RAM clutch

[Baldini]

I was gonna get a RAM clutch. Supplier has one with carbon fibre friction material. I have no experience of this. Anyone know is it a reliable longterm material for road/trackday use?

 

Thanks,

 

KB

[jrt]

I have no idea, but I do have a RAM clutch in my Eldorado and I like it.

But, that said... cabon (graphite) is a lubricant. How does that work out?

[mike wilson]

Different form of carbon. If you could get a diamond (another form of carbon) clutch and keep it cool, the friction material would last forever. Not much else would, though....

 

I cannot find any information about c/f clutch life, either on or off line. Looks like it's guinea pig time. 8-))

[jrt]

I need to read up on the carbon form...but there are only three allotropes- graphitic, diamond, and buckyballs. I know it ain't diamond (good point, though), I doubt it's buckballs, since that's $1000s/gram, so I'm left with graphite. Besides, isn't a lot of the material in CF just the epoxy that holds it stiff? OK, enough stream of (un)consciousness...I'll go read.

 

Hey Jaap, where's the reading smilie???

[Skeeve]

I need to read up on the carbon form...but there are only three allotropes- graphitic, diamond, and buckyballs. I know it ain't diamond (good point, though), I doubt it's buckballs, since that's $1000s/gram, so I'm left with graphite. Besides, isn't a lot of the material in CF just the epoxy that holds it stiff? OK, enough stream of (un)consciousness...I'll go read.

 

Hey Jaap, where's the reading smilie???

 

From what I've heard, the carbon-carbon brakes used in GP racing last decade were particularly hazardous, because the coefficient of friction had such an alarming hysteresis as the components warmed up, going from roughly the same frictive quality as steel on steel to that of rubber on glass in an instant, leading to more than one occurence of supposedly knowledgable racers locking up the front wheel & washing it out in the process of trying to warm up the brakes to operating temps, doing flipover stoppies, etc.

 

In a clutch? This might actually work well, since rather than the clutch grip getting weaker as it's abused [heated by internal friction], it would actually get better, while still having lots of slip when cold for the ultimate smooth drag-strip launches. Hmm....

 

Too bad Guzzis ain't drag bikes!

 

As far at the material goes, the way graphite works as a lubricant is like the dry outer layers of an onion; there is relatively little adhesion/attraction between the layers of skin, but each layer of skin is quite cohesive; cutting thru an onion requires a sharp knife & some no little force, vs. the ease with which you can "fluff" away the outer layers individually.

 

Ride on!

[mike wilson]

I need to read up on the carbon form...but there are only three allotropes- graphitic, diamond, and buckyballs. I know it ain't diamond (good point, though), I doubt it's buckballs, since that's $1000s/gram, so I'm left with graphite. Besides, isn't a lot of the material in CF just the epoxy that holds it stiff? OK, enough stream of (un)consciousness...I'll go read.

 

Hey Jaap, where's the reading smilie???

 

The common allotropes of carbon are amorphous (no shape) graphite and diamond. Fullerene is, as you say, quite uncommon. The commonest one is amorphous - it's what coal, etc, is made from.

 

IAC, the carbon in carbon fibre is just that, fibre. It is formed (almost certainly from amorphous carbon) into fibres and used (as you say) with some form of resin, like glass fibre, to make objects. IOW, just the same way as cotton, asbestos and other materials are formed into friction blocks. It has to be at least reasonable as a frictional material (better than greased leather cone clutches, as found in, for example, Morgans) the only question you are likely to have is about its value for money.

[Alex-Corsa]

Perhaps you should get informed about such clutches at Sachs Racing and ask about what you want. Guzzilas use this system and for sure there are some friction plates avaialble since Dynotec is using them on 1100is as well. Furthermore I don't know but seem to be some of the best n the market.