Abstract

Highest level automotive competition is one of the sectors that takes the materials to the limit of their specifications in their commissioning, creating in this way knowledge in new technological fields. An example would be the use of structures made in CFRPs in competition, being gradually movin on the general automotive industry. The objective of this work is to determine the effectiveness of thermal protection elements that have to be installed in those structures of vehicles manufactured in CFRP exposed to high temperatures, such as pontoons covering the power unit and its exhaust manifolds, treating to discriminate which of them offer better protection at the lowest possible weight. In this work, 3 different protection systems have been evaluated, subjecting them to 3 types of tests, such as adhesion, weight and effectiveness of thermal protection. The method described here has made possible to evaluate the different efficacy of the systems tested, yielding additional data on the weight, adhesion and cost of the protection system.