I looking at replacing a few of the panels on my car with either Carbon Fiber or High Tensile Steel to shave off some weight and increase mpg and take some time off my quarter mile. Which is better: Carbon Fiber or High Tensile Steel?
Because no matter how hard the helmet is it can not prevent brain damage from your brain slapping the inside of your skull. If the helmet was able to absorb the energy from an impact and prevent you brain from moving inside your skull it would have to be huge and everyone would look like bubble heads riding on bikes. The sides would have to be around 12 inches thick on each side and top to provide that much protection and would probably break your neck if you were in a wreck. Hope I have been helpful.
In terms of strength/weight ratio then carbon fiber is excellent. However in terms of strength/cost then steels is better. With strength/weight then you save money in the long run (less fuel usage) but with strength/cost ratio you save money immediately when the car is made. So it's a complex tradeoff that has to do with your time-value of money.
There's different types of strength. Linear strength, the carbon fiber is stronger and more resilient. It's also much lighter, as much as 1/10th the weight of an aluminum body panel (which is lighter than steel). So, by using steel body panels, you would actually likely be ADDING weight to your car. Carbon fiber parts, of course, usually cost 2-3 times as much as their aluminum counterparts. Needless to say, consider the alternative. You can get an aluminum fender, have it be lighter than the steel part, not quite as light as the carbon fiber, but for the price of 1 carbon fiber fender, you could have a both front fenders and the hood in aluminum. Also, for the 1/4 mile, every 100lbs will drop 1/10th of 1 second off your time, which can be lost by screwing up your launch, or in other words, yo won't notice it. As for fuel economy, you won't notice a difference of more than .1-.2mpg. I know this first hand.
Steel is much cheaper to buy, but weighs more than the carbon fiber and is not as strong as a rule. To save weight on a race car go with carbon fiber. To save weight (money) on the wallet go with steel.
