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Originally Posted by Judah
Structural carbon fiber can be repaired in most cases very similar to the way fiberglass is repaired when damaged.
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Sure, I understand that it can be done. But - unlike fiberglass - carbon fiber is woven. I think of fixing carbon fiber like fixing a damaged clothing garment. You can do it of course, but you typically have to mend it with a patch of some sort, and as a result it usually does not look or feel like new again. With fiber glass, its more like fixing a chip in a windshield - you just fill it in and no one is the wiser (well maybe it isn't quite that simple, but you see what I mean).
With steel or aluminum I can weld two foot-long pieces together and have the result be as strong as one equivalent-thickness two-foot-long piece. Even with fiber glass, I can fuse two pieces together and have something as rigid as the original. But I don't think the same is true for carbon fiber. If it were, then instead of producing huge sheets of the material to create large parts, they could just patch a bunch of smaller squares of it together like a quilt or something. There's obviously a reason why they don't do it that way - the rigidity of the part is largely dependent one continuous woven sheet of material.
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However, just like a steel or aluminum chassis there are limits to possible repair....
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With metal repair work, the limit is usually based upon cost. For cases where there is sufficient motivation, just about any steel part can be fixed (within reason - a fire would make it almost impossible, as would a near complete destruction of the part in a horrific accident or perhaps an explosion). Consider classic cars, for example. Even when left to rot for years, they are typically salvageable and restoreable (incidentally that's a big advantage of CFRP - no rust). Or, if someone wrecks their rare Ferrari GTO on a track, they will more than likely get it back going again some way or another.