CARBON FIBER
COMPRESSION MOLDING

Dean Chan
Raymond Choi
Connor Lowry



ADVISED BY PROFESSORS DAVID WOOTTON AND SVEN HAVERKAMP
 

The Cooper Motorsports team seeks to reduce the weight of their 2020 racecar by 20 lbs. Manufactured aluminum components like suspension uprights, the differential mount, and pedals contribute significant weight. These components have undergone constant refinement, thus it is difficult to further reduce weight without sacrificing stiffness. We propose carbon fiber bulk molding compound [CFBMC] as an alternative to aluminum. As opposed to purchasing expensive commercially made CFBMC, we developed an in-house manufacturing method. Testing rigs were made to characterize its material properties and validate our process by redesigning and manufacturing a suspension upright. Preliminary tests show that in-house CFBMC samples are 50% of the weight of aluminum, 50% of the strength, and 200% of the stiffness in tension, which achieves our minimum requirements. We expect to save at least 5 lbs overall by applying this material to aluminum componenets on the car.