Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) and it application on the wheel rim

Mateus Ribeiro Spinelli

Abstract
This literature review type coursework will approach the constituents of CFRP,
advantages and disadvantages of this composite on wheel rim manufacturing
when compared with alloys commonly used - focusing on composites made with
epoxy resin as matrix and reinforced with carbon fibers. It will be evaluated
mechanical properties, comparison with glass fibers reinforcement and different
processing techniques.

Introduction
Nowadays, automotive industry has
been looking for lighter components as
an alternative of steel. Designing
lightweight pieces that have low
density and high specific
stiffness/strength, among other
properties such as durability
(resistance to failure and fatigue),
became one of the main objectives
when it comes to high performance
vehicles. Those properties allow
modern automobiles fuel efficiency and
reduces CO2 emissions, rather than
steel structures. Fiber reinforced
polymers are the most eligible type of
composite for those purposes, and
carbon with a few micrometres of
diameter is usually used as
reinforcement as a lighter alternative to
glass fibers. The matrix, resins formed

by thermoset or thermoplastic
materials (epoxy is the mostly used),
contains carbon fibers that bring
strength and stiffness to the
compound, improving impact and
fracture resistance due to its brittle
behaviour.
Designing structures that can improve
impact resistance is one of the key
objectives in regards to shape wheel
rims, and is only achieved when it
calculates the loads that the rim can
withstand by applying classic physic
and mechanic laws, so finally come up
with a geometry that provides the best
performance.
The composite material which is object
of our study, the Carbon Fiber

Reinforced Plastic (CFRP), can be

manufactured by different techniques,
and the fabrication methods chosen in
this coursework will focus on moulding

and vacuum bagging, the cheapest

ones when it comes to automotive
industry.

Content
The development of carbon fiber
reinforcement polymer rims must take
into account the mechanical properties
that this specific composite material
has to present, such as hardness,
tensile strength, tensile modulus, and
fracture resistance when submitted to
different types of stress. Those
properties vary according to the
proportion matrix/reinforcement of the
composite and will be further
discussed.
Matrix
The best polymer matrix to use in the
CFRP, for lightweight purposes, is the
epoxy resin. Currently, this type of
matrix is used in many vehicles
components, such as chassis
structures, floor panels, roof and so
on. Due to it malleable behaviour, this
thermoset plastic can be easily
handled and it maintains the final
shape, once, during the processing,
loses the plastic behaviour and
becomes more brittle. The thermosets
are preferentially used rather than
thermoplastics, because the crosslinking of their polymers chains, in the
curing process, makes them stronger
and with dimensional stability, by
forming irreversible chemical bonds.

Reinforcement
Either carbon fiber or glass fiber
reinforcements are recommended for
developing stronger, tougher and
lightweight modern materials, which
are constantly subjected to dynamic
loads. They present significantly
increase in the failure strain when
compared to monolithic alloys. Unlike
isotropic materials, such as steel and
aluminium, those reinforcements will
provide directional strength properties
to the composite. According to [1], both
carbon and glass fiber reinforced
polymers have been manufactured by
vacuum bag method and it mechanical
properties were evaluated by tensile
and hardness measurements. The
results concludes that carbon fiber
reinforcement is the best choice when
it comes about mechanical properties.
The results have shown that it has that
the composites reinforced with carbon
fibers has greater micro hardness,
tensile strength, yield strength and
peak load than the glass fiber
reinforcement polymers.
Carbon fiber reinforcement plastic
Manufacturing
There are a few ways to manufacture
a carbon fiber reinforced polymer. The
main ones are moulding, vacuum
bagging, compression moulding and
filament winding. One of the greatest
obstacle to produce this specific

composite material is the high cost of it

fabrication. Hence, when it comes to
low cost production of wheel rims, the
sidewalls are probably manufactured
by vacuum bagging, extracting the air
from the flexible and transparent film
bag and compressing the laminate,
allowing the composite hardening
process. Otherwise, the contour may
be done by moulding/compression
moulding, because it is formed by
more than one piece: First of all, the
positive epoxy mould is cut. With a
pre-preg carbon fibre layers another
negative mould is produced, using the
first one, and is divided into three
parts, for further unmoulding. Then, a
compressive moulding process can be
done with the positive mould that is
left, the negative mould and the
laminate placed in between or the next
step can be vacuum moulding with the
negative mould that remained.
Advantages and disadvantages of
Carbon fiber reinforcement plastic
The main advantages of CFRP, as
mentioned before, are the low density
(that saves fuel and reduces the
emission of harmful gases to the
environment), easy handling at room
temperatures and excellent
mechanical properties, such as:
Increased hardness, since the epoxy
resin lacks plastic behaviour after the
processing; increased stiffness;
dimensional stability; Low vibration
amplitudes, due to the high specific
elasticity modulus (Young`s modulus)
and high specific tensile strength and
due to the excellent damping
properties (oppositely of metals); High
resistance to different types of loads
which means structural durability
(misuse/peak loads - failure or
operational loadings fatigue).
The main disadvantages of CFRP,
from the point of view of mechanical
properties, can be summarized as

poor resistance to shear stress and

brittle failure behaviour, in other words,
the elastic behaviour when subjected
to tension up to failure. When it comes
to manufacturing obstacles, the major
one is the high production cost of
carbon fiber reinforcement, when
compared to conventional steel
reinforcement bars or prestressing
tendons.
Resin Transfer Molding on CFRP
manufacturing
For automotive purposes, one possible
alternative route of epoxy composite
processing is the Resin Transfer
Molding (RTM). This method consist of
rolling resin into the reinforcement, and
can be done in industrial scale
machines, differently of the previous
technique. It is a cyclic operation
where the epoxy resin is attached
before the molding takes place. This
method achieves lightweight, a
pleasing surface finish (aesthetically)
and improve the safety of vehicles,
besides increasing the energy
absorbed by the automotive body
during a collision. Other than using the
RTM method for chassis/monocoque
and floor panels, this technology could
be applied to rim wheels. The aimed
high strength to weight ratio and
increase on the impact resistance are
achieved much faster and cheaper
than the other manufacturing methods.
The Short cycle RTM is a new
innovative technology that requires
only 10 minutes per cycle to mould the
composite. However it is of utmost
importance to add toughening agent
layer on the surface, since the brittle
nature of the RTM resin results in low
interlaminar toughness and low
resistance to impact.

The use of cup-stacked carbon

nanotubes (CSCNTs) in carbon fiber
reinforced plastic laminates
In order to increase the previously
discussed mechanical properties of
unidirectional laminates, the traditional
prepreg system of carbon fiber
reinforcement plastic can be modified
by adding cup-stacked carbon
nanotubes. The results shown in [2]
indicates that the stiffness has slightly
increased while the tensile strengths
almost didnt change at all.
Compressive strengths tend to

increase by adding CSCNT to the

composite and it has had a clear
improvement of the interlaminar
fracture toughness.

Conclusion
The modern world demands constant investment in automotive technology. Energy
saving and development of eco-friendly materials that avoid the emission of pollutant
gases are important fields of study when it comes about the future of the automotive
sector. In addition to that, industries more often try to design safety cars, facing the
research on smart materials as an alternative to new safety systems. Carbon fiber
reinforced plastic has been shown to be efficient for those objectives, due to it
excellent mechanical properties mostly it low density, high tensile strength and
structural durability - assured by the proper manufacturing techniques that combine
epoxy resins and carbon reinforcement fibers. Those thoughts can be applied to
several car components (such as monocoque, floor panels and so on), since the key
features were generally discussed setting the piece design apart. When dealing with
the wheel rim, the fabrication technique must merge acceptable cost, productivity
and the expected mechanical properties. The cheapest way seemed to be the
vacuum bagging and molding techniques, when only a few pieces are produced per
day. However, for a macro scale production, it might be reasonable to consider using
Resin Transfer Molding machines which can sharply increase the productivity.

References

[1]

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF CARBON / GLASS FIBER REINFORCED

EPOXY HYBRID POLYMER COMPOSITES, vol. 4, no. 2, 2015.

[2]

T. Yokozeki, Y. Iwahori, S. Ishiwata, and K. Enomoto, Mechanical properties of

CFRP laminates manufactured from unidirectional prepregs using CSCNTdispersed epoxy, Compos. Part A Appl. Sci. Manuf., vol. 38, no. 10, pp. 2121
2130, 2007.

[3]

N. Schweizer, A. Giessl, and O. Schwarzhaupt, Development of a Composite

Wheel With Integrated, no. June, pp. 2428, 2012.

[4]

L. Management, Design of a carbon fibre rim for a fuel efficient competition

vehicle, 2014.

[5]

I. Taketa, K. Yamaguchi, E. Wadahara, M. Yamasaki, T. Sekido, and A. Kitano,

The CFRP automobile body project in Japan, Proc. Twelfth U.S.-Japan Conf.
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[6]

X. F. An and X. S. Yi, 18 Th International Conference on Composite Materials

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[7]

H. Reichwein, P. Langemeier, T. Hasson, and M. Schendzielorz, Light , Strong

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