Cuben Fiber Corporation

HISTORY

The 1992 America’s Cup was won by America3 using exclusively sail fabrics made with our patented processes. Shortly thereafter, America3 Technologies, Inc. was formed in order to produce a commercial sail cloth using low performance fibers and a simplified manufacturing process. This effort was abandoned at the end of 1996.

In 1997, Cuben Fiber Corp. started to produce improved versions of the material that won the America’s Cup. The original, high technology aerospace manufacturing processes were used with even higher performance fibers and better base materials than were available in 1992. These developments are now covered by several patents.

The name 'Cuben Fiber' was made up by the press in 1992 as a short for the 'America Cube Fiber' that contained a mix of carbon and polymer filaments.

The CF laminates use unidirectional prepreg tapes of in-line plasma treated Dyneema fibers spread to mono-filament level films. (‘Dyneema’ is a registered trademark of DSM.) The CF process involves neither twisted filaments nor weaves and reduces 'creep' and 'crimp' to levels undetectable with standard sail makers' testing equipment.

The result is excellent sail shape holding. Sails made with CF are much lighter and have many times the life and the damage tolerance of the best, similarly performing substitutes. CF is much thinner than other laminates and retains strength during a lot of flexing. Aramid laminates lose 80% of their strength after being folded 250 times while CF retains nearly 100% original properties.