BMW Motorrad was presented with the 2018 JEC Innovation Award in the Leisure & Sports category for the development and manufacture of a rear swinging arm made of carbon fibre.
The latest example from BMW Motorrad was the HP4 RACE, where the entire main frame was made of carbon fibre reinforced plastic produced by means of an industrial RTM process. In 2017 the carbon fibre frame of the HP4 RACE opened a whole new chapter in motorcycle chassis construction, combining optimum technical qualities, uniform manufacturing quality and cost efficiency for the first time.
BMW Motorrad has now taken a further step towards consistent lightweight construction and excellent technical properties in motorcycles with a rear swinging arm likewise produced by means of an industrial process. The project MAI hiras+handle was sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the leading-edge cluster MAI Carbon.
The aim of this cooperative venture bringing together seven partners from industry and research was to develop a process that enabled the cost-effective volume-production use of carbon fibre composite materials (CFP) in structural components subject to high levels of continuous stress. In the case of this particular part, it was also possible to establish a cost-efficient manufacturing process suitable for the large-scale production of injection mould components made of carbon fibre reinforced plastic with CFP tape reinforcements using thermoplastic material.
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03 April 2018
