Automobile Leaf Spring from Composite Materials
Rajagopal D1, Varun S2, Manikanth M3, Bysani Somasai Sriram Kumar4
1Rajagopal D, Department of Mechanical, Jeppiaar Engineering College, Chennai, (T.N) India.
2Varun S, Department of Mechanical, Jeppiaar Engineering College, Chennai,(T.N) India.
3Manikanth M, Department of Mechanical, Jeppiaar Engineering College, Chennai,(T.N) India.
4Bysani Somasai Sriram Kumar, Department of Mechanical, Jeppiaar Engineering College, Chennai, (T.N) India.
Manuscript received on September 25, 2014. | Revised Manuscript received on October 09, 2014. | Manuscript published on October 30, 2014. | PP: 16-18 | Volume-4 Issue-1, October 2014. | Retrieval Number: A3420104114/2013©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: Automobiles today are over 63% iron and steel by weight .With rising energy and environmental concerns, as well as increases in electronics and other on-board vehicle systems. Vehicle light-weighting continues to be a prominent concern for vehicle manufacturers. New structural materials – metals, ceramics, polymers or hybrid materials derived from these, called composites – open a promising avenue in automobile industries. This paper describes design and experimental analysis of composite leaf spring made of glass fiber reinforced polymer. The objective is to compare the load carrying capacity, stiffness and weight savings of composite leaf spring with that of steel leaf spring and describes the significant economic potential of polymer composite and to replace automobile components (leaf Spring) against the steel.
Keywords: Polymers, Ceramics, Composites, Leaf spring.