# Super strong,ultra-lightweight aluminum foam panels



## sunworksco (Sep 8, 2008)

I'm building a www.blackjackzero.com with www.alulight-america.com aluminum foam panel monocoqe chassis.This construction is very simple for the DIY.Here is the link about the Lotus chassis construction : http://www.sandsmuseum.com/cars/elise/thecar/chassis/index.html
The Lotus Elise chassis weighs less than 150lbs. but has a torsional rigidity of 11,000lbs.
The Alulight panels shield against electro-magnetic radiation,heat and road noise.
My chassis design will have a battery floor tunnel storage for 48-100amp iron-phosphate 
batteries.
The front-wheel drive will use 2-ac motors driving each wheel independently with traction control.Each motor will be powered by it's own battery pack and controller.
Hopefully by the time the chassis is ready to receive the battery pack the technology of the battery chemistry will be much more advanced and less expensive.


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## raffles0412 (Sep 2, 2008)

Hi sunworksco, I considered the blackjack zero as it is so light, but felt that I mightn't have enough room for power storage, so I went with a 2nd hand Quantum. Will be keen to follow your progress.
Best wishes 
raffles


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## kixGas (May 2, 2008)

Where will you be using the panels? Just the straight sections or all the panels? How will you join the panels? If you are doing curved pieces how will you bend it or do compound curves? Looks like an interesting project.


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## sunworksco (Sep 8, 2008)

The bottom of the body shell will have a flat piece of Alulight sandwiching a square extruded aluminum tubing chassis frame with 4 side to side extrusions on top of the interior floor.The Alulight panels are only used for stressed structural chassis areas.The panels can be cad-rolled for curves by a professional tank fabrication company.


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## Technologic (Jul 20, 2008)

I'm awaiting the day that they make beryllium foam... seriously... I would drool puddles over it.

the quantities on earth are so minute though *sighs*


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## sunworksco (Sep 8, 2008)

Here is the information for assembling the Alulight foam panels and extrusions.
http://www.sandsmuseum.com/cars/elise/information/technical/asauto.html


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## Technologic (Jul 20, 2008)

sunworksco said:


> Here is the information for assembling the Alulight foam panels and extrusions.
> http://www.sandsmuseum.com/cars/elise/information/technical/asauto.html


what's your current price per sheet for this material (say 3/8 inch thick)?


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## sunworksco (Sep 8, 2008)

Alulight panels with 1mm aluminum sheets on both sides with a total thickness of 9mm is around $800.00 for a 4'x8' panel,plus shipping.
This sounds like a lot of expense but the panels are much less expensive than carbon fiber and are very easy to bond together with screw rivets and epoxies.
The Lotus Elise chassis only weighs 150lbs. with 11,000lbs. torsional rigidity and thats with regular aluminum panels.The Alulight foam panel chassis could be 20-30% stronger,providing you are using Alulight extrusions as well.
A Porsche 550 size chassis would need about 4-4'x8' panels.
The www.blackjackzero.com would use 3-4'x8' panels.


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## Technologic (Jul 20, 2008)

sunworksco said:


> Alulight panels with 1mm aluminum sheets on both sides with a total thickness of 9mm is around $800.00 for a 4'x8' panel,plus shipping.
> This sounds like a lot of expense but the panels are much less expensive than carbon fiber and are very easy to bond together with screw rivets and epoxies.
> The Lotus Elise chassis only weighs 150lbs. with 11,000lbs. torsional rigidity and thats with regular aluminum panels.The Alulight foam panel chassis could be 20-30% stronger,providing you are using Alulight extrusions as well.
> A Porsche 550 size chassis would need about 4-4'x8' panels.
> The www.blackjackzero.com would use 3-4'x8' panels.



actually unless my math is incorrect assuming you use the same total mass of aluminum (with no added panels at all) the alulight foam will be 200% stiffer per lb than straight aluminum (or 400% depending the pore size you choose).

rigidity is exponentially proportional to thickness... ie. alulight has a 70GPA or so young's modulus, while aluminum has around 110... therefore alulight is roughly 40% less stiff per thickness, however since it weighs between 60% to 80% less per thickness than aluminum the same weight will be anywhere from 200%-400% more rigid.


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## todayican (Jul 31, 2008)

where does one buy the panels and extrusions?


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