Comments on: Formula One gearboxes http://www.ret-monitor.com/articles/2019/formula-one-gearboxes/ Specific mission-critical info for professionals Fri, 18 May 2012 09:34:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Terry http://www.ret-monitor.com/articles/2019/formula-one-gearboxes/comment-page-1/#comment-9854 Terry Sat, 17 Dec 2011 04:54:08 +0000 http://www.ret-monitor.com/articles/2019/formula-one-gearboxes/#comment-9854 There are may factors to consider with regards to an F1 gearbox housing material. Overall, investment cast titanium would seem to be best, since it can be cast with very thin sections and has high stiffness. Titanium has a CTE that matches well with both that of the steel gears/bearings and the carbon/epoxy tub. Titanium is also a good galvanic match with carbon. The downside with using titanium for a gearbox housing is that it must be vacuum cast (ie. investment cast) due to its oxygen reactivity, so producing complex cored features in the casting is not practical. Titanium also has very poor thermal conductivity. As for magnesium versus aluminum, there are new magnesium sand casting alloys (like EV31-T6) that outperform aluminum casting alloys, especially with regards to high temperature strength. While the magnesium casting would require a minimum wall thickness about 30% greater than an aluminum casting, for something like an F1 gearbox housing the magnesium housing would still be lighter. There are may factors to consider with regards to an F1 gearbox housing material. Overall, investment cast titanium would seem to be best, since it can be cast with very thin sections and has high stiffness. Titanium has a CTE that matches well with both that of the steel gears/bearings and the carbon/epoxy tub. Titanium is also a good galvanic match with carbon. The downside with using titanium for a gearbox housing is that it must be vacuum cast (ie. investment cast) due to its oxygen reactivity, so producing complex cored features in the casting is not practical. Titanium also has very poor thermal conductivity.

As for magnesium versus aluminum, there are new magnesium sand casting alloys (like EV31-T6) that outperform aluminum casting alloys, especially with regards to high temperature strength. While the magnesium casting would require a minimum wall thickness about 30% greater than an aluminum casting, for something like an F1 gearbox housing the magnesium housing would still be lighter.

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