A carbon fiber electric skateboard

 📣Composites Showcase!📣

A carbon fiber electric skateboard?

Conventional skateboards usually consist of a relatively flat wooden board where the rider stands, also known as the deck. Underneath the deck for electric skateboards is a plastic box containing equipment, including the battery. EMI's design, however, features a trough-shaped deck. With the exception of the motors, which are mounted on the back of the skateboard, this houses all the electric and electronic functions, including the battery. The trough is enclosed by a cover. Using @Lanxess' Tepex, EMI is able to manufacture the trough-shaped part with a wall thickness of just three millimeters, and despite the thin walls, the electric and electronic components in the deck are said to be safely protected against impact as well as moisture.

The result is a very light structure: the Okmos SL-01 deck weighs just 2.5 kilograms!

According to the manufacturer, the trough-shaped composite part is manufactured in a single hybrid molding process step. A robot inserts the metal base plate used to attach the truck axles into an injection molding tool. Then, a heated and plasticized Tepex section is placed within the tool. In one operation, the section is formed and the entire structure overmolded with a short glass-fiber-reinforced plastic compound. 🕵🏻‍♀️

The composite section is made from polyamide-6 (PA6)-based Tepex dynalite 102-RG600(6), which is reinforced with six layers of continuous glass fiber rovings. The deck cover is also made from this material. Lanxess’ PA6 Durethan BKV30H2.0EF is used for overmolding. Containing 30% short glass fibers by weight, the compound melt flows easily, making it suitable for this type of application.

Source: CompositesWorld

TheNativLab