carbon fiber nanotube rotary
07-08-2008, 07:25 PM
#26
Olddragger, are you sure they're carbon nanotubes and not just regular old carbon fiber? I doubt nanotubes are being used in any consumer application, let alone wheels. They'd cost about $200k each. Carbon fiber wheels hit the market recently and they're very light but expensive and fragile. I hear they're prone to shattering in bad potholes. After all, carbon fiber is just fiberglass with a different layup material.
What I would like to see, as mentioned, are rotors made of a lighter metal like titanium or aluminum or some alloy. I'm sure these have already been tried and deemed unsuitable for one reason or another (my guess is thermal expansion or cost).
Really, though, I think they should give this a go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorphous_metal
What I would like to see, as mentioned, are rotors made of a lighter metal like titanium or aluminum or some alloy. I'm sure these have already been tried and deemed unsuitable for one reason or another (my guess is thermal expansion or cost).
Really, though, I think they should give this a go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorphous_metal
07-08-2008, 07:51 PM
#27
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nanotubes, or just carbon shafts? There's a big difference. I've used carbon-shaft arrows for years now but they're not nanotubes.
Edit: wikipedia says nanotubes have been used in mountain bike handlebars, but they're "bulk" nanotubes, kind of a mass of broken-up nanotubes held together with substrate. And they're just reinforcing conventional polymer, not forming the structure in its entirety. I don't think plastic, even with nanotubes in it, are gonna work inside a rotary.
Edit: wikipedia says nanotubes have been used in mountain bike handlebars, but they're "bulk" nanotubes, kind of a mass of broken-up nanotubes held together with substrate. And they're just reinforcing conventional polymer, not forming the structure in its entirety. I don't think plastic, even with nanotubes in it, are gonna work inside a rotary.
Last edited by Rootski; 07-08-2008 at 08:09 PM.
07-09-2008, 10:45 AM
#28
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carbon golf club shafts
carbon fiber wheels
bulk carbon nano-tubes as a stiffening additive in a number of applications, including polymers and alloys.
Unfortunately, carbon-nano-tubes (there are nano-tubes of other elements as well) increase thermal conductivity, which in an IC engine application would prove a detriment to BSFC. I don't think the rotary needs that.
Of course, a thermally reflective ceramic coating on a Ti-Al (cnt doped) rotor and housings would be really cool.
carbon fiber wheels
bulk carbon nano-tubes as a stiffening additive in a number of applications, including polymers and alloys.
Unfortunately, carbon-nano-tubes (there are nano-tubes of other elements as well) increase thermal conductivity, which in an IC engine application would prove a detriment to BSFC. I don't think the rotary needs that.
Of course, a thermally reflective ceramic coating on a Ti-Al (cnt doped) rotor and housings would be really cool.
07-11-2008, 07:49 AM
#29
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I think you'd be better off using ceramics for the rotor housing and the seals, and superalloys for everything else. If you've ever seen some of the ceramics they have now, they're insane. They use them(and superalloys) in jet turbine engines to minimize creep, and their strength doesn't decline with heat until the last 10% or so before its melting point. If everything moving in that engine were ceramic or superalloy, I wouldn't be surprised to see 20k+ rpms coming out of that. Gear that down enough and you have a serious monster of an engine..
07-11-2008, 08:11 AM
#30
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by the time nano technology is developed enough to make it practical to use such materials in an engine, we wont be driving internal combustion rotary engines
carbon fiber has been around since the 60's and only recently its appearing in consumer parts, soooo
carbon fiber has been around since the 60's and only recently its appearing in consumer parts, soooo
.
09-22-2009, 10:33 AM
#35
As far as the rotors themselves, I'd like to see them made boron carbide/aluminum composite. The material was originally developed as potential armor for helicopters where weight is a critical issue; but conventional ceramic armor lacks second strike protection. The aluminum gives the ceramic a modicum of toughness that it would not otherwise achieve.
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