All DragonPlate gloss carbon fiber sheets have a .005" thick epoxy gel-coat surface that results in a beautiful, deep, crystal clear finish without voids or pinholes. This added surface preserves the natural shape of the carbon fibers. Without this extra gel-coat, the carbon fibers will appear flattened or smashed, as seen in cheaper, lesser quality carbon fiber sheets.

Reflection of satellite photo in DragonPlate mirror-like finish

DragonPlate offers our carbon fiber sheets in full sizes (12", 18", 24" etc.) unlike some other cheaper sized sheets in which the reduced cut sizes result in up to 20% less material. Each carbon fiber sheet is available in standard gloss, scratch resistant matte, and texture finishes on one side, with a texture finish on the other side, creating an ideal bonding surface.

The Quasi-Isotropic Difference

All of our carbon fiber sheets (except for .025" and .5mm, which are composed of two layers and EconomyPlate) utilize a quasi-isotropic layup. Why do we use quasi-isotropic layups? Figure 1 illustrates the difference between a 0/90 degree layup and a quasi-isotropic layup.

Figure 1 - Comparison between 0/90 layup and a quasi-isotropic layup, which has -45/45 layers included.

If only 0 and 90 degree carbon fiber layers are used, the laminate is cheaper to manufacture, but weak along the 45 degree diagonal. This is shown in the following finite element stress analysis.

0/90 Layup Quasi-Isotropic Layup Plate Bending Plate Pulling

The analysis shows deflection in a plate undergoing off-axis bending and pulling. When the carbon fibers are aligned only in the 0 and 90 degree directions, the deflections in off-axis bending and pulling are up to 50% higher compared with the quasi-isotropic carbon fiber plate. For the majority of typical applications, quasi-isotropic carbon-fiber has superior performance. DragonPlate carbon fiber sheets are manufactured in 15,000 sq. ft. state of the art carbon fiber fabrication facility.