Composite Tub Bonding

[Matt Gignac]

Just out of curiosity, how do the teams that use a carbon fiber/honeycomb monocoque go about bonding the two halves of the tub together?

I'd assume it would be some kind of H-section of carbon that fits over the edge of both mating surfaces, or perhaps a rectangular section that fits inside them.

Matt G
McGill Racing Team

[MikeWaggoner at UW]

At the UW, we used a female mold that split in half. No part line, no need for joints. At places that needed a joint, we tended to use lap joints reinforced with bolts.

[Tim Heinemann]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
Just out of curiosity, how do the teams that use a carbon fiber/honeycomb monocoque go about bonding the two halves of the tub together?

I'd assume it would be some kind of H-section of carbon that fits over the edge of both mating surfaces, or perhaps a rectangular section that fits inside them.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

There are several ways of bonding such as cap strips on the outer surfaces of the sandwich (giving what you called an H-section) or a V-section with cap strips on the same side of both cover laminates which gives a very smooth outer surface. However there are even other ways of building a mono without real joints, actually up to one-shot one-piece variations. One F3 manufacturer (Lola, IIRC) did a mono with allmost the complete body shell in one step and simply bonding in the floor.

There was (still is?) a small series of articles covering the theme in "Racecar engineering" recently and allthough it clearly doesn't mention all the secrets of the genre it is a very good and comprehensive starting point.



Tim