Benefits and Risks in the Use of Composite Materials in Solar Vehicles

Embodying the contemporary concern for eco-friendly mobility alternatives, solar vehicles have been developed and perfected in an exponential rate for the last two decades; powered by the supports from industry and research centres and the realization of world-class race competitions. Given the engineering complexity embraced by such state-of-the-art emergent technology, design challenges have been constantly arising for a successful and efficient vehicle architecture, mainly involved by the need for lightweight and resistant materials, which has been so forth supplied by composites. The application of such materials has been addressed both to decrease the overall weight of the vehicle, providing an enhanced energy efficiency, and for manufacturing structural parts granting high resistance and safety. Thus, emphasizing the importance of a proper knowledge on the behaviour of composites, this work aims at reviewing studies upon some static and dynamic mechanical properties, focusing on low-energy impact, damage evolution and failure characterization, with glances at sustainability; comparing composite materials with different fibre reinforcements and narrowing such analysis to actual known applications in solar cars.