Exploring fibre reinforced polymer composite helical springs for automobile industrial applications
Youhong Tang
ARC Training Centre for Green Chemistry in Manufacturing, Institute for NanoScale Science and Technology, College of Science and Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Australia
Email: youhong.tang@flinders.edu.au
Abstract
Composite helical springs (CHSs) are mainly used in transportation and aerospace fields, such as automobile suspension, railway bogie and aircraft engine system. The advantages of CHSs such as low weight, high specific strength, high specific modulus, corrosion resistance, fatigue resistance and high strain energy storage capacity mean that it has great development potential. In this study, a high-efficiency and low-cost injection-winding manufacture method of CHSs is explored to simplify the manufacturing process [1]. The fibre and resin that make up the CHSs have been selected and optimized to improve the performance of CHSs. Performance of CHSs has been accurately controlled by modifying braided structure parameters of the braid angle and the number of layers [2]. The compression and resilience static performance and impact and fatigue dynamic performance of CHSs were evaluated [3-4]. Meanwhile, the numerical simulation of the static and impact performance was carried out to reveal the theoretical mechanism and further improve the performance evaluation of CHSs [5].
References
1. L Wu, L Chen, H Fu, Q Jiang, X Wu, Y Tang, Carbon fiber composite multistrand helical springs with adjustable spring constant: Design and mechanism studies. Journal of Materials Research and Technology 9 (3), 5067-5076, 2020
2. L Chen, W Xing, L Wu, J Chong, T Lei, Q Jiang, Y Tang. Understanding multiple parameters affecting static and dynamic performances of composite helical springs. Journal of Materials Research and Technology 20, 532-550, 2022
3. L Chen, W Xing, J Chong, Q Jiang, Y Ouyang, L Wu, Y Tang. Understanding stiffness degradation of composite helical springs with multi-braided layers under impact. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 108327, 2024
4. L Chen, J Chong, Q Jiang, L Wu, Y Tang, Understanding the static performance of composite helical springs with braided nested structures. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing 176, 107822, 2024
5. L Chen, W Xing, J Chong, Q Jiang, Y Ouyang, L Wu, Y Tang, Design composite helical springs with multi-braided layers for excellent impact characteristics. Composites Communications 2024, under revision.
Biography
Youhong Tang is a Matthew Flinders Professor of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacture Engineering and was an Australian Research Council-Discovery Early Career Researcher at Flinders University. Currently, he is a Research Leader in Institute for NanoScale Science and Technology and Medical Device Research Institute at Flinders University. He is a Project Management Professional of Project Management Institute, US since 2008 and was elected as a Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry, UK in 2018, a Fellow of Royal Australia Chemical Institute, Australia in 2021, a Certified Materials Professional, Australian in 2021 and a Fellow of International Association of Advanced Materials, Sweden in 2024.
Youhong obtained his PhD degree in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2007 and moved to Flinders University in 2012 from Centre for Advanced Materials Technology, the University of Sydney. His research interests mainly focus on structure-processing-property relationship of polymeric (nano) materials/composites for sustainability and chemo/ biosensors and their devices with aggregation-induced emission features.