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fishing rods - graphite 1

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guzza

Materials
Nov 8, 2005
4
AU
Hi there,

I was just wondering whether anyone had any experience with high modulus graphite composites. In particular I am interested in obtaining graphite blanks from a source in china and wondered whether there were any quality issues i should be looking out for. The blanks will be used primarily for spinning rods.

Perhaps there are resources you could point me to.

Thanks very much, George

 
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Fishing rods are among the most sensitive parts to manufacturing defects that are made with composites. They are very thin walled tubes that are highly stressed in use and small misalignment in fiber orientation will significantly affect strength. Thare are may manufacturing problems that can cause a wave in the fibers and therefore a defective shaft. Pay close attention to quality. The best test is flex testing the shafts.
 
thanks for the info Compositepro!

its very much appreciated. i will get a friend of mine experienced in composites (at least more than me) to do the flex testing for me....is there any particular equipment needed to do this or do you just flex the blanks/rods by hand and see how much flex is possible before the blank snaps?

i would prefer to do non-destructive testing if that is at all possible since these blanks will be costing me quite a bit of money.

i also hear that some graphite rods are more suspectible to breakage if they have a scratch on the surface. is there any way of testing a blank for cracks or faults without actually breaking the rod?

cheers, guz

 
Hand flexing works okay but it would be better to make a jig that allows the blank to be rotated while flexing to an extreme curvature that might be seen in use. This would be proof testing not destructive testing. If the the blank is defective you want it to break before it gets into a customer's hands.
 
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