, A. K., Dong, Y., Sarker, P. K., Uddin, M. S., Littlefair, G., Dixit, A. R., & Chattopadhyaya, S. (2017). Joining of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites and aluminium alloys – A review. Composites. Part A, Applied Science and Manufacturing, 101, 1–29.
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