couple of days a new kind of aluminium-fiber composite, CentrAl (Central Reinforced Aluminium) has popped up everywhere on the net. Originally meant for aircraft wings, I guess it initially popped up at the International Conference on Damage Tolerance of Aircraft Structures. It's supposed to be designed to withstand cyclic loading fatigue better than CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic) and enable 20% lighter structures, too. (Is the reduced mass a factor in the better fatigue resistance then?)
Basically what it's made of is a fiber metal laminate at the center, sandwiched between aluminium. It's also billed as easy to work on/repair. It was developed by Faculty of Aerospace Engineering of Delft University of Technology, Alcoa and a relatively new company, GTM Advanced Structures - I guess they wouldn't be presenting this data unless they were very comfortable that it's accurate. F1 applicable? You tell me.
CentrAl construction, linked from http://www.greencarcongress.com
A host of links on the subject:
Green Car Congress: New Material for Aircraft Wings ...
The Engineer Online: Fatigue Fixer
TU Delft (general website)
ALCOA (general website)
GTM-Advanced Structures (general website)
DTAS 2007 (the aircraft conference thingy)