Design and analysis of leaf spring for heavy weight vehicles using composite materials

Abstract

At present, we can find numerous leaf springs made up of steel which are utilized for the purpose of suspension of light weight to heavy weight vehicles. It is discovered that the conventional leaf springs and unsprung weight to the vehicle and diminishes its fuel efficiency. Since the composite materials are the advanced materials with higher strength to weight ration and higher corrosion resistance, they are found as the potential substitutes for these traditional metallic leaf springs. In this paper composite materials like E-Glass epoxy, S-glass epoxy, carbon fibre reinforced polymer and kelvar are used against the conventional steel for heavy weight vehicles with the objective to minimize the weight of the vehicle. Modelling of the spring is done in CATIA and analysis is carried out in ANSYS.