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Design and Manufacture of Automotive Hybrid Steel/Carbon Fiber Composite B-Pillar Component with High Crashworthiness

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Abstract

A composite B-pillar was designed and manufactured by design optimization combined with an impact analysis. A carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) was used for the reinforcement part of the B-pillar assembly to substitute the conventional steel materials for reducing the weight of vehicle. To maximize the impact performance by finite element method, the equivalent static loads method was used. The shape, stacking sequence, and thickness of the CFRP reinforcement were optimized to minimize the deflection profile for improving the crashworthiness while reducing the weight. The designed CFRP B-pillar was manufactured and its performance was evaluated by a drop weight test. As a result, the CFRP B-pillar exhibited an improved impact performance and reduced weight compared to those of the conventional steel B-pillar.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Education (2018R1D1A1A09083236). This research was also supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean Government (MEST) (2013M2A2A9043280). This work was also supported by the Industrial Strategic technology development program (10076562, Development of fiber reinforced thermoplastic nano-composite via fiber bundle spreading for high quality resin impregnation process and its application to the underbody shield component for protecting battery pack of an electric-vehicle) funded By the Ministry of Trade, industry & Energy(MI, Korea). This work was also supported by a Collaborative Project between Hanyang University and Hyundai Motors Co. Ltd.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, 17 Haengdang-Dong, Seongdong-Gu, Seoul, 133–791, South Korea

    Dug-Joong Kim & Hak-Sung Kim

  2. Hyundai Motor Group R&D Division, Gyeonggi-do, Seoul, 445–709, South Korea

    Jaeyoung Lim & Byeunggun Nam

  3. Automotive Materials Laboratory, LG Hausys, 30, Magokjungang 10-ro, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Hee-June Kim

  4. Institute of Nano Science and Technology, Hanyang University, Seoul, 133-791, South Korea

    Hak-Sung Kim

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  1. Dug-Joong Kim
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Correspondence to Hak-Sung Kim.

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Kim, DJ., Lim, J., Nam, B. et al. Design and Manufacture of Automotive Hybrid Steel/Carbon Fiber Composite B-Pillar Component with High Crashworthiness. Int. J. of Precis. Eng. and Manuf.-Green Tech. 8, 547–559 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40684-020-00188-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40684-020-00188-5

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