YCOM
Sustainable alternative to carbon-fiber for motorsport crash structures
it proves that natural fibers can play an important role for structural- and safety critical parts. The crash box is designed to optimize the performance of the ampliTex natural fiber reinforcements and was tested at the FIA-approved test house of Politecnico of Milan/Italy, producing results in line with a traditional carbon-fiber structure. The material not only shows the desired, even crash behavior required from a safety perspective, but also eradicates the danger of sharp splintering. Furthermore, natural fiber composites waste can be used for thermal energy recovery. For the motorsports industry, this proves that high-performance natural fibers can be used for significantly wider applications than previously thought, reducing the environmental impact, and enabling technology transfer to mobility. The natural fiber FIAS prototype designed as a proof of concept is currently approx. 40% heavier than its carbon-fiber counterpart but still enables a CO2 reduction of approx. 50% on the composite side.
