Sprayed Carbon Fibre

As mentioned in previous posts, Light Black Design  have been working closely with Bentley Motors in the UK, to help them develop a possible process to produce components for future cars within the VW Group.

Key to the engineering of these parts are the use of PUR for the matrix and combining this with a process developed by Bentley Motors called DCFP (Directed Carbon Fibre Preforming).

Key to the potential success of this process is the ability to "spray" chopped carbon fibres (approx 100mm long) onto the mould or part surface whilst still keeping a high degree of alignment of the fibres. This effectively gives you a composite panels with approx 80% of the properties of a Uni-directional tape, but with a fraction of the labour and material costs.

Whilst this is still being developed by Bentley for their automotive products, they are very keen to look at other possible applications, such as marine. I have spoken to them about several possible uses, and I feel that this would be perfect for monolithic parts such as RIBS and tenders. Here, the use of carbon is usually restricted due to material and labour costs, but with this process both of these will be reduced (the labour could even be removed if robots are used). And when every 10% you save in vehicle weight (be it boats or cars) you can save 7% of the fuel. And when you consider the fact that fuel is costing around £1.80 per litre on the rivers now, the potential saving in running costs cannot be ignored.

If any further details are required or if you may have a possible application for this process, then please contact us at any time at Info@LightBlackDesign.com

Aluminium Tooling for High Quality carbon fibre parts

HIGHER QUALITY PARTS FROM NEW TOOLING METHODS.

Light Black Design is currently working with Richard Faulkner Composites in the UK to design and produce tooling to allow Richard and his team to manufacture multiple carbon fibre parts with an extremely high quality surface finish. To allow them to repeat the quality over and over again I recommended that they machine moulds from aluminium and engaged a machine shop that will produce the tools for a competitive price.

Despite the higher initial investment, the overall cost of producing the 18 carbon parts is lower due to the reduced amount  of preparation work required on the tools before each part is made, with very little finishing needed on the parts.

Lightweight Chassis concept for Bentley Motors...

CONCEPT CHASSIS DESIGN FOR BENTLEY MOTORS

We were contacted by Bentley Motors, in the UK, to help define the geometry and material specifications for an area of a chassis for one of their concept cars being developed by them in conjunction with the other sports car companies in the Volkswagen group.

The baseline materials in this investigation are a further development of my previous work within automotive groups to produce lightweight yet extremely cost effective composite panels, which are viable for current automotive production lines. This technology will be combined with DCFP (Directed Carbon Fibre Preforming) the revolutionary process being developed by Bentley.

Most importantly, this technology has the potential to transform the way certain composite boats are made and even drastically reduce the overall costs. It may indeed close the gap between the cost of glass and carbon fibre boats, which will allow the industry to take advantage of the dramatically reduced running costs of the lighter carbon fibre boats.

 

Our work with other industries.....

OTHER INDUSTRIES LIGHT BLACK DESIGN ARE WORKING WITH....

Light Black Design's work is not limited to just the marine and automotive sectors. Other industries are also interested in learning from the advances made by the automotive industry. We have been contacted from all levels of technology, looking either to reduce cost at the higher end, or improve efficiency at the lower end.

For example, Light Black Design was been contacted by a company who design and manufacture satellite systems for global customers.

They have a reputation for producing products for a fraction of the cost of their competitors. I have been asked to come in at appropriate times in future projects to look at the traditional methods currently employed in aerospace industry and to define some alternative methods and processes for non critical areas of the projects, while still achieving the same high levels of quality and design. The key objective is to reduce the overall cost for their premier aerospace programmes.

Working closely with companies such as these allows Light Black Design to keep abreast of all the latest technology and processes, putting us in the unique position of being able to transfer the knowledge that was once beyond the reach of the marine sector and offer unprecedented guidance in using the advances to their maximum potential.