DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF GLASS FIBER REINFORCED PLASTIC LEAF SPRING FOR A PASSENGER CAR

Abstract

Nowadays, for the design of an automobile, weight reduction is of prime concern. Therefore, automobile industry has shown increased interest in the replacement of steel spring with fiberglass reinforced composite leaf springs. In view of the above, an attempt has been made to replace the conventional steel leaf spring of a compact car, "a jeep", with that of composite leaf spring. A composite leaf spring is designed and fabricated from glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) using E-glass fibre, epoxy resin (LY556) and hardener (HY951). "Rule of Mixtures" was used to get the strength of the designed composite spring. To compare the performance, strains and deflections were measured experimentally. A similar composite leaf spring model was considered and analysed using ANSYS 5.4 software. Comparative study with respect to weight, riding quality, strength and cost has been made between conventional steel leaf spring and composite mono-leaf spring