Static and Dynamic Analysis of Automotive Leaf Spring: A Comparative Study of Various Materials Using ANSYS

Abstract

Leaf springs are widely used in the automobile industry due to its high load bearing capacity and low manufacturing cost. The usage of composite materials has gradually increased in the automobile industry due to its light weight and high strength to weight ratio. This work investigates the feasibility of using a low cost and light weight material for automobile leaf springs. We compare conventional steel EN45 leaf spring with several composite leaf springs such as carbon/glass epoxy, kevlar/epoxy and isotropic aluminum 6061 based on their load carrying capacity, deformation and stresses, strain energy storing capacity, natural frequencies, corrosion resistance, cost effectiveness, fatigue life and weight reduction. Static and dynamic analysis has been performed to study the benefits of using composite materials for leaf spring models, and our results show that kevlar/epoxy is the best among the selected materials for leaf spring as it induces lower stresses and has greater strain energy storage therefore leading to better ride quality. Carbon/glass epoxy and kevlar/epoxy have higher natural frequencies due to its lower mass and greater stiffness properties. The life cycle of kevlar/epoxy is greater to all materials due to its superior material properties. Use of kevlar/epoxy leads to 82.14% weight reduction in leaf spring when compared to EN45 steel; this in turn leads to decrease in the unsprung mass, therefore increasing ride quality, handling and mechanical efficiency of the vehicle.