Hey Paul,

I found a company that produces Beryllium aluminium alloys.  I've
attached a data sheet for the alloy that seems most suited to making
a rotor.  Take a look at it.

Maybe a trick like Mazda uses to make the rotor casings where they
make the stainless liner first then cast the aluminium casing around
it would work for making a rotor.  Make a thin stainless container
to be the face of the rotor and then cast the BeAL inside it.  With
the stainless face it would probably be easy to keep the BeAL core
down in the 800 degree F range with internal oil cooling so there
would be little fear of melting the rotor.

This could make a significant contribution to reducing the weight of
a complete engine further improving the already impressive power to
weight ratio of the Mazda rotary.

Mark LaPierre


In theory one could make a rotor out of BeAl and double the RPM and
HP. Anybody for a 1300 HP turbo rotary under 200 pounds less the 50
pound  gear box? A bell final drive ought to take 1300 HP.

The reason this is true is the centrifugal force of the 9 pound rotor
on the rotor bearing at 11,000 RPM   is the limiting factor on max
RPM.

So far we have just scratched the surface of the Wankel potential.

Paul Lamar


Paul,

I think you could get the same low weight by NC machining the rotor
in pieces out of stainless steel and e-beam welding the pieces
together.

Steve Brazil

I don't think so. BeAL is .07 pounds per cubic inch while steel
is .3 pounds per cubic inch.

Paul Lamar

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