STRESS ANALYSIS AND MATERIAL OPTIMIZATION OF MASTER LEAF SPRING

Leaf springs are one of the oldest suspension components which are still frequently used, especially in automobile vehicles. These are used to absorb the fluctuating loads from the vehicle. Leaf spring is also known as laminated spring or carriage spring or flat spring. The main function of leaf spring is not only to support vertical load but also to isolate road induced vibrations. It is subjected to millions of load cycles leading to fatigue failure. In this connection an attempt is made to study the material optimization. Hence, existing steel, carbon fiber and boron fibers are evaluated and optimized the best one in concern with their performance. The boron fiber composite material can be replaceable with existing steel for master leaf spring. The master leaf spring is modeled in Pro/E (Wild Fire) 5.0 and analysis is carried out by using ANSYS 13.0 for better understanding. The objective of this project is to present modeling, stress analysis and material optimization of master leaf spring and comparison of deformation and stress results between steel leaf spring and composite leaf springs under same conditions.