CFRP used in F1 car bodies

[wgalloway1993]

Hi I am trying to find out as much information about CFRP as possible, I am doing a Physics project about why CFRP is used in Formula 1 car bodies and I need to find out lots of physical properties such as youngs modulus, density, toughness, Ultimate Tensile Strength, Fatigue Strength and Co-efficient of thermal information, and any other info anyone can supply.

If anyone can help please post here

[humble sabot]

most of the basics can be found online. Several suppliers have detailed product information online as well.

What you must keep in mind, and you'll hear this from anyone who know what they're talking about, is that it's always a question of execution. Since the carbon is in the form of a fibre and cannot be used purely as such the properties of the final structure are influenced to a great deal by the 'plastic', the ratio of 'plastic' to carbon, and the orientations of the carbon fibres.

[wgalloway1993]

Do you know of any of the suppliers to F1 teams or any websites that I can find the information about how much carbon fibre to plastic is used. I have quite a lot of information about the weaves and how the fibres are arranged but I don't know which types of arrangements are used by the F1 teams.

[conni]

amber composites are a supplier ratio is about 40% resin by weight most used are twill,plain and uni directional resins are low,medium and high temp

conni

[Tim.Wright]

How hard have you looked? theres a fair bit of info out there. Google Cytek, Toray, Advanced Composites...

In terms of mechanical properties, there really is a massive variation. Ive seen carbons range in stiffness from about half that of steel, to 4-5 times higher. Same with tensile strength.

Depends on the application. A chassis would have a high strength, high modulus material. An a-arm flexure would have a high strength low modulus material.

Tim