Performance Improvement & Weight Reduction of Mono Leaf Spring by using Composite Material

An important parameter in the design of leaf spring is the width to thickness ratio (W/T). Decrease in W/T ratio decreases the material required & consequently the weight of the leaf spring for the same vertical load caring capacity. But at the same time this increases the stiffness and required deflection in the vertical direction may not be obtained. Deflection/stiffness is also equally important in spring design since a certain minimum required amount of deflection at a particular load is always necessary in springs, although in design of other mechanical components, deflection is undesirable within the working load range. The increase in vertical stiffness due to decrease in W/T ratio is beyond the acceptable limit due to the high value of modulus of elasticity for steel i.e. 210000 MPa[1]. But W/T ratio can be decreased without increase in vertical stiffness if some material having low value of modulus of elasticity i.e. 32500 MPa [1] is used. Reduction in vertical stiffness i.e. increase in vertical deflection range is also possible if W/T ratio is decreased within a certain limit. Hence in the present work the width to thickness ratio is decreased followed by change in material and stress analysis of a mono leaf spring is done by F.E.M. before and after changing the material. After this the values of stress at different points along the length (average values at various cross sections) after applying a point load of 2943 N [2] for both materials are compared by overlapping o