Fatigue Consideration in the Design of Automotive Composites

Light weight composite materials are being considered in many structural automotive applications such as leaf spring, transmission support member, and wheels. The primary design criteria in all these applications is resistance against fatigue failure. This paper reviews some of the unique features of automotive composites in fatigue loading and discusses their differences with metals, particularly in relation to fatigue crack propagation. Practical consequences of such inherent differences are also discussed.