Design of Lightweight Composites for Vehicle Front End Energy Management of Bumper Beam

Application of advance composites in place of the various conventional materials such as steel can give significant weight and performance advantages. The application of composites is now finding it’s way in the automotive industry due to the growing requirement of the lightweight solutions and high strength to weight ratio. However, their low mechanical properties have limited their application in automotive structural components. The study presented here is focused on the explicit dynamic analysis of a bumper beam and advance composites are used for the study. Different configurations and designs of the bumper are considered to be able to make a comparative study of the stress and deformation levels. The analysis was done in coherence to the Euro NCAP tests and the offset frontal impact analysis was done. The boundary conditions were aligned with the real time impact conditions for proper prediction of the results. Based on stress, deformation, specific strength and weight, the replacing materials for existing steel bumper are considered and the corresponding energy absorption are calculated. Laminated composites such as Glass, Carbon and Hybrid composites are fabricated using Hand lay-up technique followed by Compression molding. The study reveals that we can match steel deflection using composite materials and reduce weight significantly.