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Modeling and Expermental analysis of composite leaf spring

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s. Rajesh Bhaskar G B
ARULMIGU MEENAKSHI AMMAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Anna University, Chennai
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Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tagore Engineering College, Chennai-6000127, India
ABSTRACT
Leaf spring is one of the oldest suspension components
that is still frequently used, especially in commercial
vehicles. The automobile industry has shown increased
interest in the replacement of steel springs with fiber glass
reinforced composite leaf springs .Weight reduction can
be achieved primarily by the introduction of better
material or replacing the steel leaf springs with composite
materials. This pa per deals with replacement of
conventional leaf spring with composite leaf spring. The
dimensions of an existing conventional leaf spring (CLS)
of a light commercial vehicle were taken and fabricated
by using specially designed die. A single leaf with
constant cross sectional area of bidirectional glass fiber
reinforced plastic (GFRP), bidirectional carbon fiber
reinforced plastic (CFRP), bidirectional carbon-glass
reinforced plastic and bidirectiona l gla ss-carbon
reinforced plasticwere fabricated by hand layup technique
and tested by universal testing machine. By using
universal testing machine, load per deflection and
maximum load that a leaf spring can withstand were
measured. Similarly by placing a composite leaf spring
centrally in a conventional leaf spring set up the above
parameters were measured. From the experiments it was
observed that if a conventional leaf spring is replaced by
a composite leaf spring an appropriate amount of weight
reduction and there by improved vehicle performance
with almost same amount of load bearing capacity was
observed. The composite leaf springs and the above said
experiments were also analysed and validated by using
ANSYS.
Keywords: composite leaf spring, Composite materials,
GFRP, CFRP, CLS, Weight reduction.
1. INTRODUCTION
The automobile industry have shown increased
interest in the replacement of steel springs with the
composite leaf spring becaus e of general
characteristics possessed by the composite
materials, such as high strength to weight ratio etc.
In order to conserve the natural resources and
economize energy, weight reduction has been the
main focus in the automobile industry. Suspension
leaf spring is a potential item for weight reduction
in automobiles as it accounts for ten to twenty
percent of unsprung weight. This helps in achieving
the vehicle with improved riding qualities. Weight
Corresponding author: rajeshbmm@yahoo.co.in
S. RAJESH AND G. B. BHASKAR
reduction can be achieved by the introduction of
better materials, design optimization and better
manufacturing processes. The introduction of
composite materials has made it possible to reduce
the weight of the leaf spring without any reduction
on load carrying capacity and stiffness. So the
composite materials are now used in automobile
industries to take place of conventional leaf spring.
Since the composite materials have more elastic
strain energy, storage capacity and high strength
to weight ratio compared to steel. Composite
materialsoffers good opportunity for substantial
weight saving .Several papers are devoted to the
applications of composite materials for
automobiles. Research has indicated that the results
of E-Glass/Epoxy were found with good
characteristics for storing strain energy [1]. Senthil
Kumar et al is achieved that composite leaf spring
has lesser stress, higher stiffness, higher natural
frequency and more weight reduction [2].
Researcher showed that an optimum spring width
decreases hyperbolically and the thickness increases
linearly from the spring eyes towards the axle seat.
Compared to the steel leaf spring, the optimized
composite spring has stresses that are much lower,
the natural frequency was higher and the spring
weight without eye units is nearly 80% lower[3].
This study demonstrated that composite can be
used for leaf spring for light trucks and meet their
requirements, together with substantial weight
saving[4].A functional composite leaf spring was
designed and manufactured by using unidirectional
E- glass roving impregnated by an epoxy resin for
solar powered light vehicle. This results in weight
reduction and reduces the impact load transferred
to the chasis evenly when the suspension reaches
full deflection [5].In this present work, three –leaf
steel springs used in Tata ace mini truck is replaced
with the composite leaf spring made of bidirectional
glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP), bidirectional
carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), bidirectional
carbon- glass reinforced plastic and bidirectional
glass-carbon reinforced plastic. The dimensions of
 164 S. Rajesh and G. B. Bhaskar

center leaf for both steel leaf spring and composite

leaf spring are considered to be same. The primary
objective is to compare the load, deflection and
weight saving of the composite leaf spring. Finally
the experiment is analyzed, compared and
validated by using ANSYS.

2. MATERIAL PREPARATION
The dimensions of an existing conventional middle
steel leaf spring of a Tata ace mini truck were taken Figure 1: Die Used for Composite Leaf Spring Fabrication
andaccordingly die is fabricated as shown in the
fig1. By using the hand layup method the GFRP
laminates, CFRP laminates were made by using
following procedures. The glass fiber of 600gsm of
bidirectional are taken and cut into 18 layers of size
900mm x 60mm. Then the resin combination of
LY556 epoxy resin and HY951 hardener is mixed
in the ratio of 10: 1 by weight. Wax coating was
applied on the surface of the die to get good surface
finish and also its helps during removal of the leaf
from the die. Layers of the fabric mat are stacked Figure 2: Fabricated Composite Leaf Springs
by one over the other until the required thickness
has been reached. In between the layers, resin loads, maximum load, and maximum deflection for
mixture was poured and rolled out by using rollers mono glass fiber leaf spring, mono carbon fiber leaf
to remove the entrapped air bubbles. Care was spring, mono carbon- glass fiber leaf spring, and
taken to ensure complete wetting of fibers and mono glass-carbon fiber leaf spring were measured
removal of entrapped air and excess resin. 18 layers by using universal testing machine. The test was
of glass fiber mat were placed over another with proceeded for conventional leaf spring assembly,
the resin mixture on the special die. A wax coated mono conventional middle leaf spring, and
steel plate of similar dimension of leaf spring was composite leaf spring- centrally inserted assembly.
placed on the top of the laminate with same counter The spring is loaded from zero to the prescribed
weight, so as to ensure the uniform distribution of maximum deflection and back to zero. The load is
resin mixture and to get good surface finish of the applied at the center of the spring. The vertical
composite leaf spring. The set up was allowed to cure deflection of the spring center is recorded in the
for 24hrs with atmospheric room temperature. Then load interval of 100N for mono leaf spring and 500N
after 24 hrs, the leaf was removed from the die. for assembly leaf spring, as shown in the fig. 3. The
Finally laminate was trimmed by using grinding deflection against loading of the various types of
machine, to get the required dimensions. Same springs and weight of the springs are shown in the
procedure is followed for fabrication of carbon fiber table 1 to 3.
laminate. For fabrication of carbon-glass laminates
10 layers of carbon fiber fabric and 8 layers of glass
fiber fabric were used. The four types of composite
leaf spring fabricated are shown in the fig. 2. Two
laminates, one with starting and ending layer of
carbon fiber mat and other with starting and ending
layer of glass fiber mat were fabricated by stacking
one over another with appropriate resin mixture.

3. EXPERIMENT
In this present study, the composite leaf spring
deflection test is done by using 40 tons capacity of Figure 3: Testing of Composite Leaf Spring Inserted
universal testing machine. Deflection for various Assembly using Universal Testing Machine
 Modeling and Experimental Analysis of Composite Leaf Spring 165

Table 1 The young’s modulus and Poisson ratio of the

Deflection Test Forvariousmono Leaf Springs steel leaf spring are considered as 2.1x105 N/mm2
Load in N Deflection in mm and 0.3 respectively. The properties of E-glass epoxy
Conven- Glass Carbon Carbon - Glass - and carbon epoxy are shown in the table 4.
tional fiber fiber glass carbon
leaf leaf leaf leaf leaf

100 5 10 7 8 8
200 8 19 16 20 14
300 12 30 32 32 23
400 17 43 44 42 30
500 21 57 63 53 41

Table 2
Deflection Test for Various Leaf Spring Assembly

Load in N Deflection in mm Figure 4: Boundary Conditions and Meshed Model of

Assembly Leaf Spring
CLS Glass Carbon Carbon- Glass -
fiber leaf fiber leaf glass leaf carbon leaf
inserted inserted inserted Inserted Table 4
Properties of E-Glass Epoxy and Carbon Epoxy
500 16 15 15 15 18
1000 26 31 30 30 29 Properties Value for E-glass Value for glass
epoxy epoxy
1500 30 37 38 40 41
2000 41 47 45 50 49 Tensile modulus (EX) 34000 (N/mm2) 36900 (N/mm2)
2500 51 60 54 58 59 Tensile modulus (EY) 6530 (N/mm2) 5846 (N/mm2)
3000 60 70 62 70 68 Tensile modulus (EZ) 6530 (N/mm ) 2
5846 (N/mm2)
Shear modulus (GXY) 2433 (N/mm ) 2
2188 (N/mm2)
Table 3 Shear modulus (GYZ) 1698 (N/mm2) 1536 (N/mm2)
Weight of the Leaf Spring Shear modulus (GZX) 2433 (N/mm ) 2
2188 (N/mm2)

Leaf Weight in Assembly in Poisson ratio (NUXY) 0.217 0.241

(grams) (kg) Poisson ratio (NUYZ) 0.366 0.320
Poisson ratio (NUZX) 0.217 0.241
Glass Fiber leaf 690 6.978
Carbon Fiber leaf 720 7.006
Glass- Carbon fiber leaf 782 7.068
5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Carbon-glass fiber leaf 740 7.024 The composite leaf springwere tested for its
Conventional leaf spring 2.38 8.666 maximum load bearing capacity and maximum
deflection with a help of a universal testing
4. MODELINGAND ANALYSIS machine. Mono steel leaf spring weighs 2.38kg
whereas composite leaf spring weighs only 690
Modeling of the leaf spring is done by using solid grams. The static load is gradually applied to the
work software. Meshing of the leaf spring is done conventional steel leaf spring and it was observed
by ANSYS 13. The loading conditions are assumed that it takes the maximum load of 5000N. But
to be static. The element chosen is Solid 45, which whereas the composite leaf springs takes the
is a layered version of the 8- node structural solid maximum load of 3000N. Hence 3000N is fixed as
element model layered thick shells or solids. To the maximum load to obtain the load- deflection
establish contact between the leaves, the interface curve. The load- deflection curves for the mono leaf
elements CONTACT 174 and TARGET 170 are springs and assembly are shown in the fig 5 and
chosen. The total number of elements and nodes fig. 6.
are 48,085 and 16328. Load applied at the center of
the leaf with maximum load of 5000N and both the From the below two graphs, by comparing the
eyes ends are fixed. The boundary conditions and steel leaf spring and composite leaf spring, it was
meshed model of the leaf spring assembly as shown observed that 60% of loads are beard by composite
in the fig. 4. leaf spring.
 166 S. Rajesh and G. B. Bhaskar

But at the same time, 67% of weight is reduced

by the composite leaf spring. The displacement
pattern and stress distribution of all the types of
mono leaf springs and assembly are shown from
fig. 7 and fig. 18.

Figure 8: Stress Distribution for Steel Leaf Spring

Figure 5: Load vs. Deflection Curve (Assembly)

Figure 9: Displacement Pattern for Glass

Fiber Leaf Spring

Figure 6: Load vs. Deflection Curve (Mono Leaf)

Figure 7: Displacement Pattern for Steel Leaf Spring Figure 10: Stress Distribution for Glass Fiber Leaf Spring
 Modeling and Experimental Analysis of Composite Leaf Spring 167

Figure 11: Displacement Pattern for Carbon Figure 14: Stress Distribution for Mono
Fiber Leaf Spring Steel Leaf Spring

Figure 15: Displacement Pattern for Mono Glass

Figure 12: Stress Distribution for Carbon Fiber Leaf Spring
Fiber Leaf Spring

Figure 13: Displacement Pattern for Mono Figure 16: Stress Distribution for Mono Glass
Steel Leaf Spring Fiber Leaf Spring
 168 S. Rajesh and G. B. Bhaskar

fiber leaf spring, mono carbon fiber leaf spring,

Figure 17: Displacement Pattern for Mono Carbon
Fiber Leaf Spring
mono carbon-glass fiber leaf spring, and mono
glass-carbon fiber leaf spring. Similarly by placing
the composite leaf spring centrally in the
conventional leaf spring set up, above testing was
proceed. Since the composite leaf spring is able to
withstand the static load, it is recommended that
conventional leaf springs can be replaced by
composite leaf springs to get the improved
performance. Fig. 7 to Fig. 15 shows the maximum
stresses and deformation in the conventional leaf
spring and composite leaf spring. By comparing the
stress of conventional leaf spring and composite leaf
spring,the stress in the composite leaf spring are
much lower than that of steel leaf spring. Deflection
is found that the experimental results and FEA
results showed good agreement.

6. CONCLUSION
The fabrication of mono composite leaf spring was
done by using hand layup method. The deflection
test was carried out for mono composite leaf spring
of all categories and Similarly the deflection test was
carried out for conventional leaf spring assembly
and composite leaf spring centrally inserted
assembly. The 3-D modeling of both steel and
composite leaf spring was done and analyzed by
ANSYS. The experimental results were compared
with FEM and the results showed a good validation.
From the results, it is observed that the composite
leaf spring was lighter and more economical than
Figure 18: Stress Distribution for Mono Carbon the conventional steel leaf spring. Composite mono
Fiber Leaf Spring leaf spring reduces the weight by 71% for Glass/
Epoxy, 70% for carbon/ Epoxy, 67% for carbon-
Table 5
Comparison Results of Load, Deflection and
glass/ epoxy and 68% for glass- carbon / Epoxy
Stresses for Mono Leaf Spring over conventional leaf spring. If this kind of
composite leaf spring is replaced in the automobiles
Maximum Deflection
(mm)
an improved vehicle performance will be obtained
due to the lower weight with appropriate load
Material Static Experi- Maximum Weight
load FEM mental stress (kg) bearing properties of the composite leaf spring.
(N/mm2)
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