Lightweight design of automotive wheel made of long glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic

Abstract

Aiming to the lightweight design of the long glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic (LGFT) composite wheel, this paper constructs the design process and the strength analysis method of long glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic wheel. First, the multi-objective topology optimization under multiple design spaces and multiple loading cases is conducted to obtain the robust structure, where the complicated ribs generated in design spaces are quite distinct from conventional steel or aluminum alloy wheel. The effects of weighting factors of two objectives and three loading cases on the topological results are discussed. And the long glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic wheel including the aluminum alloy insert is also designed in detail based on the concept structure and molding process. The novel metallic insert molded-in is another typical feature of long glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic wheel. Capturing the material anisotropy, the strength performances of long glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic wheel are simulated by using the finite element analysis method. The results show that there is a larger safety margin than the baseline wheel based on the maximum stress failure criterion. The long glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic wheel of 5.59 kg saves 22.3% weight compared to the aluminum alloy baseline. For the increasing requirement of automotive components lightweight design, the method and consideration in this paper may also provide some ways for the design and strength analysis of other carrying structures made of thermoplastic composite.

Comparison between bearing strengths of molded-in and machined holes of GFR/PP composites

“…Various automobile parts have been produced using fiber-reinforced thermoplastics, as their lightweight effects have been demonstrated by non-load bearing 4 and semi-load bearing parts. These parts include battery boxes 5 – 7 , crash boxes 8 , lightweight wheels 9 , front-end modules 10 , automotive seats 11 , 12 , leaf springs 13 , and hoods 14 . In particular, GFR/PP appears to have a good potential for application in the building of prefabricated structures such as houses, barriers, beams, and bridge decks in the field of civil engineering 15 .…”

Fatigue Analysis of Nonstationary Random Loadings Measured in an Industrial Vehicle Wheel: Uncertainty of Fatigue Damage

“…When considering the design of industrial vehicles from a material viewpoint, a new trend has recently emerged that exploits a lightweight design based on the use of composite materials not only for wheels [5,6] but also for other structural details of the vehicle (e.g., trucks [7,8], earthmoving machines [9], or working platforms [10,11]). This trend in design aims at improving the wheel and vehicle performance, while reducing the overall weight.…”