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PRESS ARTICLE
For immediate release: 14.06.10
FORMTECH COMPOSITES USES FORMULA ONE EXPERIENCE TO DRIVE FORWARD OTHER
INDUSTRIES
What can wider sectors of industry learn from Formula One’s extensive
use of composites?
This question was discussed in a recent paper presented to the
Composites UK 2010 Annual Conference by Mark Preston, former Formula One
Technical Director and Formtech Composites’ Managing Director.
With composites making up over 80% by volume of a Formula One (F1) car,
many of Formtech Composites customers were keen to understand how
knowledge of the substitution of composites could be applied to their
own industries in order to deliver competitive advantage in the drive
for lower weight and increased efficiency.
With this in mind, Formtech Composites’ Mark Preston began work on
understanding why Formula One has used composites so extensively, as a
number of their customers had asked them to explain how the substitution
of composites in Formula One could be applied to their own industries,
in order to develop scenarios for future strategic development.
“Development of composite structures in F1 takes place at an incredible
rate”, says Preston, “in fact we describe it as a ‘Prototyping
Competition’ with an average of five of any one part being made before
moving on to a new design iteration!”
However, this rate of development does come with an associated
risk.
It is a commonly held belief in most industries that the acceptance of
risk taking and possible failure drives innovation.
In order to mitigate this risk, F1 has developed techniques for
the certification and health monitoring of components.
One example of this is Acoustic Emission that Formtech
specialises in, with Preston having developed its use over years of
working in F1. Formtech
Composites is working on using these techniques in other industries to
increase confidence of composite substitution.
“We also looked at the order of substitution which followed a basic
law:” says Preston, “larger, lightly loaded parts first, followed by
parts with incremental increases in risk based around smaller size and
increasing load”. The order
of substitution has already started in the automotive and aerospace
industries following a broadly similar law.
But one of the key areas that still needs development is the
volume and repeatability that will most likely be driven by automation.
“This is an area we are looking into very heavily at the moment
in order to find ways of speeding up the development of composite
structures in other industries”, says Preston.
Integration of functionality is another key aspect of the substitution
process, according to Preston.
“When we began looking at the history of an F1 monocoque we
realised that the integration of a ‘Safety Cell’ into the chassis
offered vastly increased driver protection for a relatively low marginal
increase in weight.
Integration of functionality is an important part of the substitution
process because it delivers increased value which can be traded against
the increase in cost.”
While costs may initially inhibit the transfer of techniques and
innovations, part of the technology transfer process will follow the
reduction of complexity and the automation of the manufacturing value
chain.
More…
Integration of components, structural health monitoring and experimental
techniques for certifying composites
will increase the confidence of various industries to push the usage of
composites further than before, with targets for weight saving in the
order of 50%.
---------- Ends ----------
NOTES
TO EDITORS
The paper entitled “Composite Material Substitution in Formula 1 –
Implications for Industry” was presented at the recent Composites UK
10th Annual Conference. The
full paper can be accessed at
http://www.formtech-composites.co.uk/compositesUKcompositesubstitution.html
PHOTOGRAPHS / CAPTIONS
Note:
Graphic below is attached as 300dpi JPEG
FC.PR1.GRAPHIC
Caption: Graph displaying the substitution of composites in F1
(Credit: Formtech Composites)
For further information, contact:
ABOUT FORMTECH COMPOSITES
Formtech Composites provides design, development and manufacturing
services for composites and is based in the heart of the UK’s
“Motorsports Valley”.
Formtech Composites was formed by Mark Preston; the former Technical
Director of the Super Aguri Formula One (SAF1) purchased the assets of
the team with a group of German investors lead by Dr Hans-Joachim
Tritschler. Formtech
specialises in the development of composite structures for motorsports,
automotive, aerospace and defence drawing on knowledge from Formula One
and other sectors.
Formtech’s facility is situated in the Oxforshire region of the UK,
famous for its high technology businesses and part of what has been
called the “Motorsports Valley” cluster.
Formtech Comosites clients include Formula One teams such as
Renault, Lotus and Toro Rosso and aerospace clients such as Qinetiq.
The
contents of this paper reflect the direction that Formtech Composites
believes that the industry in Europe needs to be heading in order to
compete on a global scale with the emerging market economies and the
requirements that are being driven by efficiencies required in aerospace
and automotive for fuel consumption reductions.
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