Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T10:27:16.855Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Materials at 200 mph: Making NASCAR Faster and Safer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

Diandra Leslie-Pelecky
Get access

Abstract

Speed is the ultimate goal of racing, and materials are an increasingly important area of research for making race cars faster. The splitter, which produces front downforce, is made from Tegris, a polypropylene composite offering comparable stiffness and improved impact properties at significantly lower cost than alternative materials. Engine blocks must be cast iron, but careful control of microstructure using precision manufacturing methods produces a lighter engine block that generates more horsepower.

Speed and excitement must be balanced with safety, and materials are key players here, as well. Energy-dissipating foams in the car and the barriers surrounding the tracks allow drivers to walk away uninjured from accidents. Fire-resistant polymers protect drivers from high-temperature fuel fires, and technology transfer from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) in the form of a low-temperature carbon monoxide catalyst filters the drivers' air.

Sports are an outstanding way of showing the public how materials science and engineering are relevant to their lives and interests. Materials science and engineering is just that much more exciting when it's traveling at two hundred miles an hour.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Bulletin , Volume 34 , Issue 8: Hard Materials with Tunable Porosity , August 2009 , pp. 602 - 606
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1www.nativewatercraft.com/ult_12_tegris.cfm.Google Scholar
2Dawson, S., 106th AFS Casting Congress, Kansas City, KS, 4–7 May 2002.Google Scholar
3Dawson, S., Schroeder, T., “AFS Transactions,” (Paper 04–047, American Foundry Society, 2005).Google Scholar
4Warrick, R.J., Ellis, G.G., Grupke, C.C., Khamseh, A.R., McLachlan, T.H., Gerkits, C., SAE Paper 1999–01–0325, International Congress and Exposition, Society of Automotive Engineers, Detroit, MI, 1–4 March 1999.Google Scholar
5Halford, B., Chem. Eng. News 87, 12 (2009).Google Scholar
6Maiti, S.K., Acta Metall. 32, 1963 (1984).Google Scholar
7Slik, G., Vogel, G., Chawda, V., Proceedings of the 5th LS-DYNA Forum (2006).Google Scholar
8Villar-Rodil, S., Paredes, J.I., Martinez-Alonso, A., Tascon, J.M.D., Chem. Mater. 13, 4297 (2001).Google Scholar
9NASA Technical Brief, “From NASA to NASCAR: Space-Age Technology Finds Its Way into Auto Racing” (2008).Google Scholar
10NASA Technology Innovation, Partnership Helps Virginia Company Grow, Racers Breathe Better 12, 20 (2005).Google Scholar