A&Q about 350Z
Q:
ok... I am doing a Physics coursework project (at college) and am in desperate need of some help.
I have chose to study the material Carbon Fibre and its use in sports cars, yet I have not found any sites about how it is used and why (with sufficient details to support my work). [I need info like why the strength/ weight of the material makes it suitable and better than other materials (for example)]
I was hoping that people on the forum may know sites (or any other information sources) with information on the material which makes it suitable for use in cars.
Any help will be deeply appreciated, many thanks, Chris.
A:
Its used for its weight properties, its very light weight but also very strong. If you go to
and look under the information section they have various charts with the strength/weight ratio as compaired to other composites and common metals. It is us mostly for body and aero pieces at this time. On top fuel cars they use carbon fiber brakes. There are some high end companies that make engine comonents out of carbon fiber and a few wheel manufacturers as well.
A:
'Carbon Fiber Brakes' you say? I've never heard of such. I think you mean Carbon Ceramic. As for 'High End Companies', my junky 98 Ford Taurus LX 24V uses carbon fiber Valve Covers, and dashboard componens. Carbon fiber wheels? now, that must be somethin' new
Cheeers
A:
The new Corvette Z06 uses some carbon fiber in its floor panels which reduces mass by 30 % and boosts rigidity.
Motor Trend tested a Panoz Esperante earlier this year and said that next year's production Esperante will use some carbon fiber for its chassis which will boost rigidity and drop an estimated 100 pounds.
A:
No, I mean carbon fiber brakes. The rotors and pads are made of carbon fiber, they are are not stable enough for street use, as they do not work untill they reach high heat levels. Infact most of the time they wont even hold the car in staging.
Are you use those parts are carbon fiber? I think your thinking of fiberglass reinforced thermoplastic.
A:
yeah they used those on the corvettes on the 2005 le mans race. they had a special on rides about building those cars and they talked a little bit about the brakes.
A:
I'v heard that carbon brakes are going to be an option on 07 z06's, but last I'v heard they were not stable for street use, so dont know.
A:
no those are pure race parts. and even if they had some for the street the callipers alone costs thousands of dollars.
A:
As far as the implementation of carbon fiber for weight savings in high performance cars, I have searched far and wide, and read many great write-ups, but I'd have to say, once in the video forum I stumbled upon the perfect description - and I have never found a better summary of how carbon fiber has really changed the face of motorsports:
A:
does anyone really understand what this guy is saying? but more on topic: the reason carbon fiber is used in cars is mostly because it's soo much lighter than iron, steel, or aluminum. a second benifit is that it's very rigid so you dont get much body roll when cornering. metal bends and flexes and carbon fiber is more rigid and therefore you not only have a better car because it's lighter but also because it has less body roll and flex.
i saw the same episode of rides and they said they used carbon fiber brakes and they also said there's no use in putting them in street cars because they have little to no stopping power below extreme heats. if you were to implement them in street cars, you would have to heat them up by braking really hard from a high speed many times, then to keep them at a good temperature you would have to slam on your brakes(without locking them) at every corner and stop. this makes them extremely impractical for street use but their resistance to brake fade from heat make them ideal for racing where they undergo such extreme heats anyway. also i don't think they're as strong as normal alluminum, silicon carbide, carbon, etc. brakes because they aren't made of metal, one of them dissintegrated on the race on rides.
A:
I'm afraid that if you don't understand properties such as density, modulus of elasticity and tensile yield strength, the actual math behind the use of carbon fiber may elude you.
But, generally speaking, carbon fiber is less dense than aluminum, titanium, and steel, but much stronger than all aluminum, stronger than the strongest titanium, and slightly stronger than the strongest steel (with respect to tensile strength - that is, the limit at which the material undergoes permanent deformation due to tensile stress). Carbon fiber is also stiffer than the three aforementioned metals. Stiffness (properly referred to as the modulus of elasticity) means the amount of deformation caused by a given amount of stress. A higher modulus of elasticity means a material deforms less under the same stress compared to a material with a lower modulus of elasticity.
What this boils down to is that carbon fiber can be made into parts that are much stiffer and stronger for the same mass, or are similar in stiffness and strength to parts made from conventional materials but are much lower in mass. Hence the reason why supercar and race car chassis are made out of carbon fiber, along with body panels and floorboards, as in the new Corvette. A stiffer chassis means less play in the suspension, which allows for better handling (of course, the lower mass also helps handling).
Wheels can also be made from carbon fiber, but as of now, only in motorcycle wheels.
The brakes used in Formula cars are not carbon fiber, but carbon-carbon composite. Still carbon, but the properties are remarkably different.