| Warning!
The cutting will involve partially burning the fibre.
The smoke produced when carbon fibre burns is Carcinogenic.
Ask me how I know....
I went to a helicopter crash where it had subsequently gone up in smoke... Following a call from the Fire Service after they had taken advice from the CAA I then had to go to see the mechanic who had bravely rescued two from the airframe and take him to the hospital to get him x-rayed to ensure that his lungs were clear.
If you are doing this wear a mask & do it out of doors.
The bit in italics is a lift from a report on the hazards caused by burning composite materials including carbon fibre...
In general, hazards to equipment seems to be less than originally expected. Hazards to personnel have not been well studied, but seem to be significant.
Unfortunately, there is no consistent set of guidelines for dealing with mishaps involving composite materials. The ACPO report provides some general guidelines, but it is intended to be used with other documents. Universal guidelines are not possible, because of the widely varying conditions under which accidents can occur, but more research will still be useful.
The report contains three checklists for response, containment, and clean-up actions. The first three items on the respons echecklist are emphasized:
Minimize unnecessary personnel; only firefighters with Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) should be in the immediate vicinity.
All unprotected personnel should avoid the downwind area of the crash site.
Areas affected by dense smoke should be evacuated, including the removal of mobile, critical equipment.
[Edited on 19-2-2006 by Rushjob]  | 
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