Steel in modern F1

[krisfx]

Hubs too I'd imagine.

Steel is good stuff. Don't fall into the trap of thinking it's heavy.. and that heavy is bad. I'll admit my knowledge of steel specs outside the US is a bit rusty (pun!)... but stuff like 4340 and 300M (or EN24, EN26, EN36A ??) can have very, very high yield strength. When you have a high yield strength you can typically use less material and lightweight steel parts.

Really it's a question of efficiency, how much strength can you get per some size and mass of part - and that varies with alloying and temper. For that matter you could have aluminum parts made from some crap alloy which then wind up being quite heavy.

I thought hubs/rims were magnesium?

[Lycoming]

rims are mag, I think. hubs I would imagine to be steel. I don't think they would do a magnesium hub.

[krisfx]

Ah right okay =] - Aluminium Alloy for the axle acccording to red bull's little book of tricks

[ChipAyten]

Ah right okay =] - Aluminium Alloy for the axle acccording to red bull's little book of tricks

Aluminum has the tensile strength to withstand that torque? Im surprised, though I'm sure there is an alloy that can. As for the wheels the rim is Mg almost entirely and the hub is steel. Mg is far to soft to take the kind of pressures in those air guns.

[PlatinumZealot]

exhaust systems are entirely made from Inconel 625 steel .Some motorcyle exhausts have been made from ti but as i understand that has not happened in Formula 1 lately.
I hear a german company just developped some new Ti alloy to serve high temperature exhaust applications.(S+D Spezialstahl gmbH)the maximum temperature capability is 800°C ...maybe a bit marginal for formula 1 applications..

If anyone had a chance to hold a complete formula 1 exhaust in his hands he would stop to think of steel as a "heavy"material....
Data sheet Inconel 625:
http://www.bibusmetals.ch/pdf/datasheet ... %20625.pdf

Wouldn't you class inconel as a Nickel Alloy?

Titanium is very reactive above a certain temperature so I guess that is why Inconel is preferred.

[PlatinumZealot]

A few thoughts...

If you need high stiffness in a simple shape- use steel
If you need a very high fatigue life - use steel - e.g- gears, shafts, springs
Hardness and abrasion resistance / high surface finish- steel - e.g highly loaded nuts and bolts, gears, bearings,
If you want a small cross section with high strength - use steel.. fasteners, cables, spherical bearings,
If need a large cross section to prevent buckling but need something to be light weight - use aluminum. e.g Engine block, uprights, gearbox, frames etc.

Titanium lies somewhere in between. - I know it used for Wheel uprights and gearboxes.

[riff_raff]

Steel in modern F1?

There are a couple of critical applications in F1 where steel is still the material of choice. For example, there's the steel stays/ribs used in the umbrellas held by those incredibly high-performance umbrella girls. Or what about those little wire cages that hold the corks in place on the giant bottles of champagne used in the podium celebrations.

F1 would just not be the same without these important uses of steel.