Rubber-Toughened Long Glass Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Composite

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 47-58
Author(s):  
Fabrizio Quadrini ◽  
Claudia Prosperi ◽  
Loredana Santo
Keyword(s):  
Glass Fiber ◽  
Thermoplastic Composite ◽  
Dissipated Energy ◽  
Powder Size ◽  
Damping Properties ◽  
Fiber Reinforced ◽  
Glass Fiber Reinforced ◽  
Rubber Toughened ◽  
Long Glass Fiber ◽  
Rubber Particles

A rubber-toughened thermoplastic composite was produced by alternating long glass fiber reinforced polypropylene prepregs and rubber particles. Several composite laminates were obtained by changing the number of plies, the rubber powder size distribution, and the stacking sequence. Quasi-static mechanical tests (tensile and flexure) and time dependent tests (dynamic mechanical analysis and cyclic flexure) were carried out to evaluate strength and damping properties. As expected, 10 wt% rubber-filled laminates showed lower strengths than rubber-free laminates but the effect of the rubber on the composite damping properties was evident. At low rates, the rubber particles can also double the dissipated energy under cyclic loading, even if this effect disappears by increasing the test rate.

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

2015 ◽  
Vol 230 (10) ◽  
pp. 1634-1643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wang Xiaoyin ◽  
Liu Xiandong ◽  
Shan Yingchun ◽  
Wan Xiaofei ◽  
Liu Wanghao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aluminum Alloy ◽  
Glass Fiber ◽  
Lightweight Design ◽  
Safety Margin ◽  
Thermoplastic Composite ◽  
Strength Analysis ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Fiber Reinforced ◽  
Glass Fiber Reinforced ◽  
Long Glass Fiber

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.

Uncertainty Optimization Design of Vehicle Wheel Made of Long Glass Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daijun Hu ◽  
Yingchun Shan ◽  
Xiandong Liu ◽  
Weihao Chai ◽  
Xiaoyin Wang
Keyword(s):  
Glass Fiber ◽  
Optimization Design ◽  
Mechanical Performance ◽  
Thermoplastic Composite ◽  
Fiber Reinforced ◽  
Effective Measure ◽  
Glass Fiber Reinforced ◽  
Uncertainty Optimization ◽  
Long Glass Fiber ◽  
Simulation Results

The use of automobile lightweight is an effective measure to reduce energy consumption and vehicle emissions. The utilization of high-performance composite materials is an important way to achieve lightweight vehicles technically. The advantages of using thermoplastic composite wheels are: easy to form, high manufacturing efficiency, low cost and easy to recycle. This leads to broader application prospects. Taking composite anisotropy into consideration, the mechanical performance of a wheel made of long glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic (LGFT), is analysed using the finite element method (FEM). This is done by placing the wheel under a bending fatigue load simulation. According to the simulation results, the sample database is established by orthogonal experimental method on the Isight platform, and the approximate model is established by the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Based on this model, uncertainty optimization analysis is then conducted on the wheel’s design using Sigma Principle whereby the optimization target is the mass minimization. The maximum deformation of the wheel and the stress on both sides of the spoke will serve as constraint conditions and the key dimension parameters of the wheel model will be taken as the design variables. The uncertainty optimization is based on the Sigma criterion, taking into consideration the wheel’s geometry and property-fluctuation materials. The feasibility of design schemes is then verified after comparison analysis between the optimization results and the simulation results obtained. The result shows that compared with deterministic optimization, though the weight of the wheel has slightly increased, the uncertainty optimization based on the Sigma criterion is much more robust and the reliabilities of the three constraints are all above 6 Sigma. The resulting optimized LGFT wheel weighs 5.28kg, which has a 5.5% more loss in weight than the initial target and is also 25.6% lighter than the counterpart wheel which is made of aluminum alloy. The desired design results is now achieved with this lightweight effect.

Effects of Different Cooling Methods After Demoulding on the Cornering Fatigue Resistance of the Injection-Molded Long-Glass-Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Composite Wheel

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Zhang ◽  
Xiandong Liu ◽  
Jintao Luo ◽  
Yingchun Shan
Keyword(s):  
Glass Fiber ◽  
Fatigue Test ◽  
Thermoplastic Composite ◽  
Air Cooling ◽  
Fiber Reinforced ◽  
Cooling Mode ◽  
Glass Fiber Reinforced ◽  
Long Glass Fiber ◽  
Injection Molded ◽  
Cooling Methods

Abstract As an un-sprung rotary part of the vehicle, the wheel has a significant effect on reducing fuel consumption and emission for conventional fuel vehicles and increasing the mileage of electric vehicles, which is significantly higher than that of a spring-loaded non-rotating part. The high-performance long fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite is used to manufacture wheel through the injection molding, which not only can achieve wheel weight reduction but also provides a new way to promote wheel lightweight due to its advantages of fast molding, easy to achieve mass production, easy to recycle materials and so on. The wheel is a key safety component of a vehicle, and its performance is one of the most important factors that affect the safety of the vehicle. Therefore, the wheel made of long fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite must meet the requirements of cornering fatigue test, radial fatigue test and 13° bench impact test. In this paper, aiming at the cornering fatigue property of the composite wheel, the influence of different cooling methods on this performance of the composite wheel after demoulding are studied. The injection molding of passenger car wheels (type 5.5J × 15), composed of long-glass-fiber (LGF) reinforced thermoplastic composite (PA66+50 wt. % LGF), are fabricated under the same injection process conditions. The two cooling methods, water-cooling and air-cooling, are used to cool composite wheel to room temperature under atmospheric pressure respectively. The cornering fatigue test is carried out on the cooled composite wheels, and attain the variation curves of the maximum principal strain and the minimum principal strain with time in different directions at the test points of the spoke root of the composite wheel, respectively. In addition, during the process of cornering fatigue test of the composite wheel, the temperature change of the spokes is monitored in real-time with the aid of infrared thermal imager, and obtain the temperature distribution and change of the spokes under different load cycles. The effect of different cooling methods on the cornering fatigue performance of composite wheels is compared and analyzed based on the maximum number of cycles, the strain test results of spoke root and temperature distribution and change of composite wheel. The results show that after demouling, air cooling mode is more beneficial to improving the composite wheel cornering fatigue performance than water cooling mode. This rule is also applicable to composite wheels that are injection molded with composite materials provided by another manufacturer. The research results provide some guidance for the processing of the wheel made of long-glass-fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite.

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