News: McLaren makes a revolutionary leap in composites at Rotherham tech centre
Building on over 40 years of carbon fibre innovation, McLaren has unveiled a world-first in supercar engineering: aerospace-derived Automated Rapid Tape (ART) carbon fibre. And it has been developed in Rotherham.
The manufacturer opened the McLaren Composites Technology Centre (MCTC) in 2018 on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP), which is in Rotherham. The £50m investment was made in developing and manufacturing the future of lightweighting technology.
The latest revolutionary leap in composites uses precision manufacturing techniques from the aerospace industry to create carbon fibre structures that are even lighter, stiffer, and stronger, while reducing waste by up to 95%. It is a world-first application of a cutting-edge and highly specialised manufacturing process in the automotive sector.
The first model to feature this advanced material is the McLaren W1 – where ART carbon integrated into the active front wing delivers a 10% boost in stiffness to help enable the car’s extraordinary aerodynamic performance.
The aerospace industry uses ultra-precise manufacturing methods to build highly tailored carbon fibre structures for the latest generation of air jetliners and fighter aircraft, particularly for large, crucial parts such as aircraft fuselage and wings. This is achieved via the robotic depositing of composite tapes to layer structures, over traditional hand layup using pre-impregnated materials. And it is a rapid pace, ‘high rate’ version of this production method that McLaren has developed and now integrated into its manufacturing capabilities at the McLaren Composites Technology Centre (MCTC) in Rotherham.
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Completely revolutionising the aerospace industry method of using robotic arms to layer composite tapes, McLaren’s Automated Rapid Tape method instead employs a specially designed machine using a fixed deposition head and a rapidly moving bed capable of rotation, which unlocks a faster manufacturing process suitable for automotive purposes and high-rate composites manufacturing.
Joe Elfort, plant director at the McLaren MCTC, said: "It means we can make the material as strong as possible where it needs to be and as light as possible where it can be. Think of it like human skin - it can be thin and flexible like your eyelids but also strong and durable like your elbows.
"With this new technology we've taken an aerospace scale manufacturing process and enhanced the rate capability so that it becomes viable for a supercar component. What's really unique is we can very accurately control the directionality of the strength the stiffness and the flexibility which allows us to optimise the design for the highly loaded and complex components like you see in the aerodynamic devices of the W1.
"Landmark supercars like W1 always usher in the next big technology trickle down. This is only the beginning of a remarkable new era in lightweight supercar engineering and performance."
The advantages Automated Rapid Tape technology can deliver in terms of manufacturing time and reduced costs creates the possibility of greater use of carbon fibre, in more areas of a vehicle. Looking beyond the carbon tub, wider use of ultra-lightweight body panels constructed of McLaren ART carbon fibre become more feasible and cost effective.
The Artura is McLaren’s first model to be built on all-new McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture (MCLA) that was developed in Rotherham. The latest advancement now unlocks immense possibilities for the next generation of carbon fibre architectures. Integrating ART technology into the structure of an ultra-lightweight, ultra-strong carbon fibre tub – manufactured with minimal waste material generation - that can underpin the next-generation of McLaren supercars is already under consideration.
McLaren website
Images: McLaren
The manufacturer opened the McLaren Composites Technology Centre (MCTC) in 2018 on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP), which is in Rotherham. The £50m investment was made in developing and manufacturing the future of lightweighting technology.
The latest revolutionary leap in composites uses precision manufacturing techniques from the aerospace industry to create carbon fibre structures that are even lighter, stiffer, and stronger, while reducing waste by up to 95%. It is a world-first application of a cutting-edge and highly specialised manufacturing process in the automotive sector.
The first model to feature this advanced material is the McLaren W1 – where ART carbon integrated into the active front wing delivers a 10% boost in stiffness to help enable the car’s extraordinary aerodynamic performance.
The aerospace industry uses ultra-precise manufacturing methods to build highly tailored carbon fibre structures for the latest generation of air jetliners and fighter aircraft, particularly for large, crucial parts such as aircraft fuselage and wings. This is achieved via the robotic depositing of composite tapes to layer structures, over traditional hand layup using pre-impregnated materials. And it is a rapid pace, ‘high rate’ version of this production method that McLaren has developed and now integrated into its manufacturing capabilities at the McLaren Composites Technology Centre (MCTC) in Rotherham.
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Completely revolutionising the aerospace industry method of using robotic arms to layer composite tapes, McLaren’s Automated Rapid Tape method instead employs a specially designed machine using a fixed deposition head and a rapidly moving bed capable of rotation, which unlocks a faster manufacturing process suitable for automotive purposes and high-rate composites manufacturing.
Joe Elfort, plant director at the McLaren MCTC, said: "It means we can make the material as strong as possible where it needs to be and as light as possible where it can be. Think of it like human skin - it can be thin and flexible like your eyelids but also strong and durable like your elbows.
"With this new technology we've taken an aerospace scale manufacturing process and enhanced the rate capability so that it becomes viable for a supercar component. What's really unique is we can very accurately control the directionality of the strength the stiffness and the flexibility which allows us to optimise the design for the highly loaded and complex components like you see in the aerodynamic devices of the W1.
"Landmark supercars like W1 always usher in the next big technology trickle down. This is only the beginning of a remarkable new era in lightweight supercar engineering and performance."
The Artura is McLaren’s first model to be built on all-new McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture (MCLA) that was developed in Rotherham. The latest advancement now unlocks immense possibilities for the next generation of carbon fibre architectures. Integrating ART technology into the structure of an ultra-lightweight, ultra-strong carbon fibre tub – manufactured with minimal waste material generation - that can underpin the next-generation of McLaren supercars is already under consideration.
McLaren website
Images: McLaren
1 comments:
Another Rotherham success story.
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