tanks made of fiber

[gehadoski]

Hi all
I heard from a friend of mine that there are new tanks made of special kind of Fiberglass that can resist the pressure, also can resisit any impact, doesn't react with air and oxidized, and it is very light. I don't know if this piece of information is true or not. So if anyone have information about this please let me know. Update me with the right information

 

[herman]

These have been made for years but are not suited for scuba use. They are not designed to be in a web environment but the biggest reason they are not used is buoyancy. You would have to add a lot of weight to your weightbelt to offset positive buoyancy added by the non-metal tank.

 

[crpntr133]

Carbon fiber most likely. I do believe that fire fighters use them. As herman has already said, way to bouyant. I would also hate to think of the price.

 

[gehadoski]

Thanks a lot for the tip. From the first when I heard that there is a scuba tanks made of fibers. I felt that there is something wrong. Because I have been in diving since 1998, and I know many divers and I didn't hear anything about that such thing

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Someone (Luxfer?) was offering a composite wrapped aluminum tank a couple years ago for around $400.

It was relatively light, but as indicated above, you really don't save anything as you'll need to add the weight saved back in the form of lead to maintain neutral bouyancy.

Another issue is that if you ding the tank and expose the fibers, it will at a minimum have to be shipped back to the factory for repair and could potetnially be condemned for damage that would not seriously damage an AL tank and would not even leave a mark on a steel tank.

Fire fighter SCBA tanks commonly use a carbon fiber wrapped aluminum construction but they are to a greater degree used in a somewhat dryer environment and there is no need for a fire fighter to be neutrally bouyant so the idea makes mores sense.

Still even then carbon fiber wrapped tanks have a limited lifespan - usually 10 to 15 years - and many departments that invested in them 10 to 15 years ago now seem to be surprised that their tanks are no longer useable. I suspect some sales reps ignored that particular point in their sales pitches.

 

[ScubaMarc]

One of Scuba Magazines in the last few months has a article about this. While every one is right about the weight issue. A positive on Carbon or fiberglass tank would be it can have have a PSI of 10,000 PSI. So a carbon tank of the size of aluminum 30 will equal an aluminum 80 in fills(thats cool) The problem with a 10,000 PSI Tank, is that no one will be able to fill it to 10K since most compressors can not fill that high.

 

[CBulla]

Great for land use (FireFighting) terrible for diving.

 

[Leadking]

Luxfer still offers fiber wrap aluminum cylinders. Basically they are 63 or 80 cf cylinder fiber wrapped to allow filling to 4350 psi. they require 300 bar regulators, three year hydo, and have a 15 year life.

 

[fdog]

I've dove with a 4500 psi graphite wrap cylinder. It took a hideous amount of lead to sink it. Not to mention the trim...you could feel the tank as a center of bouyancy.

Mind you it is nice and small, as well as a real featherweight by itself.

I'll stick with steel.

All the best, James

 

[teknitroxdiver]

Actually XS Scuba has a 106cf Hoop-wrapped with a full bouyancy of -4.84LBS and a empty bouyancy of 3.10LBS. So weighting wouldn't be a problem, but the fact that the hoop-wrapped tanks don't take well to hitting or chafing on things would be.

http://www.scuba.com/shop/product.asp_category_130