World's Strongest Material

There's no arguing that material science has had a huge affect on all forms of racing, especially IndyCar racing, but since the advent of carbon fiber, there's not been much in the way of big paradigm-shifting leaps. That may change in the coming years. The current flavor of carbon fiber utilizes small fibers of graphite (ordinary pencil lead carbon) aligned, twisted, woven, and made rigid via a plastic resin or epoxy. Carbon fiber is much stronger and lighter than aluminum or steel and now comprises the bulk of the material used in the construction of a chassis and aerodynamic elements.

There's now a new type of carbon structure that may prove to be even stronger and lighter than the current style of carbon fiber product, graphene. Graphene is a 2D structure unlike carbon fibers which are essentially1D, and is it monomolecular in thickness. At 200x the strength of steel, its now the world's strongest material, and could find its way soon into the aerospace industry.


It may take a while for the material to find its way to motorsports, but perhaps not as long as it took carbon fiber. The concept-to-factory times are a lot shorter than they were in the 1960s when carbon fiber was first invented. I'm sure that we won't see this material in the 2011 chassis, but what about two chassis generations from now? What about aero elements? 2015 is not unrealistic if engineers can get to grips with this new material quickly.

World's Strongest Material -News article from the American Institute of Physics