Aluminum Honeycomb Samples Are In!

Our Aluminum Honeycomb samples have arrived! This new material is extremely lightweight and will make an incredibly stiff chassis. UCEM is excited to become the first American electric formula team in to make an aluminum monocoque chassis!

This new material allows us to make a chassis that although weak under point loads is extremely strong and rigid under spread area loads. Just about 1 pound per square foot, this material is very lightweight, and will allow the designers of both the suspension and controls systems to have much more flexibility, as the chassis can be designed relatively independently of the suspension setup. Challenges introduced by this material include the need to design around the steel roll hoops mandated by rules as well as testing to prove structural equivalency to the standard steel spaceframe.

We are currently in the process of testing and stay tuned for updates on testing and the chassis design we have coming soon! A thanks to Plascore Inc.​ and Hexcel Corporation​ for supplying us with these samples to test with!

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