I recall an associate of the principle at Ocean Gate was horrified when, over cocktails, the fellow bragged about what a great deal he got on out of date prepregs. I have been involved in adv. composites and the resins and there is a reason for the expiry date and requirements that the prepregs be stored under nitrogen at sub ambient temps. You do not build life online structures with out of date materials. All of the deep diving subs in current use all the way back to the Trieste had metal pressure hulls. The previous "explorers" reported loud banging noises. good grief!Carbon fiber is way way waY stronger in tension than compression. In compression it's mainly the resin matrix that gives it strength. The idiots who designed that sub should be charged with criminal stupidity! I spent 30+ years working with the stuff. A lot of it doing destructive static testing aka pulling apart, crushing, and bending it until it broke. A tensile made from uni directional tape .040 thick by.500 wide depending on the fiber used was getting between 5000 lbs and 7500 lbs of load. That's like picking up a car to picking up a pickup truck.
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