Comparison of steel and composite leaf springs using FEA

Abstract

Composite materials are widely used in aeronautical, marine and automotive industries, because of their excellent mechanical properties, low density and ease of manufacture. Due to this increasing trend to utilize composite materials, it has become necessary to investigate the pros and cons of composites. Increasing competition and innovation in automobile sector tends to modify the existing products by new and advanced material products. A suspension system of vehicle is also an area where these innovations are carried out regularly. Leaf springs are one of the oldest suspension components that are being still used widely in automobiles. They contribute to 15-20% unsprung weight. Weight reduction is one of the utmost priority of all by automobile manufacturers. The automobile industry has shown increased interest in the use of composite leaf spring in the place of conventional steel leaf spring due to its high strength to weight ratio. This work deals with replacement of conventional steel leaf spring with composite leaf spring. Comparison of steel and composite leaf spring using ANSYS V17.2 software. Then the effect of change in design on stress, deformation, strain energy, fatigue life was studied using ANSYS V17.2. Anisotropic material properties are taken into account to observe resultant behavior. The leaf spring is modeled using SOLIDWORKS 2017 for the four materials, E glass epoxy, S glass Epoxy, Kevlar epoxy and Carbon epoxy.