7075 Alum Vs Carbon Fiber

[robriguez]

OK OK OK I know CF is WAYYYYY lighter....but how does it hold up in the "strength" department.

With all the CF chassis stuff I'm seeing these days for trucks, onroad, and buggies it has to have some merit. I would think you would want stiffness in a chassis. The thin wafer like CF stuff I've seen doesn't look very stiff. Its actually kinda flexible, no? Yes it has a very high KEWL factor, But is it really worth it??

 

[M@xximillion]

no, real Carbon Fiber isn't flexible, it in fact shatters when it breaks. If you were to measure a piece of CR to a piece of aluminium same size and thickness, the CR would be about 1/4 the weight adn just as strong, this is when you use the right epoxy to make the CF sheets (west system) Most of the crap I see out there is CF, but they use Polyester styrene resin instead. This makes it more brittle. Also you have to vacume bag it when laying it up, I don't know if anyone out there is doing that so I wouldn't recomend any companies to buy it from. In short, stick with the Aluminium, it is what it is.

 

[nitromaniac]

well, this is what I can tell ya from my experience, I just switched out my stock ntc3 chassis to 7075-76 aluminum, now I know the stock chassis wasn't carbon but heres what I noticed right off the bat! yes! the new chassis is heavier but I just put an os 15 in my tc3 so I didnt think the extra weight would be noticable, actually I did the right thing without knowing it, by adding the little extra weight I noticed the car handled tons better(no pun intended) I run my car in wide open tarmac, you could put about 8 747s in this area, its HUGE! with the old chassis I could start a wot circle and the car would spin out about half way through,with the new chassis it makes the complete circle at wot no problem, if any one has the space to do this with there car I highly recomend it, it looks really cool and you can really feel the performance of the car! Pics of this chassis are in my members gallery , check em out! I guess to answer your question, is it worth it, dont know, but I am stickin with 7075

 

[robriguez]

But doesn't the CF flex at all? For example, lets take a typical buggy chassis. Its very thin and flat. Are you saying that if you make one buggy chassis out of 7075 alum and one out of CF (same thickness) The Alum one will flex more then or before the CF one? I know it will shatter if you "bend" it but wont it flex?

 

[M@xximillion]

Originally posted by robriguez
But doesn't the CF flex at all? For example, lets take a typical buggy chassis. Its very thin and flat. Are you saying that if you make one buggy chassis out of 7075 alum and one out of CF (same thickness) The Alum one will flex more then or before the CF one? I know it will shatter if you "bend" it but wont it flex?

No, real CF with west epoxy souldn't flex at all. Aluminium of the same thickness will bend before the CF shatters. CR with Cheap polyester styrene will bend and splinter before it shatters.

CF was designed to be absolutly rigid. I started playing with it about 9 years ago when I built race yachts, we did extensive tests on it's reliability. If done right, it's as strong as steel and lighter than Aluminum. BUT, and this is an important but, it's can shatter on high impact, where as alum will bend, bends can be straightend. CR was mainly used to push the limits where every ounce counted, and if it broke, you had a millionare to pay to fix it.