Home / News / BAC & Haydale develop graphene-bodied Mono car

BAC & Haydale develop graphene-bodied Mono car

19 Aug '16

2 min read

BAC (Briggs Automotive Company) Ltd, a British sports car manufacturing company, has joined hands with Haydale Composite Solutions, to create rear wheel arches made of graphene for Mono, the world's only road legal single-seater supercar.

BAC is the first manufacturer in the world to develop a car featuring panels made from graphene, the innovative and lightweight material that brings weight and strength benefits.

Graphene is made of sheets of carbon just one atom thick, and is significantly lighter than standard carbon fibre. It is also stronger than carbon fibre, meaning that it can bring weight reductions of around 20 per cent while being 200 times stronger than steel. These benefits could have implications for cost, performance, and fuel economy when applied wider in the manufacturing process.

BAC chose to test the use of graphene on the rear wheel arches due to the size and complexity of the part, to thoroughly test the manufacturing process and how the material fitted in with the car.

BAC development director and co-founder Neill Briggs said, “BAC is uniquely placed in the automotive industry to be able to take innovative steps, and latest work with graphene is further proof of this. This development work is further proof of our ability to work with the very latest materials and innovators. Making significant weight savings and improving body strength will allow us to offer improved performance to our customers. This is the latest in a line of ground-breaking innovations on the Mono, and we were delighted to have worked with graphene composite industry leaders, Haydale, on this exciting project.”

Ebby Shahidi, Haydale Composite Solutions director of aerospace and defence added said, “We are pleased to have worked on the design and development of the graphene enhanced carbon fibre materials for the BAC Mono. These initial materials have shown some major increases in impact and thermal performance coupled with improved surface finish and it's pleasing to see these attributes being demonstrated on such a high performance vehicle as the Mono.” (GK)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India