Analysis of digital light synthesis based flexible and rigid polyurethane for applications in automobile bumpers

Abstract

The current work presents the design of automobile bumper using two novel materials, Flexible Polyurethane and Rigid Polyurethane, which meets the desired functional requirements for better performance. Two different designs for automobile bumpers have been made and corresponding deformation and stresses are investigated using Finite Element Analysis. The impact tests were carried out for two different materials of automobile bumpers. Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy were done to characterize and compare the bumper materials with Rigid Polyurethane fabricated by Digital Light Synthesis. Both Flexible Polyurethane and Rigid Polyurethane outperform the existing bumper materials in terms of the impact strength. Among the new materials investigated, Rigid Polyurethane displays less deflection and Von-mises stresses and hence it may be suitable to replace the existing bumper materials in heavy vehicles with Rigid Polyurethane. The impact strength of Flexible Polyurethane is more than Rigid Polyurethane and hence this material may replace the existing materials in passenger cars.