3K Carbon Fibre Tow 

Yes. This is carbon fibre tow intended to be woven into carbon fibre cloth fabric (we source it direct from our weavers) and so it will have a standard sizing suitable for thermoset resin systems (epoxy, polyester, vinylester etc.)

Well, it depends on the weight of cloth you want to weave; heavier cloths would require more tow than lighter ones, per square metre. The easy way to work out what length of tow would be required would be to simply count the tows on a typical fabric (in the weft and warp direction) then then that would be the number of metres of tow you would need to weave it. For example, a 12k cloth with a tow count of 4 'picks per centimeter' means that are 400 tows on the weft (across the fabric) and lets assume 400 tows on the warp (running lengthways down it). That means there is 800m of this 12k tow in a single square metre of this cloth! At the other end of the scale, a 3K fabric with 6 picks per centimer would have 600 tows on the weft and 600 tows on the warp meaning 1200m of 3K tow in a single square meter of cloth!

The exact properties of the fibres used in our Carbon Fibre Tow are listed on the Technical Data Sheet.

If you're wrapping quite a wide area of joint then I'd suggest going for the largest filament count tow we have which would be our 12k Carbon Fibre Tow. This will simply mean you'll get the same amount of strength from less wraps around which just makes things a little quicker. Strength would be the same once you'd added the same amount of material whichever tow size you go for.

Another option to consider (depending on the nature of this joint) would be our Carbon Fibre Spread Tow Ribbon which is like a pre-flattened ribbon of carbon fibre however for simply binding a joint I think the 12k tow would be the right choice.

The cardboard core is 75mm ID, 81mm OD and has a length of 280mm. The tow itself is centralised on 250mm of the core and has an approximate OD of 105mm.

The tow in its raw format will bend round even the smallest of radii without problem. The tow will gain its rigidity and full strength once it has been laminated with resin and fully cured.