Wishbones, part of a F1 car’s suspension, treated with ceramic composite coating are featured in the Fast Forward show. Credit: Science Museum.
London’s Science Museum has a great new exhibit – Fast Forward: 20 ways F1 is changing our world. The “F1” reference is, of course, to auto racing, which has always been a testing ground of sorts for cutting edge materials and applications.
The show has lots of examples of how F1 carbon composites are being incorporated into everything from thin, light weight furniture designs to portable infant incubators.
Of particular interest to ceramists are displays showing high performance ceramic brakes and piezoelectric sensors that recently made their way onto top-shelf racing bicycles, and ceramic coatings that originally served to protect F1 drivetrain and electrical equipment form intense exhaust heating will be used in 2009 in the retail auto industry for similar purposes.