DSK wrote:

I'm somewhat lukewarm on carbon fiber. It's great stuff, but it's yield to failure
curve is almost straight... which means that you get very little flex, and no
cracking or gradual failure... one second it's whole & hearty, the next second
you've got a loose bundle of carbon splinters.

So you are saying it's Hookian until failure ?
If you look at a mast, CFRP has far more flex than Al before failure.

Carbon fiber also requires an order
of magnitude (or thereabouts) greater skill & preparation & tooling to make good
secondary bonds.

The bond in all FRP is plastic to plastic. There is no difference
whatsoever in that regarrd for CFRP. The "tooling" is in fact simpler as
it is less hard than glass fibres. If the CFRP carries a greater load
then more attention needs to be paid to scarf length and surface prep
but otherwise it is is the same.

Where do you get these ideas Doug?

Cheers MC