DESIGN & STATIC STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITE PROPELLER SHAFT: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Advanced Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites have emerged as an important class of engineering materials for load bearing applications with all round properties for many engineering and social applications. Composite materials are created by combining two or more dissimilar materials with a viewpoint to improve the properties or to create materials with desired properties. Substituting composite structures for conventional metallic structures has many advantages because of higher specific strength and stiffness of composite materials. The role of composite material in weight reduction and fuel saving in automobiles is highly significant. Advanced composite seems ideally suited for long, power drive shaft applications. Their elastic properties can be tailored to increase the torque and the rotational speed at which they operate. Composite driveshaft is designed based on filament winding technology for higher strength and torque applications. In the present work, a comparative study was carried out between carbon/epoxy, boron/epoxy, and e-glass/epoxy propeller shafts having high strength with reference to the conventionally used steel driveshaft. This study investigates the design of a composite propeller shaft for a lightweight passenger vehicle, engineered to withstand a maximum torque of 400 N-m. The design approach is based on strength criteria and utilizes the balanced symmetric laminate theory, employing composite macro-mechanics and classical lamination theory. Key performance constraints considered include torque transmission capability and angle of twist. Propeller shafts were designed and simulated using the material properties of steel (SM45C), carbon/epoxy, boron/epoxy, and E-glass/epoxy composites. The maximum stress obtained through numerical analysis for carbon/epoxy was found to be within permissible limits. Thus, an experimental test rig was developed to measure the angle of twist for the carbon/epoxy shaft, validating the simulation and theoretical results. This study highlights the significant impact of weight reduction in automotive components, contributing to increased payload capacity and reduced fuel consumption.