Monday, November 21, 2011
ALFA ROMEO “8C COMPETIZIONE” ALL COMPOSITE BODY AND INTERIORS
ALFA ROMEO “8C COMPETIZIONE” ALL COMPOSITE BODY AND INTERIORS.The limited edition Alfa Romeo 8C is based on a shortened Maserati Coupe platform; it will be produced in a total of 500 cars, already totally sold out. The car is driven by a Maserati-sourced aluminum 4.2-liter V8 engine making more than 400 horsepower. A six-speed gearbox with paddle shifters channels power to the rear wheels and can also be operated in full automatic mode. The shape of the car comes from Alfa Romeo “Centro stile”, and the structural design has been carried out by the FIAT group Company Elasis (Pomigliano D’Arco-Naples). The car body is being manufactured by ITCA, another FIAT group company, the steel chassis in Grugliasco (Turin) ant the composite body and interiors in Colonnella (Teramo). The final assembly takes place in FIAT MIRAFIORI in Turin and in Maserati (Modena). The car’s distinctive look comes from extensive use, on the body and interior panels, of composite materials, which allows the monolithic design of large and complex components ; the entire upperbody, for instance, from the windshield to the rear bumper, is one piece only. The chassis is made out of steel coming from an original Maserati car, all the rest of the “Body in White”, plus most of the interiors, is made out of carbon fiber reinforced plastics. An exploded view of the car body outlining all the components is shown besides. The design requirements of the body are mainly weight, stiffness, crashworthiness, surface appearance. To meet these requirements an extensive design work has been conducted and the most appropriate materials have been selected. The fibers selected are mainly HS fibers and the resin system is structural epoxy cured at 135°C. The manufacturing process is a well known and consolidated hand lay-up process, vacuum bagged and autoclave cured and pressure ranging from 0.2 to 0.6 Mpa. The moulds, following a very long tradition and experience of the composite manufacturing Company, are mainly made out of low temperature (60°C) epoxy resin with carbon fiber reinforcements, post cured at 180°C. The adoption of composite moulds allows the production of very accurate and dimensionally stable components. The Class A surface requirements are achieved thanks to the use of a special surface film adhesive and the epoxy primer sprayed directly onto the mould. The weight , stiffness ,crashworthiness and surface targets have all been achieved. Click here to get ALFA ROMEO “8C COMPETIZIONE” ALL COMPOSITE BODY AND INTERIORS.
