For over 30 years, teams from secondary schools and universities from around the world gather in Australia for a road trip from Darwin to Adelaide. The catch? The vehicles they drive must only be powered by the sun.
The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge challenges participants to engineer and build a vehicle that can successfully make the 3020km journey through some of the world’s most challenging landscape. The Viridian, the vehicle from University of Toronto’s solar race car team, Blue Sky, successfully completed the race in October 2019 with some help from an innovative 2-part epoxy system donated by Crosslink Technology Inc.
The epoxy resin was designed to be applied onto dry carbon fiber sheets to bond the laminate layers together. The challenge was to provide excellent epoxy adhesion between the layers but also keep it light in weight.
Blue Sky explains the process of using Crosslink’s epoxy resin as an adhesive to bond laminate layers.
"Our team uses Crosslink epoxies when doing wet layups on our solar car. These layups help us achieve a better aerodynamic performance with parts such as the wheel covers and the top/bottom aero body seal which both minimize the amount of air entering the vehicle. The Crosslink epoxy has a very good strength to weight ratio which allows us to keep the car as light as possible while achieving the structural goals we need. Its consistency and easy to use mixing system allow for aesthetic and fast layups."
The Viridian, Blue Sky’s 10th generation car, placed 11th out of 27 teams, reaching speeds of over 64km an hour!
Discover some of Crosslink's Laminating Systems here
