Formtech Composites Lightweight Concepts Short Introduction

Lightweight

Concepts

“Black Metal”• Do you have a weight problem

with a metallic component?

• Carbon fibre can provide more

than 80% weight saving

• However, switching to carbon

requires thinking outside the box:

it is not simply “Black Metal”

Design for Value

Advanced Composites

Creative

Prototypes

Green credentials

Lightweight

Delivery

Grinding

Quality

5-Axis

Formtech GmbH

Formtech GmbH was formed in 1993 by

Franz Hilmer and represents the highest

level of quality in manufacturing.

The facility is situated in Niederwinkling,

Bavaria with more than 3,000m^2 of plant

and equipment. The unique mix of

machining capability provides solutions to

all areas of a typical modern race car from

5-Axis to gear grinding: the complete

package.

CMM

Design

High quality supply base

Motorsports Valley

Complete Solution

Formtech Composites

Formtech expanded into the carbon fibre

composites sector of motorsports by

purchasing the Super Aguri F1 Team assets

and IP. The facility is situated in the UK

motorsports cluster in Oxfordshire: home to

6 of the current F1 teams.

The composites workshop covers 1,000 sq

m with a high level of equipment and a highly

experienced flexible workforce.

Capacity

High temperature

Traceability

High pressure

Autoclaves

State of the art gas fired autoclaves with

temperature and pressure control with

capacity for parts as large as floors,

monocoques and top bodies.

All cure cycles are logged in order to

provide the highest levels of traceability.

Individual ports for vacuum and

thermocouple control mean redundancy

throughout a batch.

Up to 400C and 15 BAR.

Pressurised Clean Room

Walk in Freezers

Automated Cutting

Cleanroom

A fully pressurised cleanroom with airlock

and air-conditioning is a prerequisite for

modern aerospace levels of quality. An

automated laminate cutting machine

provides repeatability and quality while

large walk-in freezers give the capacity for

large batches of parts to be manufactured.

Ovens

RTM

200°C

Oven Processing

To complete the processing capability

Formtech has two ovens, a small fully

controlled oven for R&D and small projects

and a large 2.7 x 2.5 x 2m Aeroform oven

that can be used for post curing, adhesives

and special process development such as

resin transfer and thermoforming of

mandrels.

Assembly

Jig Design

Quality

Control

High pressure

Assembly

A requirement for the delivery of high

quality assemblies is jig design for the

control of bonding processes. The

assembly area has a Faro arm for accurate

inspection of assemblies such as front

wings, engine covers and monocoques.

CMMISO9001

Reverse Engineering

Ultrasonic's

Process Control

Quality

The Formtech Group has a fully operational

quality system with ISO 9001 accreditation

rolled out to all members of the group.

All processes are documented and

controlled allowing Formtech to provide a

high level of quality assurance.

Conformance documentation is provided

with all components manufactured.

Composite Design

Carbon Fibre

We provide the full range of tools and

expertise to design and develop composite

structures. Using FEA, CAD and bespoke

modelling techniques to push structures to

their very limit.

Formtech provides expertise in turning

designs from metal to composites and the

development of new concepts and

processes.

RTM

Glass Fibre

Pre Preg

Male moulded

Aquacore

Mechanical DesignFormtech has experience in design,

manufacturing and testing of a range of

mechanical components including the use of

specialist materials such as AllVac, AMC and

the normal high end aluminium, titanium and

steel.

The full process is supported from CAD

models through to the final testing of parts

such as torsion bars, axles and uprights.

Metal Matrix Materials

Uprights

Failure criteria

Axles

Torsion Bars

Stress AnalysisTheoretical modelling of composite structures

is still developing. Formtech has experience of

the development of coarse and fine modelling

techniques for crash prediction, non-linear

analysis for aero elasticity, temperature

effected components, failure criteria and

material testing provide an overall package for

the development of new concepts in carbon.

Laminate modelling

Explicit

Correlation

Failure criteria

Material testing

Non-linear

Coarse and Fine

Aero elasticity

Case Studies

Carbon Gearbox

Lightweight

1st full carbon gearbox was designed at

Arrows Grand Prix with John Barnard.

Mark Preston developed the composite

design, crash testing, quality testing and

maintenance schedule. Final version was

Arrows A23.

Case then moved onto a number of teams

including McLaren and Honda.

Formtech owns the IP and recently

proposed to supply all F1 teams standard

carbon gearboxes.Rigidity

Durability

Repair/Maintenance

Rear Top Wishbone

Problem:

•Aerodynamics – smallest size possible

•Temperature – rear of the car near

exhausts

•Cost – reduce the price of flexures

•Stiffness – reduce the joints

•Strength – Make it one piece

Lightweight

One piece

Aerodynamics

Simplicity

Cost

Modelling Techniques

Rear Top Wishbone

Formtech can provide the complete

solution: conceptual design, prototypes,

load case development, testing

requirements as well as the manufacture

and ongoing proof testing and inspection.

Weight Reduction

• Original Steel Part - 100%

• Carbon and steel - 52.7%

• Full carbon - 41.7%

Laminate Definition

Temperature

Fatigue

Failure Analysis

Proof testing

Development Testing

Motorsports composite design requires a

high level of expertise and experience in

order to deliver lightweight and reliable

structures.

Formtech can provide a full service design,

prototype testing and manufacture of safety

critical components.

Formtech has the capability to provide

crash testing for FIA technical rules, proof

testing of structural components and failure

analysis.

Side impact

Prototype development

Crash testing

Failure Analysis

Safety systems

FIA

NDT Techniques

The development of truly lightweight high

performance composite structures requires

the capabilities to develop an indepth

understanding of the problems at hand.

One of the biggest problems in

development of highly loaded structural

components is to find the mechanism for

failure. Without the mechanism it is difficult

to define a solution.

NDT techniques such as ultrasonic and

acoustic emission are used by Formtech for

these applications.

Failure analysis

Development techniques

Correlation

Quality

Acoustic emission

Ultrasonic

Acoustic Emission

Correlation of modelling tools such as FEA

is difficult in composites. Mark Preston

developed the acoustic emission technique

for highly loaded structures in Formula One

applications such as chassis impact testing.

Failure mechanisms and correlation

provide valuable data for the optimisation of

structural components such as the F1

monocoque shown on this page.

Failure analysis

CorrelationFEA

Contacts

Formtech Composites Ltd

Leafield Technical Centre

Langley

Witney

Oxon, OX29 9EF

UK

Phone: +44 (0) 1993 871 000

Fax: +44 (0) 1993 871 217

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.formtech-composites.com