Has it ever been tried?
Are there and prototype models out there?
Is it simply too expensive?
What would the effect on sound quality be?
Is there enough felx in carbon, is it a suitable material?
Are there any cabon fiber engineers out there to help with these questions?
Is it worth making a more portable piano anyway?
Carbon fiber piano frame
Moderators: Feg, Gill the Piano, Melodytune
Carbon fibre has a young's modulus 7 times that of wood and one third of that of cast iron, when laid as a mat. Laying the fibres in all one direction improves that by 50%, to half that of cast iron, at the expense of lateral stiiffness which is about the same as wood.
This means that the frame would have to be 3 times as bulky to offer the same stiffness as an iron one. The features for which carbon fibre is reknowned - large strain ratios and excellent resistance to crack propagation make it something of a wonder material in the right place. A piano frame is not one of them.
As there is a tendency for creep in the material (much like aluminium), tensions from the strings would tend to even themselves out quite quickly, resulting in a piano that was even more infuriating to tune than a wooden framed one.
So in a word, it'd be a load of old (and very expensive) rubbish.
This means that the frame would have to be 3 times as bulky to offer the same stiffness as an iron one. The features for which carbon fibre is reknowned - large strain ratios and excellent resistance to crack propagation make it something of a wonder material in the right place. A piano frame is not one of them.
As there is a tendency for creep in the material (much like aluminium), tensions from the strings would tend to even themselves out quite quickly, resulting in a piano that was even more infuriating to tune than a wooden framed one.
So in a word, it'd be a load of old (and very expensive) rubbish.
Otto