F1technical.net

hi,
what exactly are pistons in f1 engines made of? I read somewhere its made of MMCs(Metal Matrix Composites), but i got no idea what tt means.
Another thing, im just curious as to why pistons are not designed such that their top is concave. By making it concave it can increase displacement n save weight at the same time?pls correct me if im wrong.
Thanks!

I thought the pistons were still in aluminum alloy, no doubt MMCs are options, MMC Metal Matrix Composite is a metallic based material usign non-metallic reinforcements (carbon or ceramic) . This material can be designed for specific properties the 40GPa stiffness limit beign one of them.
The tops are not concave as combustion volume formed by the pistion and head does not contribute towards the engines displacement. Instead the engine designer wants the piston to create as small a space as possible next to the head to form the combustion chamber. The squeezing of the air fuel in the cylinder bore into this small space creates the compresion ratio, up to a point the higher the compression the better.

No MMC is not used in the pistons Scarbs is right they're mostly made out of aluminum alloy.....here are the engine restrictions (regs) in terms of materials.

5.5 Engine materials :
5.5.1 The basic structure of the crankshaft and camshafts must be made from steel or cast iron.
5.5.2 Pistons, cylinder heads and cylinder blocks may not be composite structures which use carbon or aramid
fibre reinforcing materials.

and... if you like to know the history of that regulation, search on Berillium. It was basically Mercedes who was producing an engine in 2000 which lead to a ban of ceramics.

There's some more info on berillium here:
viewtopic.php?t=509&highlight=berillium

welcome to the site samt

Berillium, the type that was used in formula 1 is pretty safe under normal circumstances, however under fire it is toxic, and in the production of the parts it is also highly volatile. It actually was adopted from airplane industry where it was first used commercially, however the factory workers that produced these parts were getting sick with cancer and such, and brought upon many lawsuits, back in the late 90's.

as for uranium in the ballasts, it was depleted uranium, which is not radioactive, the same material that makes up the armour in modern US tanks.

walter wrote:Berillium, the type that was used in formula 1 is pretty safe under normal circumstances, however under fire it is toxic, and in the production of the parts it is also highly volatile. It actually was adopted from airplane industry where it was first used commercially, however the factory workers that produced these parts were getting sick with cancer and such, and brought upon many lawsuits, back in the late 90's.

as for uranium in the ballasts, it was depleted uranium, which is not radioactive, the same material that makes up the armour in modern US tanks.

Same stuff they launch at other tanks too.

Well, McLaren could have given out cancer by both West cigarettes or Beryllium... pick your poison

I choose cancer by beryllium, West is one of the worst tasting brands out there!

Anonymous wrote:I choose cancer by beryllium, West is one of the worst tasting brands out there!

In your opinion!!!

About the cancer thing I choose the tabacco cancer......there aren't that many berillium deaths every year!

Marlboro doesn't exactly make a "tasty" cigarette either.

The best "racing" cigarette I've had is Rothmans.

rothmans is one of the worst cigarettes made, marlboro is a damn dry cigarette, both suck. go for benson & hedges, totally kicks ass, isnt sold in finland though :/ west is ok, a bit like L&M

Well when talking about cigarretes could everyone say: In my opinion or something cause in a while we'll have everyone shouting at each other with no need....these are personal opinions not a definitive opinion....taste is verey subjective.....to me I'd say that you're all crazy tabacco is awfull...whichever brand it is...but this is my opinion!

Monstrobolaxa wrote:Well when talking about cigarretes could everyone say: In my opinion or something cause in a while we'll have everyone shouting at each other with no need....these are personal opinions not a definitive opinion....taste is verey subjective.....to me I'd say that you're all crazy tabacco is awfull...whichever brand it is...but this is my opinion!

Well I've cut down smoking... only whenever I drink which isn't too often. It's not good when u work out four times a week

Benson and Hedges are whatevers cigarettes

not trying to start a fight, just thought we could have a fruitful discussion over cigarettes its not smart, but if you where once stupid enought to start you might just make the best of it, providing quitting isnt an option. besides, according to some new researches, even though cigarettes are unhealthy, they improve your quality of life, and being happier you therefore live longer due to that and lead a happier life

Anonymous wrote:according to some new researches, even though cigarettes are unhealthy, they improve your quality of life, and being happier you therefore live longer due to that and lead a happier life

Maybe those researches were financed by the tobacco industry!!!!

Anyway, I've already tried all of those and, for me, Gauloises rule