Lightweight in perfection

The Leibniz-Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (IPF) supports the Elbflorace team for the second year. By using their software for developing and simulating the Tailor Fiber Reinforced Plastics (TFP) parts and by manufacturing the TFP parts at the institute it was possible for us to get the maximum out of the cars’ weight.
The IPF Dresden is one of the largest polymer research facilities in Germany. The focus of activities at the IPF are directed toward the advancement of basic scientific knowledge for the development of functional polymer materials and polymer materials with new or improved characteristics. In addition, emphasis is also put on combining material development with innovative and sustainable production and processing technologies.
The rear wing attachment is a part with a very high position on our car. At a race car it’s very important to get the center of gravity to a minimum. To get the maximum performance out of a part the TFP technology is the best way to achieve that goal. With the IPF as our partner we got the possibility to get this maximum performance out of the aluminum part. By placing the reinforcement fibers arbitrarily on the parts geometry we used the fiber properties to nearly 100%. A weight reduction of 72% in comparison to the aluminum part was the result.
A big thanks to the IPF Dresden for their incredible support while developing the attachments and also at the manufacturing of them.