Carbon Fiber Stormtroopers: Star Wars Gets High Tech

In case you don’t know what carbon fiber is, I will quickly explain it. Carbon fiber is a high tech, super strong material that has gotten very popular over the past few years. Many times it’s used to make expensive gear designed for people with discriminating taste, but that’s only because the material itself is notoriously costly.

Carbon fiber is five times as strong as steel, yet it only weighs a third as much. It’s made up of strands of carbon that are thinner than human hair. Some people say that using carbon fiber could solve a few of the world’s environmental problems. However, carbon fiber costs about ten dollars per pound. Steel, on the other hand, costs less than one dollar per pound. It’s a big difference.

Len Carson, Jon Blackler, Kevin Proum and Daniel Avina are all engineers (and friends) who work with carbon fiber everyday. They decided to make some carbon fiber stormtroopers. With the blessing of their boss at San Diego Composites, who contributed some of the resources, they began their massive project. As you can see from the pictures below, they had a blast! All of the materials used to create these stormtrooper suits are top of the line. Although they didn’t reveal the actual cost of the project, they did say that it would be cheaper to buy a very nice, brand new car. One of these suits is now displayed in their office lobby. Wow, those are some luxurious looking stormtroopers!

Via: [Fashionably Geek] [Carbon Fiber Gear] [How Stuff Works]