South Wales-based Haydale (haydale.com) has revealed that its graphene-enhanced pre-preg composite materials have been incorporated into the composite tooling and automotive body panels in the new BAC Mono R, which made its debut at the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Graphene-enhanced tooling materials offer the potential for significant improvements in the coefficient of thermal expansion (a key issue with the use of metal tooling), as well as superior quality and higher dimensional stability, plus the potential to increase the life of the tools.

Haydale CEO Keith Broadbent said: “In the development of this project, Haydale has improved the supply chain while enabling Briggs Automotive Co (BAC) to increase the performance of the material.

“While this outcome has focused on the automotive sector, the knowledge and improvements made provide a wider opportunity for tooling materials in several markets, particularly where there are throughput constraints.”

BAC design director Ian Briggs said: “BAC is forever an innovator, and being able to release a new car fully incorporating the use of graphene is just another example of how we are pushing the boundaries.

“Niche vehicle manufacturers are of paramount importance in the automotive industry, acting as stepping stones for mass-market production technology; the Mono R could well be a stepping stone for graphene-enhanced composite body panels and tooling reaching the wider automotive industry in the near future.”