ABSTRACT
A leaf spring is a component of a vehicle's suspension system that is used to reduce vibration caused by the nonuniformity geometry of the road. The leaf spring is made primarily of plain carbon steel due to its high strength and great fatigue properties. Due to the constant quest for sustainable materials and reduction of fuel consumption in automotive applications, research on composite leaf springs has emerged, particularly due to their advantages such as low cost, biodegradability, high strength-to-weight ratio, and corrosion resistance. In this research, the suspension behavior of cornstalk fiber/fiberglass/epoxy hybrid composites leaf springs with different fibre ratios was investigated employing finite element analysis. The composites leaf spring were subjected to static and dynamic load. Results such as stresses induced, deformations, strain energy, fatigue life, and natural frequency were analyzed. It was found that the best suspension performance was exhibited by 30% cornstalk fiber/ 30% fiberglass/ 40% epoxy composites leaf spring. In addition to having 79.98% lower weight, the hybrid composite leaf spring has lower stresses induced by 0.77%, higher strain energy by 83%, and higher fatigue life by 97.4% when compared to the conventional steel leaf spring, respectively. It was also observed that composites leaf spring produce a natural frequency of 1.2 times higher than the road natural frequency, thereby promising a comfortable ride.
