GM's third Corvette model to feature Carbon Revolution wheels
One-piece carbon fiber wheels work around the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1’s complex load paths, exceeding GM’s weight, durability, strength and aesthetic standards.
Source | Carbon Revolution
On July 25, Carbon Revolution plc (Geelong, Australia) announced that it will supply the carbon fiber wheels available on the just-revealed General Motors (GM, Detroit, Mich., U.S.) Chevrolet Corvette ZR1.
Carbon Revolution’s one-piece carbon fiber wheels are a lighter option than aluminum, reducing the Corvette ZR1’s rotating, unsprung mass by 42.8 pounds across the vehicle. Jake Dingle, the company’s CEO, says the wheel’s performance in testing highlighted the talent and experience of Carbon Revolution’s product and manufacturing engineering teams in meeting GM’s weight, durability, strength and aesthetic standards.
“The thin, split-spoke design of our wheels for GM highlights what is possible with carbon fiber,” Dingle explains. “When you compare to some of our earliest designs, coupled with the highest load rating yet for a performance car, you can see how much we have progressed with our technology. The final product enhances the Corvette ZR1’s performance.”
Faced with complex load paths in the wheel’s hub geometry and around the bolted joint, the Carbon Revolution team developed a distinctive internal fiber architecture, which, together with the company’s patent-pending Diamond Weave Technology, were essential to meet GM’s high targets for strength, weight and durability in a thin, split five-spoke design.
The front wheels are 20 inches tall and 10 inches wide while the rear wheels are 21 inches tall and 13 inches wide. The rear wheels are claimed to be the world’s widest carbon fiber wheels, alongside Carbon Revolution’s rear wheel for the 8th-generation Corvette Z06 and the E-Ray.
Carbon Revolution has designed the wheel for production at scale on the company’s Mega-line.
Related Content
-
Cryo-compressed hydrogen, the best solution for storage and refueling stations?
Cryomotive’s CRYOGAS solution claims the highest storage density, lowest refueling cost and widest operating range without H2 losses while using one-fifth the carbon fiber required in compressed gas tanks.
-
The potential for thermoplastic composite nacelles
Collins Aerospace draws on global team, decades of experience to demonstrate large, curved AFP and welded structures for the next generation of aircraft.
-
One-piece, one-shot, 17-meter wing spar for high-rate aircraft manufacture
GKN Aerospace has spent the last five years developing materials strategies and resin transfer molding (RTM) for an aircraft trailing edge wing spar for the Airbus Wing of Tomorrow program.
