High Durability Flexibility Customizing Roll Wrapped Carbon Fiber Tube for Industry

Durability & Flexibility Customizing Roll Wrapped Carbon Fiber Tube for Your Industry

What is a Roll Wrapped Carbon Fiber Tube?

Roll wrapping is a precision manufacturing process where carbon fiber pre-preg (resin-impregnated sheets) is wrapped around a mandrel in specific orientations (0°, 45°, 90°), then cured under heat and pressure. This results in high-performance tubes with superior consistency and strength compared to pultruded or filament-wound tubes.

Roll wrapping is a popular manufacturing technique for producing high-strength, lightweight carbon fiber tubes. This method involves wrapping pre-impregnated carbon fiber sheets (prepreg) or wet-laid fibers around a mandrel in a helical or hoop pattern, followed by curing to create a rigid, hollow structure. Roll-wrapped carbon fiber tubes are widely used in aerospace, automotive, sporting goods, and industrial applications due to their excellent strength-to-weight ratio and stiffness.

Manufacturing Process

1. Material Preparation

• Carbon Fiber Prepreg: Unidirectional or woven carbon fiber sheets pre-impregnated with epoxy resin are commonly used.
• Mandrel Selection: A cylindrical mandrel (often made of steel or aluminum) determines the inner diameter of the tube.
• Release Agent: Applied to the mandrel to prevent resin adhesion after curing.

2. Roll Wrapping Process

• The carbon fiber prepreg is cut into strips at a specific angle (typically 0°, ±45°, or 90° for desired strength).
• The strips are then rolled onto the mandrel in a helical or hoop pattern using a specialized rolling machine.
• Multiple layers may be applied to achieve the desired wall thickness and mechanical properties.

3. Curing

• The wrapped mandrel is placed in an oven or autoclave to cure the resin under controlled temperature and pressure.
• After curing, the mandrel is removed, leaving a rigid carbon fiber tube.

4. Post-Processing

• Trimming: Excess material is cut for precise dimensions.
• Surface Finishing: Sanding or coating may be applied for aesthetics or additional protection.
• Quality Inspection: Ultrasonic testing or visual checks ensure structural integrity.

Advantages of Roll-Wrapped Carbon Fiber Tubes

• High Strength-to-Weight Ratio: Stronger than steel but much lighter.
• Customizable Layup: Fiber orientation can be adjusted for specific load requirements.
• Smooth Surface Finish: Ideal for applications requiring aerodynamic efficiency.
• Corrosion Resistance: Unlike metals, carbon fiber does not rust or degrade in harsh environments.

Roll-wrapped carbon fiber tubes offer superior performance in weight-sensitive applications. Their customizable manufacturing process allows for tailored mechanical properties, making them a preferred choice in high-tech industries.

Whether you're building a next-gen drone, a robotic gripper, or a carbon racing bike, custom roll wrapped carbon fiber tubes give you the edge in performance, weight savings, and design precision. Partnering with a skilled manufacturer means turning your unique specs into industry-leading results.

Service

• Customization – Prepreg plies can readily be added or subtracted allowing the tube to be customized with different wall thicknesses
• Sample Acceptable – Because each tube is made one at a time, small production runs are available.
• CNC Machining — cutting according to your CAD drawing
• Print Logo – according to the AI file
• One- Stop Procurement – a whole industry chain of carbon fiber composite products

Shanghai Lijin focuses on the Carbon Fiber industry and offers carbon fiber tubes, plates, and aluminum CNC services.

Being experienced in the carbon fiber applications for over 7 years, Shanghai Lijin manages customized production according to various industry standards. Shanghai Lijin started to keep in stock for some standard

sized and frequently ordered tubes and plates. This enables Shanghai Lijin to make prompt delivery. Not only

can Shanghai Lijin complete mass production orders in short period, we can even ship normal sample, prototype orders of Carbon Fiber Plate CNC parts in just SEVEN days after order confirmation when the

drawings are available. Shanghai Lijin is dedicated to solve any technical points during the production and new item developing to ensure the quality.

Carbon Fiber tube production is Shanghai Lijin’s core business and occupies 70% of our turnover.
The carbon fiber tubes Shanghai Lijin mainly produce is table-rolled and oven thermoset. The tubes can be Full Carbon or Carbon Fiber and Fiberglass composite, depending on the application, weight limit,mechanical

strength and surface requirement.Shanghai Lijin offers top quality ROUND carbon fiber tubes. The general OD tolerance we achieve is +/-0.10mm and it can be even +/-0.05mm after our special surface process.

The maximum length of the tube can be 5500mm.

Besides the traditional table-rolled carbon fiber tubes, Shanghai Lijin also offers REAL Filament wound carbon fiber tubes,which are widely used for mechanical strength like auto driving shaft, antennas, even for military

applications. The filament wound carbon tubes are wound at a certain angle like 30 or 45 degree. We invested the new production line from Jun 2013 and this increases Shanghai Lijin’s advantage in the carbon

fiber tube industry. There are just a few real filament wound carbon fiber tube manufacturers in domestic

China and we are one of them.
 

Since the rapid growth of UAV in the international market, instead of the standard plane like Phantom from DJI, RC fans are getting more interested in the customized multicopters. As carbon fiber is the most preferred

material for UAV, Carbon Fiber CNC parts demand is increasing. Shanghai Lijin sticks to offering OEM service for the international market, fine quality and prompt delivery.To ensure the thickness tolerance +/-0.10mm and minimum warp of the Carbon Fiber plates that are used for the cutting, Shanghai lijin execute high standard to

the plate production. For the normal thicknesses including 1.0mm, 1.2mm, 1.5mm, 2.0mm, 2.5mm, 3.0mm,
Shanghai Lijin keeps regular stock, to make sure the raw material will be available for cutting immediately when order is firmed.Experienced engineers are in Shanghai Lijin’s office ready to deal with different types of

drawings from customers. No matter the drawing formats are .DWG, .DXF that can be edited by AutoCAD

and used directly for production, 3D drawings like .IGS, or even draft drawings, our staff can do adjustment and change to customer’s idea. Our engineers are also good at English communication, Email and IM is easy

for them. Editing drawings for customers is FREE* of charge. Shanghai Lijin is having several professional CNC machines for carbon fiber cutting and drilling, with the capacity of cutting 20-50pcs standard full sized plate per day. The carbon fiber chassis general cutting tolerance Shanghai Lijin offer is +/-0.02mm. The

special designed cutting solution ensures the smoothness of the cutting edge.

‘Customers’ Persuit for Change, Lijin’s Motivation for Growth’, Shanghai Lijin takes customers’ demand for center, enhances the
customer satisfaction, and grows with customer.