Designfax weekly eMagazine

Subscribe Today!

Archives

View Archives

Partners

Manufacturing Center
Product Spotlight

Modern Applications News
Metalworking Ideas For
Today's Job Shops

Tooling and Production
Strategies for large
metalworking plants

Incredible Machines:
Porsche is first to offer braided carbon fiber wheels

Porsche is the world's first vehicle manufacturer to offer lightweight wheels with braided carbon fiber. They are available now as an option for the Porsche 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series. The characteristically black high-tech material is only finished with a protective layer of clear lacquer. The innovative, all-carbon-fiber wheels weigh around 8.5 kg less than standard alloy wheels, which is a weight reduction of 20%. They are also 20% stronger.

With a reduced unsprung weight, the tires trail the surface of the road better and are perfectly optimized for absorbing longitudinal and lateral forces. Lower rotating masses mean more spontaneity both in acceleration and braking. The result is increased driving dynamics and driving pleasure.

Manufactured entirely from carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP), the wheel is essentially comprised of two components. The wheel center is made from carbon-fiber fabric. This involves cutting and assembling over 200 individual components.

The second component is the rim base made from braided carbon fiber. To make this part, the world's largest carbon fiber braiding machine -- 9 m in diameter -- is used. The wheel center is then braided into the rim base.

VIDEO: How the Porsche braided carbon fiber wheels are made.

The assembled wheel is impregnated with resin and pre-hardened at high pressure and high temperatures. The finished wheel is then hardened at high temperatures, followed by a long cooling process. The central lock is then inserted into the finished wheel, and the wheel is protected with clear lacquer.

Porsche is the first company in the global automotive industry to use this extremely complex technology. The company says the braiding technology offers key advantages over the more conventional method of manufacturing pre-impregnated carbon fiber fabric -- mainly that this production technique makes the material structure of the carbon considerably denser and more compact. This increases rigidity. Using the material more efficiently also produces less waste.

The new carbon wheel is made from a total of 18 kilometers (yup, that is not a typo) of carbon fiber (equivalent to 8 square meters of carbon fiber fabric).

VIDEO: Porsche 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series. (We mean, you gotta see the car too!)

Source: Porsche

Published December 2017

Rate this article