An open question to all the carbon part makers of the world
 

Coming from the bicycle world, carbon weave has been long gone in favor of unidirectional carbon fiber. The advantages of UDCF are that you can taylor the properties of the design by laying fibers in varying directions to make it stiff one way, compliant another. F1 even uses UDCF instead weave because of its significantly higher strength to weight ratio.

I do believe that many people are stuck in thinking the weave looks better, but I think if some companies started coming out with some pieces in UDCF, it would take off.

So, my question, why haven't parts manufacturers adopted this much better version of carbon?

Its all about the look really. Besides most "carbon fiber" parts I've dealt with at my shop are fiberglass with just carbon fiber on the visual layer so the strength isn't anything spectacular

A ricer wouldn't want non carbon fiber looking carbon fiber.

2 reasons

1. Cost
2. Looks

You are talking about structural components, all carbon parts I've seen for the car are aesthetic pieces. Uni direction is good in just that, tension/compression. Problem is a lot of parts are stressed in tension, compression, bending, and shear. At that point, weave with a 0, 45, 0 layup schedule is easier. Plus doing FEA with carbon is not easy. Most big companies have software specific to doing composite FEA only. Uni's strength is that you can make the part stronger for the same weight as weave because you are directing the fibers in the direction of loading so it acts in tension/compression. Assuming that you know the load conditions in the first place. My bet is most companies don't

Now thats a great answer. ON to my next question, is it possible to use UDCF purely as a cosmetic overlay on plastic parts or does it need to be autoclaved?

You should be able to lay it up the same way as any other carbon fiber cloth.