One-piece carbon fibre wheel rim from Carbon Revolution
Carbon fibre is used extensively in many sectors of the automaking industry – much more-so in Formula One and other racing sports – and this means that research and development time and money are constantly being invested into making carbon fibre even more a part of vehicle building.
This means that the material is starting to be used or considered to be used for all manner of different applications, such as the one that Carbon Revolution has been developing, namely producing the world’s first one-piece carbon fiber rim.
This one-piece carbon fiber rim will be forty to fifty percent lighter than aluminium counterparts – of course – and this will reduce fuel consumption by two to four percent, reduce CO2 emissions and increase the vehicle’s overall efficiency by 5%.
This interesting product came into being as the result of a decade-long research and development project, at least according to the company. When you think about the rather obvious benefits of having a lighter and sturdier wheel, then it’s easy to understand the type of buzz that this one-piece carbon fiber rim is going to generate.
The manufacturing of a composite wheel made out of a single piece of continuous fibers proved to be quite challenging due to the significant geometric complexities that a rim imply.
It must’ve been quite a difficult task to both undertake and finance, considering the amount of time that it took to reach a finished product, however Carbon Revolution’s engineering director, Brett Gass stuck with it, and thanks to his extensive knowledge of carbon fiber technology, they managed eventually to put out a product that could revolutionize the industry.
The product hasn’t yet been tested by third parties, however Carbon Revolution states that as far as industry standards are concerned, the rim meets OEM and Certificate Body standards, including SAE 2530, TUV German Aftermakret and German OEM AK-LH 08 standards.
