CF
HexTow® AS7 12K
Hexcel ? Aerospace Standard
Manufacturer page / TDSDescription
AS7-GS 12k (0.5%) carbon fiber has been qualified to NMS 818 Carbon Fiber Specification (NCAMP). This allows customers to call out an industry standard, aerospace grade carbon fiber without the need to write and maintain their own specification.
Comparative overview
Carbon fiber — High-strength standard-modulus carbon
Strengths: Higher tensile strength and strain than baseline carbon while retaining mature standard-modulus processing.
When to use: Select for pressure vessels, pultrusion, industrial structures and sporting goods requiring strength with controlled cost.
Key tradeoffs: Less stiff than IM/HM grades; conductive and more expensive than baseline large-tow carbon.
Qualitative ratings (1–10 scale)
| Relative cost | 8/10 — High — aerospace/high-performance PAN carbon with controlled precursor, surface treatment and sizing. |
|---|---|
| EM transparency | 1/10 — Very poor — electrically conductive; causes reflection/attenuation rather than RF transparency. |
| Temperature / fire resistance | 6/10 — Good — non-melting but oxidation in air and the matrix system cap fire/hot-service performance. |
| Impact / penetration resistance | 7/10 — High — higher strain and tensile strength than HM/UHM carbon improve impact response, but delamination and brittle fiber fracture remain. Stored TDS elongation: 1.8%. |
| Electrical / thermal conductivity | 7/10 — High — electrically conductive with moderate axial thermal conductivity typical of PAN carbon. |
| Specific tensile strength | 9/10 — 9/10 | 2754.2 kN·m/kg | Product TDS |
| Atmospheric durability | 9/10 — Excellent — carbon fiber is intrinsically resistant to UV, moisture and salt exposure; long-term laminate durability is usually governed by sizing, matrix, galvanic coupling and interfaces rather than the fiber. |
| Sustainability (CO₂e) | 5/10 — 19.85 kg CO₂e/kg fiber — High emissions — data quality: High |
Technical properties
| Tensile strength | 4930.0 MPa |
|---|---|
| Tensile modulus | 243.0 GPa |
| Density | 1.79 g/cm³ |
| Filament diameter | 6.9 µm |
Applications and processing
AerospaceBraidingFilament WindingPrepreggingPultrusionWeaving