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.