The doors and rear wing of the new Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport use a material called "natural fiber". This type of material is mainly made of flax, which can produce edible seeds, and its fibers can be used to make linen. Today, the material is used to make racing parts.
So what are the functional advantages of this type of material?
Sustainability. According to Eduard Ene of the Porsche team, the use of new materials to make natural fibers consumes 75% less energy than carbon fiber production, and natural fibers can be decomposed for recycling and used in multiple ways. Materials are processed at extremely high temperatures.
The functional performance of natural fibers is also very good. Carbon fiber is a high-strength material, but it is easy to break and the cracking is serious. According to Ene, natural fiber's vibration dampening characteristics are 5 times stronger than carbon fiber, and it will not crack when it hits a hard object. When racing on a track, this means that cleaning up the accident scene is much easier.
Porsche also showed a variety of manufacturing processes for the material, including: natural fiber reinforced plastic, which is very similar to carbon fiber reinforced plastic, and also has a three-layer fiber structure, but its sandwich (second layer) Balsawood). In the same way, this kind of knitted material can be processed into automotive parts. The doors of the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport are manufactured using a resin transfer molding process, while the rear wing is manufactured using a pre-impregnated process.
The door weighs only 11.2 pounds, which is slightly heavier (9.9 pounds) than earlier carbon fiber doors. The weight of the rear wing is about 8.6 pounds, but because the size is much larger than the area of the same section of carbon fiber, the weight cannot be directly compared.
This natural fiber has excellent shock absorption, and its strength is close to that of carbon fiber. This material is used only on the doors of the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport, because it has a roll cage design to ensure driver safety.
According to Ene, natural fibers may be used to make non-structural parts of mass-produced sports cars, such as fenders, hoods or tail. Although Porsche expects to achieve this goal, it seems that it will take some time.
Although natural fiber production consumes less energy, its price is still higher than carbon fiber. Of course, this situation may change in the future as technology advances. Porsche plans to use natural fibers in the new cars, and confirm the practicality and performance of these materials in final tests.