Manufacturing and ultimate mechanical performance of carbon fibre-reinforced epoxy composite suspension push-rods for a Formula 1 racing car

The contemporary Formula 1 racing car makes extensive use of advanced composite materials in its construction. The design, manufacture and ultimate performance under compression of composite suspension push-rods, that typically could be used in a Grand Prix racing car, are described in this present paper. An aerofoil cross-section has been used based on different lay-ups of carbon/epoxy composite. One push-rod was manufactured using a uniform layup of unidirectional and woven cross-ply prepreg, whilst a further three push-rods were manufactured with a tapered layup of unidirectional and woven cross-ply prepreg. Failure mechanisms including fibre microbuckling, fibre kinking and fibre fracture were observed, whilst. comparisons have been made between the experimentally observed failure strains and those that were: predicted using simple buckling theory. The ultimate compressive strength of the structural component was significantly less than that of the carbon/epoxy composite.