Theoretical and finite element analysis (FEA) of coated composite leaf spring for heavy-duty truck application

Abstract

There is always increase in demand of extended application of automobile parts due to long spanning life, weight reduction and high performance. Conventional steel leaf is lagging behind in automobile industries due to replacement by composite materials as a result of weight reduction and excellent mechanical properties. The research aim is to compare the theoretical and finite element analysis of coated composite materials for heavy duty application by giving enhanced von misses stress and better deflection. CATIAVR9 and ANSYS software were both used for the model and the numerical analyses of both the coated composite materials and the conventional steel leaf.Weight reduction and strength enhancement were experienced by composite leaf spring with E-glass/epoxy showing 7.95% weight reduction, carbon epoxy 8.50%, bamboo polyester 8.8% and graphite epoxy 8.5%. when compared with conventional steel leaf spring. Maximum displacement shown by E-glass/epoxy was 0.65088 mm, graphite epoxy with displacement of 0.66416 mm, carbon epoxy with displacement of 0.6677 mm and bamboo polyester displacement with 0.67647 mm when the composite leaf springs were coated with molybdenum. The conventional leaf spring showed von mises stress of 508.33 MPa via the static analysis results. While von mises stresses shown by the composite materials were 459.16 MPa for bamboo polyester, 423.3 MPa for graphite epoxy, 463.5 MPa for carbon epoxy and the lowest stress of 406.6 MPa came from E-glass/epoxy material. Lower stresses and displacements were shown by composite leaf springs four models as compared to conventional steel leaf spring. With coated composite leaf spring, weight reduction of 5.55% was shown for bamboo polyester, carbon epoxy with 4.97%, graphite epoxy with 4.87 wt reduction and E-glass/epoxy with 4.585% weight reduction.