Got pics... interested to see if its "dry carbon" or matte over
Its Matte.
It can be confusing sometimes. Dry is mainly structural. This sums it up pretty well
You can make wet carbon fiber having matte surface, and vice versa, looks make no difference at all.
Wet carbon fiber means carbon fiber has been impregnated in epoxy by hand, and usually cured in an oven, or even at room temperature, and the terminology of “wet” carbon fiber is because in the process of manufacturing the part, you actually have to manually “wet” the carbon fiber cloth with epoxy. Infusion is a wet carbon fiber technique which consist of infusing the carbon fiber with epoxy resin by “soaking” epoxy into it while the part is under vacuum pressure, which often produces better results when mastered than just applying resin directly onto the cloth while laying it up into the mold.
Dry carbon fiber is a completely different process, which consist of having “pre-impregnated” (also refereed as prepreg) fibres. This means the carbon fiber cloth is already impregnated by resin by manufacturer. Prepreg carbon fibres usually need to be stored at -20°C to not cure by themselves at room temperature. Then, in most cases, the prepreg part is cured in an Autoclave. This results in better quality parts for various reasons, mostly because more pressure applied on the part during vacuum, and thus reducing the resin/fiber ratio needed in the part. This is refereed as “Dry” carbon fiber because you do not actually need to manually “wet” the carbon fiber with epoxy since they are already pre-impregnated.
Anyways, the fact you have a matte or glossy finish actually makes NO difference at ALL. You can apply a glossy layer of gelcoat to a dry carbon fiber part, and you can have a matte finish in a wet-layup process. Mostly, the glossy/matte finish is depending if your mold has a matte or glossy finish, or you can just simply grit with soft sandpaper a glossy part to get a matte finish.
Dry carbon fiber is a very costly process, because first, you need an autoclave, prepreg carbon fiber is way more expensive than just buying carbon fiber cloth and epoxy, and then, the molds and vacuum tooling need to be of higher quality and high temperature resistant since prepreg usually need to cure at higher temperature than usual lamination epoxies. For example, you can realize a mold for a “wet-layup” process with just a gel coat and some polyester, while you’d use an aluminum machined mold for high temperature autoclave applications.
Mostly, the strength of carbon fiber depends of the density of the part, which is greater in dry carbon fiber parts because of the autoclave curing process, is highly dependent of curing temperatures and properties of the epoxy used itself. Strength comes from the carbon fiber itself, so, more fiber – less resin is a must, but not too low to avoid “air voids” into the part which would cause structural issues. Autoclave allows for a lower resin/fiber ratio without having structural problems because the higher pressure in the autoclave vacuum increases the “compaction” of the part.
For maintenance, it actually depends more if the part has a gel coat or a varnish applied to it or not. If not, the fibers are closer to the surface, and you’d risk to damage it by using inappropriate products. Gel coat-Varnish parts are actually better protected.
