When it comes to materials science, there’s always room for innovation. Take carbon fiber. Yes, the material is strong and stiff but handling impacts has been a challenge. And this is why at K 2016, the representatives of DSM Dyneema couldn’t hide their excitement of their new product: Dyneema Carbon, which they launched at K. Dyneema Carbon is a hybrid of pure carbon fiber and Dyneema fiber that can be tailored to meet a variety of performance requirements. By marrying carbon with Dyneema, impact energy absorption can be increased by up to 100% while removing the risk of splintering. DSM claims that Dyneema Carbon hybrid composites are also lighter, less brittle and more vibration dampening than pure carbon composites.

The scientific explanation is that while carbon fiber shows the best strength-to-weight ratios for tension, compression and bending loadings, it shows poorer performance on impact loadings. Combining – hybridizing – carbon fiber with Dyneema UHMwPE fiber (ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene) results in Dyneema Carbon hybrid composites that handle impact forces significantly better.