Benefits

Today, carbon fiber is used in many applications where its performance, high specific modulus and high strength help engineers reduce weight and also add strength to structures in:
* aerospace
* automotive
* sporting goods such as tennis rackets, golf clubs, skiing equipment, and bicycles

Carbon fiber has also been applied to:
* pressure vessels and tanks used for natural gas storage
* self-contained breathing tanks
* civil engineering applications such as bridge repair
* repairing building damage such as masonry and corrosion problems
* it is also being considered for industrial gas storage

In automobiles and trucks, carbon fiber is viewed as a replacement for high-strength steel, aluminum and titanium where reduced weight and greater stiffness are desired. The use of carbon fiber to stiffen structures, frames, crossmembers and beams (i.e., bumper beams and door beams) can lead to reduced noise, vibration and harshness (NVH).

Carbon fiber has historically been used to make high performance prepreg materials using solution and hotmelt processing.

Carbon fiber is also used in:
* filament winding
* RTM, VARTM, and SCRIMP
* other resin infusion processes such as RIM and SRIM
* pultrusion processes

Carbon fiber may be woven or braided to form:
* fabrics, braids, multi-axial fabrics, or stitch-bonded fabrics
* specialty paper and other forms of nonwoven fabrics

Carbon fiber can be used in combination with thermoset resins such as:
* epoxy, bismaleimide (BMI), phenolic resins, polyurethane, polyester (PET), vinyl ester and polyimide resins

It can also be used with the full spectrum of thermoplastic resins such as:
* acetal resins, polypropylene, polycarbonate, nylon, ABS, PES (polyethersulfone), PEI (polyetherimide) PEEK (polyetheretherketone), PEKK (polyetherketone-ketone), and PPS (polyphenylenesulfide)
* long-fiber compounds, also known as long-fiber reinforced thermoplastics (LFRT)

Carbon fiber has even been used to reinforce metal matrix composites and ceramic matrix composites