Tyron Runflat has acquired a 20% stake in a carbon fibre design and manufacturing company, Carbon ThreeSixty, Tyron announced at the start of Eurosatory 2018 on stand H300 in Hall 6.
“A major request we hear from our armoured vehicle customers is can we help to reduce unsprung weight,” said Richard Glazebrook, Chief Executive of Tyron Runflat.
“This request convinced me that becoming a part owner in an expert carbon fibre company, such as Carbon ThreeSixty, was a sound move,” he added.
“Using the latest technology and materials like carbon fibre Tyron is able to reduce the weight of bolt together wheels such as those used on large 8×8 AFVs by 47%. In addition, by replacing the steel structure inside our rubber runflat with a specially designed carbon fibre insert gives us the potential to reduce the total weight by 50%.
“This weight reduction enables the customer to add more protection or fuel or special to task equipment without impacting on the maximum all up weight of the vehicle,” added Richard Glazebrook.
Carbon ThreeSixty, founded recently by Ed Allnutt and Will Battrick – two experts in the field of high value manufacturing and performance carbon fibre design – provides wheel and associated solutions for Tyron, alongside other defence, industrial and automotive companies seeking to exploit the step-change benefits of lightweighting with composite materials.
On display on Tyron’s stand are examples of both a carbon wheel and ATR-Carbon runflat. The runflat demonstrates how, by replacing the steel insert with carbon it adds additional strength and reduces the amount of rubber, with the result that the weight of the Runflat is reduced without the effectiveness of the patented multipart Tyron All Terrain Runflat being affected.
The carbon wheel is a direct replacement for a two part bolt together steel or alloy wheel used on many military vehicles. Current modelling has demonstrated that the wheel remains as robust as its predecessors but when fitted with the ATR-Carbon runflat can save up to 0.5t of unsprung weight on an 8×8 vehicle.
For those users not requiring weight savings, the standard multipart Tyron All Terrain Rubber Runflat is also on display together with the company’s unique MultiBands, which lock the tyre to the wheel rim and are designed for security and VIP vehicles.