Abstract
This paper illustrates the possibility of replacing existing conventional steel-leaf spring by the leaf spring made by tailoring the layup of composite laminates. The dimensions of the existing conventional middle leaf (spring) of a commercial vehicle were chosen for the design and manufacture of die for moulding the composite leaves. Accordingly, suspension springs of composites of different layups with glass and carbon were fabricated and tested for flexure response. It is to be noted here that the cross sectional area of the composite leaf spring was the same as of the conventional leaf spring. By using universal testing machine, load per deflection and maximum load for each of the composite leaf springs were evaluated. Apart from these, the specimens were exposed to low frequency impact loading with specific duration of cycles and subsequently the flexure response was also evaluated. The low frequency impact on the composite leafs was effected with a laboratory loading set-up in a milling machine. Experimental results indicated the superior flexure response of the hybrid composites (with glass fiber at starting phase and carbon fiber at the end) and suggested possible alternative on comparison with the conventional spring.
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S. Rajesh received his B.E. Mechanical Engineering and M.E. CAD/CAM in Anna University, Chennai, India. He is pursuing Ph.D. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Anna University, India. Currently he is working as a Senior Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering in Tagore Engineering College, Chennai, India. His area of research interest includes the composite materials and manufacturing.
G. B. Bhaskar received his M.Tech. CIM from IIT madras and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Anna University, Chennai, India. He is currently an Associate Professor in the department of production technology, Anna University, India. His research interests include composite materials, manufacturing, machining of materials and automobile engineering. He has published over 65 scientific papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings.
J. Venkatachalam received his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Medical physics, Anna University, India. He has been serving as the Associate Professor & Head, Department of Physics, Meenakshi College of Engineering, Chennai, India. His research interests focus on Nanocomposite and Nanotoxicology.
K. Pazhanivel received his M.Tech. Applied Mechanics from IIT Madras and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Anna University, Chennai, India. He is currently working as Professor & Head, in the Department of Mechanical Engineering College, Thiruvalluvar college of Engineering and Technology, Vandavasi, Tamilnadu, India. His research interests include composite materials, manufacturing, and fracture mechanics. He has published more than 20 scientific papers in refereed International journals and conference proceedings.
Suresh Sagadevan is presently working as Assistant Professor/Physics, AMET University, Chennai. He obtained his M.Sc., M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Physics from Madras University. He has published 140 research papers in reputed International and National journals. He has published 7 text books and one book chapter.
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Rajesh, S., Bhaskar, G.B., Venkatachalam, J. et al. Performance of leaf springs made of composite material subjected to low frequency impact loading. J Mech Sci Technol 30, 4291–4298 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-016-0842-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-016-0842-x