Carbotanium is a combination of beta titanium

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductilit ...

and carbon composite. It is commonly used in Pagani cars.

Properties

It is a combination of beta titanium

with advanced carbon composites, having a matched

yield strength In materials science and engineering, the yield point is the point on a stress-strain curve that indicates the limit of Elasticity (physics), elastic behavior and the beginning of Plasticity (physics), plastic behavior. Below the yield point, ...

and moduli of elasticity ratio. When the combination is adhesively bonded, both parts will approach maximum yield strength and fail at a similar amount of total strain. The components of carbotanium; carbon fiber and titanium, are woven together to form a strong, light material that can withstand significant amounts of heat and strain. This is because carbon fiber has the highest strength-to-density ratio of any current fiber and titanium has the highest strength-to-density ratio of any current metal. As a result, carbotanium can withstand temperatures up to 315 °C. The material properties of carbotanium are a mixture of those of a titanium alloy and a carbon fiber.

Manufacturing

The

titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resista ...

and carbon composites are combined by first abrading the titanium to be bonded, coating the titanium with

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

. The titanium is then heated in an oven at 500 degrees Celsius for several hours. A

primer Primer may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Primer'' (film), a 2004 feature film written and directed by Shane Carruth * ''Primer'' (video), a documentary about the funk band Living Colour Literature * Primer (textbook), a te ...

is then sprayed onto the coated titanium. Next, an adhesive is applied to the primer side of the titanium and then finally, the

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon makes ...

is applied to the adhesive.

Usage

Carbotanium is a patented composite material invented by Modena Design, the

carbon composite Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

manufacturing and consultancy arm of the Italian car company Pagani. Pagani has applied this weave on their later extra strong and lightweight supercars, the Zonda R and Huayra. Although not all Zondas are made from carbotanium, some are formed from carbon fibre. They have also used other variations of metal/composites.

Properties

Manufacturing

Usage

References

Further reading