Carbon Mobile, based in Berlin, Germany, has achieved what was previously thought impossible – a carbon fibre composite case for a mobile phone.

This development claimed the Innovation Award in the Design category at the recent JEC Composites 2021 online exhibition and conference.

Despite its advanced properties for creating robust yet lightweight structures, carbon fibre is also an electromagnetic conductor, the company explains. This means that it blocks radio signals, creating a Faraday cage and rather than allowing signals through, disperses them around the outer casing.

Following a four-year development programme, Carbon Mobile has resolved this issue with the development of HyRECM – Hybrid Radio Enabled Composite Material.

HyRECM consists of two key elements:

-A 0.6mm a stack of three layers of carbon fibre fabric (Tepex supplied by Lanxess) fused with a complementary radio-enabled glass fibre to create a continuous material with the lightweight and robust properties of the carbon fibre while ensuring signal capabilities.

-A silver inkjet antenna support system to enhance signal capabilities.

The antenna is embedded into the 0.6 mm material itself to solve any connectivity issues.

The result is a world-first carbon-fibre based case allowing the production of a smartphone that is extremely thin and light and produced with less than 5% plastic.

The average mobile phone today weighs 182 grams, and the new Carbon Mobile model just 125 grams.

www.carbonmobile.com