Carbon fibre is stiff, strong and light, however, it is not tough.
If a thin carbon fibre panel, such as would be required for a top or
bottom plate, impacts a sharp object like a rock, it would likely
crack and break.
Think of it another way. Carbon fibres have nearly all their
strength longitudinally in tensile strength. You can exert a huge
pull on the fibres and they will just grin at you. Exert a force
perpendicular to the fibre that bends it sharply and it will snap.
For toughness you want something like kevlar or better still dyneema
(spectra,syntex).
Dyneema is lighter, stronger and tougher than Carbon fibre.
Titanium is very tough, You might be able to brass it easily but try
and do anything else to it...
Forming small intricate parts from composite plastics is relatively
difficult, time consuming and expensive.
Titanium, just stick a sheet in a press - BAM - you have your part .
Actually I believe it is not quite this simple with Titanium but it
would be more nearly so than with composites.
Giles
I wonder what would happen though if someone
did vcome out with a carbon fiber constructed camera.
It would be light, but probably a heck of a lot
stronger than the plastimagic SLR's of today. Too bad
it would probably cost a mint and there is little
market pressure for this type of development (I think)
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