Ex-Core releases revolutionary low-waste carbon-fibre manufacturing process, to be used in F1 cars soon?

Ex-Core Technologies, an offshoot high-tech manufacturing specialists from Dutch family sportscar maker Donkervoort, has attracted the interest of at least two Formula One teams. The F1 teams are particularly interested in the firm’s revolutionary ability to consistently produce high quality carbon-fibre composite parts with 0 mm radii.

The company prides itself as a cutting-edge manufacturer of specialised carbon-fibre. The Ex-Core process produces carbon-fibre components that retain all of the composite’s strength properties but without its limitations, such as waste and other inefficiencies.

For the first time, Ex-Core has released a video detailing the groundbreaking manufacturing process, which was initially developed for the automotive industry, usually to cater to electric carmakers that require lightweight materials to offset the weight incurred by battery packs.

The process involves injecting a patented foam that expands at a fixed rate when heated against the carbon-fibre mold. The pressure then allows the foam to fill every crevice as it slowly expands. This special process also allows the composite materials and resin to be cured from the inside out, rather than the outside in.

As the foam cures, it takes on some of the properties of the outer material, making it much stronger than standard carbon-fibre that’s manufactured via traditional processes. There’s also far fewer defects, and there’s no need to trim away excess material. The entire process, Ex-Core says, consumes far less time and energy to create. There are also no expensive autoclaves nor consumables to worry about.

The Ex-Core process was first used to produce the intricate door design on the 2017 Donkervoort D8 GTO-RS. They were similarly made using a one-shot process with virtually no excess material, minimal waste and low energy.

As demonstrated in the video below, the company claims to be able to create complex composite shapes with unprecedented pinpoint accuracy. This has caught the attention of companies in the aviation, cycling, drone and sailing sectors, and it is currently undergoing validation and proof-of-concept testing in at least five industries. Interesting, isn’t it?