A review on structural analysis and experimental investigation of fiber reinforced composite leaf spring

Abstract

A leaf spring is a simple form of spring commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. Weight reduction is the major problem faced by many automobile industries. Weight reduction can be achieved by designing new materials and sophisticated manufacturing processes. Due to increasing competition and innovation in recent decades, automobile industries show interest in replacing conventional steel leaf spring with fiber-reinforced composite leaf spring which has advantages such as higher strength to weight ratio, higher stiffness, high impact energy absorption, and lesser stresses. Selection of constituents for the composites is based on the type of application, availability, strength required, and cost of material. This paper gives an overview about the research carried out for the part of two decades on selection of material, different fabrication processes, experimental investigation, design and analysis using CAD tools.