Graphene is significantly lighter and stronger than standard carbon fibre, meaning that it can bring weight reductions of around 20% while being 200 times stronger than steel. These benefits could have implications for cost, performance and fuel economy when applied in the wider manufacturing process.
BAC development director and co-founder Neill Briggs said: “Making significant weight savings and improving body strength will allow us to offer improved performance to our customers. This is the latest in a line of ground-breaking innovations on the Mono, and we were delighted to have worked with Haydale, on this exciting project.”
BAC chose to test the use of graphene on the rear wheel arches due to the size and complexity of the part, to thoroughly test the manufacturing process and how the material fitted in with the car.
“We are pleased to have worked on the design and development of the graphene enhanced carbon fibre materials for the BAC Mono,” added Ebby Shahidi, Haydale Composite Solutions’ director of aerospace and defence. “These initial materials have shown some major increases in impact and thermal performance coupled with improved surface finish and it’s pleasing to see these attributes being demonstrated on such a high performance vehicle as the Mono.”
BAC showed the graphene enhanced Mono at the Science in the City festival in Manchester.
