Advances in Carbon Rim tech? (i.e. high temp CFRP?)

[tylercheung]

Afternoon procrastination musings...

So one of the main knocks on CFRP rims are braking issues and heat. I assume there's a lot of research into braking surfaces for CFRP rims, but heat still seems to worry a lot of folks.

Cue F1, aerospace, automotive tech which has seen CFRP used for high stress, high heat applications. How hard is it to trickle down, i.e. say high heat/glass resins for CFRP or whatever they use for carbon crankshafts and engine parts, down to the rim level?

[Mark McM]

There has been some work done on this, and carbon fiber rim braking has become more reliable in recent years. But the industry appears to have already decided the final solution will be to use disc brakes (moving heat away from the rim), so there may not be much more work in this area.

[prototoast]

As far as pure heat resistance (ignoring braking performance), the carbon fiber technology for high temperatures has always been there, but I think was largely overlooked by manufacturers who were first building carbon rims. Once the problems became more apparent, it wasn't just as simple as choosing a higher-curing resin, such higher temperature cures can also require more heat-resistant molds, bladders, hoses, ovens, etc. For a manufacturer that has made significant initial investments into equipment, it may not be possible to immediately update everything to be able to produce more heat resistant rims--especially if competitors are selling cheaper, and consumers aren't always aware of the heat issues. Over time, this seems to have gotten much better as companies seem to have better recognized the depth of the heat problem.

[Charles M]

Afternoon procrastination musings...

So one of the main knocks on CFRP rims are braking issues and heat. I assume there's a lot of research into braking surfaces for CFRP rims, but heat still seems to worry a lot of folks.

Cue F1, aerospace, automotive tech which has seen CFRP used for high stress, high heat applications. How hard is it to trickle down, i.e. say high heat/glass resins for CFRP or whatever they use for carbon crankshafts and engine parts, down to the rim level?


At the top end heat's not really an issue anymore... What you're thinking should happen happened at the top of the food chain a few years ago.