Hi guys this may sound like a stupid question but is the word " composite" a posh word for carbon fibre ??
Composite means not made from one material. It generally is used when referring to materials made from non metallic plies bonded together with resin under heat and pressure. Ply material is typically fibreglass, Kevlar or carbon fibre....or a mixture of these. The word composite (when referring to materials) can therefore mean GFRP (glass fibre reinforced plastic), Kevlar reinforced plastic or CFRP (carbon fibre....).
Fess up, what are you looking at, wheels, swing arm ? These components usually include some metal as inserts and reinforcing. Andy
Also, you may hear the terms prepreg or wet layup... Prepreg refers to ply material that has been impregnated with the exact amount of resin during manufacture at the factory. This needs to be kept in a freezer until it is ready to be used and has a shelf life. Wet layup refers to dry fabric which is then impregnated by hand with resin at the time it is used to make whatever is being made. The fabric does not have a shelf life but the resin does. It is critical to add the exactly correct amount of resin to the fabric or it will not reach its strength properties. Prepreg composite is generally stronger as the quality of the fibre/resin matrix is more homogeneous and therefore the quality of the final product is better. Prepreg is more expensive but used for high strength applications due to reduced porosity in the final layup.
Nothing specific Andy I was fiddling with my TT race bike and it's got the standard wheels on it and I wondered if there was a reason for that, I read the 2014 regulations and all it says that composite wheels are not to be used and it got my little brain thinking that's all. So I'm guessing alloy and magnesium wheels would have been ok with racing the lightweight class at the TT.
