Experimental investigation of textile structure reinforced composite leaf spring for their cyclic flexural and creep behaviour

Abstract

This work dealt with the investigation of cyclic flexural strength and time dependent creep behavior of E-glass/epoxy-based different textile structure reinforced (chopped fibers, unidirectional (UD), bidirectional plain woven (2D), and 3D woven solid structures (orthogonal and Interlock) composite leaf spring. All textile structures were developed using a rigid rapier mutibeam weaving machine. Four different 3D woven orthogonal structures with varying binder percentage (3, 7, 10, and 13%) were developed to optimize weaving construction parameters for leaf spring application. The 3D orthogonal reinforced composite leaf spring exhibited improved cyclic flexural and creep performance and 3S1B stuffer-binder combination was found with the highest initial flexural strength, lowest drop in cyclic flexural strength and improved creep resistance. UD based composite leaf spring exhibited comparable properties to 3S1B based composite leaf spring. Composite leaf springs were further analyzed for their surface damage (tensile side) due to cyclic flexural loading. Structural variation (binder percentage) of 3D structure reinforced leaf spring has a significant influence on their failure (surface damage) morphology. 3D woven composite leaf spring with minimum binder tow percentage was found to be a potential material for automotive leaf spring from cyclic flexural strength, creep resistance, stiffness retention and failure morphology point of view.