The more closely I look at rules for supposedly “premier” racing series such as Formula 1 and MotoGP, the more conservatism I find. Consider MMCs—Metal Matrix Composites. This could include such trick 1976 technology as boron fiber reinforced aluminum, or the 1950s discovery that dispersed aluminum oxide particles could strengthen aluminum at high temperatures and allow it to function for thousands of hours while hot—without strength loss. Gotta ban that radical stuff, for sure! We want racing machines made from weak, short-lived materials that any good blacksmith could whip up. I got interested in this when I discovered that an outfit called Advanced Materials Technology (AMT) of Bickenbach, Germany, can supply 100mm round billets of something called Al-GHS-1300, an aluminum strengthened by metal oxide particles dispersed within it. This material just plain blows away the usual 2618 aluminum alloy piston material. A diameter of 100mm, eh? Just the size for making pistons. The concept of such materials is more than 60 years old, so you’d think even race sanctioning bodies would have had time to get used to it. Back in the early 1950s, an Austrian researcher named R. Irmann reduced aluminum to tiny flakes by a common milling process, then compacted and sintered it (used heat to fuse the powdery flakes into a solid). Each tiny flake naturally reacted with oxygen from the air to form a skin of aluminum oxide. When Irmann then squeezed this sintered mixture of aluminum and aluminum oxide through an extrusion die, the oxide was broken up by the intense cold-working of the extrusion process into myriad tiny oxide particles. When this resulting material was tested, it was found to have high strength, especially at elevated temperatures that normally weaken conventional aluminum alloys. Unlike conventional alloys, Irmann’s material did not gradually lose its strength during long-term exposure to high temperature. 
AMT in Germany takes this a step further, adding the metal element Yttrium to produce Yttria (Yttrium oxide). Thus, their Al-GHS-1300 material consists of an aluminum alloy, strengthened by dispersed metal oxides (aluminum oxide and yttrium oxide). Because the oxides are not soluble in the aluminum, this material is considered to be a “Metal Matrix Composite.” Aha! Yttrium must be the key to the F1 ban, right? Who’s even heard of Yttrium? Well, it turns out that Yttria-strengthened nickel-based jet engine turbine blades have been in routine use since at least 1980. Pretty old hat stuff, it turns out. Workhorse technology, you might call it. Honda some time ago tested a metal matrix composite piston material prepared by “mechanical alloying” (mixing of fine powders prior to compression and sintering). Honda R&D Technical Review said, “This achieved a 16 percent weight reduction compared to the conventional material, AA2618. In addition, this enabled the Formula 1 engine speed to be increased by 400 rpm.” Banning useful materials makes Fomula 1 look like a vintage golf society that requires its members to use clubs with wooden shafts.Gadget Reviews: mamaktalk.com
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