RC Carbon fiber engine

[jmw]

working on rc car engine made of carbon fiber, ran 2 gallons of gas through it so far no signs of failure yet. i think mainly due to no direct friction on the carbon fiber. piston is in a sleeve and crank is held by bearings. sprayed inside of engine with high temp engine paint to protect from oil and gas.engine averages operating temp of 210 degrees farenhiet. it is simple but maybe a start for a larger engine, lots of ideas. has anyone else tried this?

[Holm86]

Could you perhaps make a video and upload to youtube??

[jmw]

Could you perhaps make a video and upload to youtube??

holm86
Broke piston arm being dumb, it is almost 8 degrees outside and i gave it too much gas before it had warmed up (kid in a candy store). waiting for new piston arm to arrive.engine is modeled after a .15 size engine off an hpi super nitro rs4. christmas is crazy but should have video by end of january. this is a side project

[Jersey Tom]

Why carbon fiber though, or why a fiber composite in general? One of the benefits of such composites is their directionality - if you can take advantage of it. Tough analysis project? Not sure. Perhaps on certain parts on the engine this could be more advantageous than others. Heat is definitely a concern and there are always issues with scaleability. I dunno, interesting thought.

[Shaddock]

working on rc car engine made of carbon fiber, ran 2 gallons of gas through it so far no signs of failure yet. i think mainly due to no direct friction on the carbon fiber. piston is in a sleeve and crank is held by bearings. sprayed inside of engine with high temp engine paint to protect from oil and gas.engine averages operating temp of 210 degrees farenhiet. it is simple but maybe a start for a larger engine, lots of ideas. has anyone else tried this?

The exhaust mani on a turbo is close to 1000C, doesnt CF lose all of its strength past a certain temp?

Back in the 1.5l turbo days blocks were cast iron, and the rumours were that BMW used to leave them in the yard for 12 months exposed to the elements.

I'm sure the Prost team built a gearbox entirely from CF when they were in buisness - gave them no end of trouble, and they dumped the idea mid season.

[autogyro]

I think it would be possible to build both a cf engine block and gearbox casing.
It might even be possible to build these items as an integral part of the cf tub.
However, I cannot see that there would be major benefits from such difficult construction.

[Carlos]

Polimotor of Torlon composite. Circa 1982



Article from 2009 revisiting with new developments and emphasisng weight reduction of the Polimotor.
http://www.automobilemag.com/green/news ... index.html

[ringo]

can a block be built from the carbon-carbon (brake material) instead of cfrp?

[autogyro]

Polimotor of Torlon composite. Circa 1982



Article from 2009 revisiting with new developments and emphasisng weight reduction of the Polimotor.
http://www.automobilemag.com/green/news ... index.html

I have looked into this over a lot of years Carlos (thanks for the reminder).
I have found no reason why such construction and materials are not common place today, other than vested interests.

[flynfrog]

The exhaust mani on a turbo is close to 1000C, doesnt CF lose all of its strength past a certain temp?

they use carbon carbon in rocket nozzles maybe a monolithic carbon block?

[jmw]

I think it would be possible to build both a cf engine block and gearbox casing.
It might even be possible to build these items as an integral part of the cf tub.
However, I cannot see that there would be major benefits from such difficult construction.

why cf. my main thinking was that your biggest loss of power in an engine that is running properly is the energy transfer from combustion to heat absorbed by the engine. cf is an excelent insulator which which i was thinking would keep the heat away from the engine and in the combustion chamber where it belongs.

[jmw]

working on rc car engine made of carbon fiber, ran 2 gallons of gas through it so far no signs of failure yet. i think mainly due to no direct friction on the carbon fiber. piston is in a sleeve and crank is held by bearings. sprayed inside of engine with high temp engine paint to protect from oil and gas.engine averages operating temp of 210 degrees farenhiet. it is simple but maybe a start for a larger engine, lots of ideas. has anyone else tried this?

The exhaust mani on a turbo is close to 1000C, doesnt CF lose all of its strength past a certain temp?

Back in the 1.5l turbo days blocks were cast iron, and the rumours were that BMW used to leave them in the yard for 12 months exposed to the elements.

I'm sure the Prost team built a gearbox entirely from CF when they were in buisness - gave them no end of trouble, and they dumped the idea mid season.

the exhaust manifold does get hot. however so far on the small rc car engine it doesnt seem to get hot enough to effect any thing. this will probably be an issue on a larger engine so i was looking into the space shuttle they use a ceramic carbon fiber composite that according to the nasa website can withstand up to 5000 degrees celcius but then again its nasa and they have a lot more money to do testing than i do

[autogyro]

I am sure it is all possible.
I have used teflon coated piston crowns and carbon fibre push rods in race engines years ago to good effect.
However it is the balance between the level of improvement and the cost that has prevented such development other than in aerospace and F1. In F1 unfortnately sensible and road relevent development is seriously held back by the regulations.

[The FOZ]

I am sure it is all possible.
I have used teflon coated piston crowns and carbon fibre push rods in race engines years ago to good effect.

Beg pardon?

Carbon fiber is strong in tension...why use it in a pushrod, of all places?

[Tim.Wright]

Because its strong and stiff enough?

Just because CFRP is stronger in tension does not mean its a wet rag in compression.

What do you think all of the suspension pushrods made of??

-Tim