The Carbon 1 MK II from start-up Carbon Mobile, a smartphone that sets new standards for lightness, slim design and sustainability, makes its debut on the market this month.

“Designed and engineered in Germany, the Carbon 1 MK II reignites miniaturization and drives sustainability in connected devices by replacing plastics and aluminum with advanced composite materials for the first time”, said Firas Khalifeh, CEO of Carbon Mobile.

The base material for the production of the housing is a thermoplastic composite from the LANXESS Tepex dynalite product range. It is reinforced with fabrics of incredibly fine 1K continuous carbon fiber filaments.

Carbon 1 MK II smartphone.

“Our composite material, which we developed for extremely lightweight components subjected to considerable mechanical stress, does more than just allow exceptionally thin wall thicknesses. In fact, with its high degree of strength and rigidity, it also helps to make the housing very robust for day-to-day use,” explained Philipp Genders, Tepex expert in application development at LANXESS.

HyRECM Technology – overcoming physical hurdles

Despite their advanced properties for producing robust yet lightweight structures, carbon fibers behave in an electromagnetic shielding manner. This means that they block radio signals, forming a Faraday cage that rather than allowing signals to pass through, instead disperses them around the outer body of the device. Connected devices with carbon fiber have been viewed as impossibility by the tech industry.

Following four years of research and development, Carbon Mobile’s engineers have developed a revolutionary process to unlock carbon fiber’s potential for connected devices. The patented HyRECM (Hybrid Radio Enabled Composite Material) technology fuses carbon fibers together with a complementary composite material capable of RF signal permeation.

3D-printed conductive ink integrated into the structure.

To further boost the devices connectivity, a 3D-printed conductive ink is integrated into the carbon fiber structure. The result is the first “radio enabled” carbon fiber based material. Applied for the first time in the Carbon 1 MK II, the new technology produces a robust carbon fiber-based housing structure that is not only thin and light, but also made from less than 5% plastic.

Following the same construction principle as the load-bearing chassis of a Formula 1 car, the housing is designed as a monocoque, or “single shell”. As a result, it makes optimized use of the rigidity of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP).

The monocoque housing design.

This contributes to the thin wall thicknesses and low weight of the smartphone and also enables miniaturization. That is because there is no bulky reinforcement taking up space on the inside of the housing.

According to Khalifeh, the monocoque design enables a device that weighs only 125 grams meaning a third lighter than conventional smartphones. It is at 6.3 millimeters, also meaning 25% thinner as well.

The Carbon 1 MK II from start-up Carbon Mobile, a smartphone that sets new standards for lightness, slim design and sustainability, makes its debut on the market this month.

“Designed and engineered in Germany, the Carbon 1 MK II reignites miniaturization and drives sustainability in connected devices by replacing plastics and aluminum with advanced composite materials for the first time”, said Firas Khalifeh, CEO of Carbon Mobile.

The base material for the production of the housing is a thermoplastic composite from the LANXESS Tepex dynalite product range. It is reinforced with fabrics of incredibly fine 1K continuous carbon fiber filaments.

Carbon 1 MK II smartphone.

“Our composite material, which we developed for extremely lightweight components subjected to considerable mechanical stress, does more than just allow exceptionally thin wall thicknesses. In fact, with its high degree of strength and rigidity, it also helps to make the housing very robust for day-to-day use,” explained Philipp Genders, Tepex expert in application development at LANXESS.

HyRECM Technology – overcoming physical hurdles

Despite their advanced properties for producing robust yet lightweight structures, carbon fibers behave in an electromagnetic shielding manner. This means that they block radio signals, forming a Faraday cage that rather than allowing signals to pass through, instead disperses them around the outer body of the device. Connected devices with carbon fiber have been viewed as impossibility by the tech industry.

Following four years of research and development, Carbon Mobile’s engineers have developed a revolutionary process to unlock carbon fiber’s potential for connected devices. The patented HyRECM (Hybrid Radio Enabled Composite Material) technology fuses carbon fibers together with a complementary composite material capable of RF signal permeation.

3D-printed conductive ink integrated into the structure.

To further boost the devices connectivity, a 3D-printed conductive ink is integrated into the carbon fiber structure. The result is the first “radio enabled” carbon fiber based material. Applied for the first time in the Carbon 1 MK II, the new technology produces a robust carbon fiber-based housing structure that is not only thin and light, but also made from less than 5% plastic.

Following the same construction principle as the load-bearing chassis of a Formula 1 car, the housing is designed as a monocoque, or “single shell”. As a result, it makes optimized use of the rigidity of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP).

The monocoque housing design.

This contributes to the thin wall thicknesses and low weight of the smartphone and also enables miniaturization. That is because there is no bulky reinforcement taking up space on the inside of the housing.

According to Khalifeh, the monocoque design enables a device that weighs only 125 grams meaning a third lighter than conventional smartphones. It is at 6.3 millimeters, also meaning 25% thinner as well.