CompositesWorld
Issue link: https://cw.epubxp.com/i/830100
TRENDS JUNE 2017 14 CompositesWorld Ford Motor Co. (Denton, UK) has published a report describing an R&D; effort aimed at manufacture of a carbon fiber composite rear suspension knuckle for a C-segment vehicle, the official European Union designation for what US automakers call a compact car. (The EU's A- and B-segment vehicles span the US automakers subcompact classifica- tion.) Partially funded by Innovate UK and called Composite Lightweight Automobile Suspension System (CLASS), the project was undertaken by Ford's Dunton Technical Centre (Essex, UK), Warwick Manufacturing Group (University of Warwick, UK), Gestamp Ltd. (Newton, Aycliffe, UK) and GRM Consulting (Leamington Spa, UK) to assess the feasi- bility of replacing a steel predecessor with a composite. The composite part had to accommodate metallic fasteners, meet current hard-point locations, and comply with Ford's noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) requirements. The resulting suspension knuckle, (pictured above) comprises carbon fiber/vinyl ester SMC with a tailored reinforcement provided by a carbon fiber/epoxy prepreg. It is manufactured via compression molding with a less than 5-minute cure and weighs 50% less than the all-steel version. Yatish Chandra, one of the report's authors and a composites CAE engineer, Research and Advanced Group at Ford, says the CLASS project was facilitated in part by GRM's finite element analysis (FEA) optimization, which accelerated layup schedule development. This helped identify the need for prepreg, which was selectively applied to the knuckle to resist buckling and compressive stresses. The production process starts with the building of a ply stack of prepreg sheets, followed by preforming and trimming. Preforms are then inserted into a mold with the SMC and the final part is then compression molded. Trimming and drilling follows to create holes that accommodate attachment points. Yatish notes that the goal of the project was to develop a concept process that could produce knuckles in series, at a rate of about 25,000 parts/yr. It's up to Ford now, he says, whether it will apply the composite knuckle to a production vehicle. Chandra's report co-authors are Alan Banks, supervisor, Ford Commercial Vehicle Chassis Group (Dunton); Emad Wahab, senior engineer, Ford Research and Advance Group (Dunton); and Thomas Gerhards, research engineer, Ford Research and Advance Group (Aachen, Germany). To download a copy of the report online, visit this URL | short.compositesworld.com/knuckle Ford assesses SMC/prepreg suspension knuckle AUTOMOTIVE Source | Ford Motor Co. PRESENTER PRESENTED BY stratasys.com TIM SCHNIEPP Business Developmemt Director Composite Tooling for Stratasys EVENT DESCRIPTION: Additively manufactured composites offer advantages that include greater design flexibility, decreased costs and production efficiency. Listen as Tim Schniepp, Stratasys business development director for composite tooling, explains the benefits and capabilities of FDM composite tooling, including examples of customers who successfully use this application. PARTICIPANTS WILL LEARN: • Reinforced thermoplastics for high-performance applications • Cost and time-saving benefits of FDM compared with traditional lay-up tools • Key design considerations will minimize cost while providing optimal results Additive Manufacturing for Composite Tooling June 28, 2017 • 2:00 PM EST REGISTER TODAY FOR WEBINAR AT: http://short.compositesworld.com/Strtsys627